At the recent ETH ChiangMai conference, Vitalik Buterin unveiled his vision for zero-knowledge proofs' revolutionary role in blockchain's future. The Ethereum co-founder emphasized that zk technology transcends simple privacy enhancement—it addresses scalability bottlenecks while enabling unprecedented transparency through cryptographic verification. Beyond blockchain, zk-SNARKs unlock possibilities in identity verification without exposing sensitive data and transparent algorithm auditing across digital systems. Buterin's insights from ChiangMai underscore a critical inflection point: as comp