Update May 30, 01:30 pm UTC: This article has been updated to include a comment from Alex Gluchowski.

Matter Labs has filed trademark applications in nine countries to claim the term “zero-knowledge” as the firm’s exclusive intellectual property, outraging the crypto industry.

Matter Labs, the corporate entity developing zkSync, has previously tried to register a token under the ticker symbol “ZK” with cryptocurrency exchanges , aiming to cement their claim over the technological paradigm.

Zero-knowledge (ZK) technology refers to cryptographic protocols that enable one person (the prover) to convince another (the verifier) that a particular claim is true without disclosing any details about the actual claim.

Matter Labs’ attempt to trademark ZK technology represents an “absurd IP grab” according to Eli Ben-Sasson, the CEO of StarkWare, who told Cointelegraph:

“ZK cryptography was developed for the good of all. It’s shameful to witness an IP land grab by a company trying to expropriate 'ZK' as private intellectual property. It’s as absurd as an individual baker trying to impose a blanket patent on bread.”

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Crypto industry experts call for withdrawal of trademark application

Top industry experts have called for the withdrawal of Matter Labs’ trademark filing, which they called “oppressive behavior,” in a public letter shared with Cointelegraph.

The public letter was signed by notable figures including Polygon co-founders Sandeep Nailwal and Brendan Farmer, StarkWare CEO Eli Ben-Sasson, Polyhedra Network co-founder and zkBridge inventor Tiancheng Xie, as well as Turing award winner and ZK-proofs co-inventor Shafi Goldwasser.

The letter notes:

“We believe that ZK is a public good that belongs to everyone. A company exploiting the legal system to annex a public good violates the crypto ethos, the Ethereum ethos, and the academic ethos. It even goes against Matter Labs’ own ethos…”

In response to Cointelegraph’s X post , Alex Gluchowski, the founder and CEO of Matter Labs said that he rejects “the very idea of intellectual property.” The post continued:

“All the trademarks we had ever registered, including ZK-related ones, are defensive, to prevent dishonest actors from misleading their customers and confusing their products and services with the ones offered by Matter Labs (as had unfortunately been the case in the past).”

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ZK proofs have a massive potential for humanity: StarkWare CEO

Due to the potential of ZK technology, no single company should try to claim this paradigm as their own, according to StarkWare’s Ben-Sasson, who said:

“ZK cryptography has massive potential for humanity — actually far beyond blockchain. We, in blockchain, are honored to be pioneering its first great use case – and hope this propels it to many other use cases.”

Despite being in its technological infancy, ZK-proofs are becoming increasingly important for future digital identity solutions.

Zk-proofs could be used as Europe’s new digital identity solution, to ensure a privacy-focused approach for users, according to Dr. Jonas Gross, the CEO of Hakata, who told Cointelegraph:

“ZKPs have the potential to start a new paradigm of compliance that breaks down data silos around identity information.”
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