The internet is built on proof. Proof you’re old enough to buy a product. Proof you can afford a loan. Proof you really earned the degree on your résumé.
But proving anything online today usually means handing over far more than is necessary. A driver’s licence to prove age, a bank statement to prove solvency, a diploma to prove education – each one spilling sensitive details that the other side doesn’t actually
need.
In a world where information is our most valuable and vulnerable asset, this oversharing creates a perfect storm for privacy breaches, compliance headaches and outright abuse.
The problem with proof
Our digital identities are fractured across hundreds of platforms, each one demanding its own slice of personal information for verification. These fragments of our lives, from income statements to medical records, are locked within the walled gardens of
big tech, banks, and bureaucracies.
For companies, accessing this data for onboarding or compliance is slow, expensive and often impossible without clunky integrations. For individuals, it’s a trade-off between convenience and control. The result is a trust system that’s outdated, insecure,
and increasingly unfit for purpose.
The backbone of online confidentiality today is Transport Layer Security (TLS), a protocol that has served us well for decades. TLS keeps your data safe while it’s in transit, but it was never designed to verify facts without revealing them – and it’s starting
to show its age in the era of Web3, blockchain records, and digital identity.
As governments move toward official digital IDs and more records migrate onto public ledgers, the gap between what TLS can do and what modern trust demands has become impossible to ignore.
Avoiding exposure with zkTLS
Zero-Knowledge Transport Layer Security, or zkTLS, offers a modern, cutting edge enhancement to TLS. Built on top of the familiar TLS framework, zkTLS adds a critical new capability: the ability to prove a statement is true without revealing the underlying
information. You can confirm you’re over 18 without sharing your date of birth, prove your income without disclosing your payslip, or show you have a valid license without exposing the licence number.
One of the best examples I have seen in operation is that of Opacity Network. Their approach to zkTLS creates a decentralized verification system that’s both tamper-resistant and source-agnostic. It works with existing Web2 systems, meaning developers can
bring verifiable data from any website or portal directly on-chain. No APIs, no special permissions, no compromises.
How is this tech being used?
This isn’t just theoretical; the implications of zkTLS are already visible. Decentralized identity systems can confirm eligibility for a service without ever exposing personal files. Blockchains can receive real-world data like market prices, weather reports
or sports scores directly into smart contracts without relying on a central source.
Businesses can run analytics or regulatory checks without hoarding invasive datasets, whilst financial auditors can verify statements against official records without prying into every transaction.
Even healthcare researchers can confirm eligibility criteria without gaining access to personal health records.
The economic shift
What’s at stake here is more than privacy; it’s the unlocking of economic value trapped behind digital silos.
Big platforms may resist, fearing loss of control over their data assets, but history shows that when friction falls, markets grow. As we have seen, the value of verified but private data extends beyond crypto into finance, healthcare, supply chains and
even public governance.
The companies that embrace this shift will onboard users faster, launch products quicker, and build trust without building surveillance.
So, what’s next?
We are on the cusp of a new era in digital trust – one where verification no longer means surrendering control. zkTLS doesn’t just patch privacy holes; it rewires how the internet handles proof.
If the last decade was about collecting more data, the next will be about proving more whilst revealing less – and that may be the most powerful shift in ID yet.
