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02 — Framework · Framework

Decentralised proof markets

Operations — proof marketplaces

In one paragraph

Decentralised proof markets: Operations — proof marketplaces. Protocols matching proof requests with a permissionless set of prover nodes using staking, bidding and on-chain settlement. Maturity: Live on mainnet; under a year of operating history. Maintained by: Boundless (RISC Zero) and the Succinct Prover Network are the leading examples; each is anchored to its sponsor's zkVM. Choose it when: Non-private, latency-tolerant, variable-volume demand where censorship resistance matters more than deterministic latency. Pair with a self-hosted fallback prover for critical paths.

By MarketComp Updated v1.3 About the authors Changelog

What it is

Protocols matching proof requests with a permissionless set of prover nodes using staking, bidding and on-chain settlement. The leading examples are anchored to their sponsor's own zkVM.

Strengths and tradeoffs

Strengths
  • Addresses the single-provider liveness and censorship risk that hosted services carry
  • Competitive bidding can lower marginal cost, especially for bursty demand
  • Permissionless prover entry creates a real supply side
Tradeoffs
  • Both leading markets are anchored to their sponsor's zkVM and token — verify neutrality claims against what is supported today, not the roadmap
  • Introduces token-economic and settlement risks orthogonal to your cryptography
  • Latency and tail-latency guarantees are weaker than a dedicated prover
  • Operating history is short relative to the value some systems would place on it

Choose it whenNon-private, latency-tolerant, variable-volume demand where censorship resistance matters more than deterministic latency. Pair with a self-hosted fallback prover for critical paths.

Maintained implementations

Boundless (RISC Zero) and the Succinct Prover Network are the leading examples; each is anchored to its sponsor's zkVM

Maturity: Live on mainnet; under a year of operating history · License: Protocol-specific · docs.boundless.network ↗

How to decide
Other frameworks in §02
CircomNoirHalo2gnarkPlonky3Cairo and the Stwo proverSP1RISC Zero (R0VM)OpenVMZKsync AirbenderJoltMiden VMHosted proving services

Sources cited on this page · 1

  1. Boundless — decentralised proof market documentationdocumentation

All 45 sources for §02 are listed on the section page →

Cite this page 
MarketComp (2026). Decentralised proof markets. The ZK Field Manual (Version 1.3). MarketComp. https://zkpick.com/frameworks/proof-markets/
@misc{zkfieldmanual-decentralised-proof-markets,
  title        = {Decentralised proof markets — The ZK Field Manual},
  author       = {MarketComp},
  year         = {2026},
  version      = {1.3},
  howpublished = {\url{https://zkpick.com/frameworks/proof-markets/}},
  note         = {Accessed: YYYY-MM-DD}
}