ZK Then and Now -- comparison: Quite a few years ago I pointed out that ZK can solve blockchain privacy and scalability (the first to suggest that, no less!). Later on, I built some of the main ZK systems and technologies in use today. I've witnessed ZK rise to fame from the most early days. So, what has changed? 1. In the early days it took visionary angel investors like @naval to recognize the importance of something like @Zcash. Today there's a whole ZK industry, funded by $100Ms and coveted by investors. 2. The technology has matured. When @StarkWare launched StarkEx, people did not share our conviction that this technology can deliver the scale and security we said it could. Since then, trillions of $ have already been settled on ZK tech and the blockchain world is shifting to ZK-STARKs. 3. Cairo - It used to be hard to write applications for ZK. Then, Cairo was invented: A STARK-friendly smart contract language. Cairo has evolved over the years and now it's really really easy to write applications for ZK. One thing that hasn't changed: 1. UX -- it's still too hard to get real ZK privacy with easy user-firendly UX, which is probably why adoption of this amazing privacy tech is still lacking. But we'll change that soon!