---
id: "client-side-proving"
name: "Client-Side Proving"
image: ""
section: "pse"
projectStatus: "active"
category: "research"
tldr: "Mapping out the ZK-SNARKs ecosystem, evaluating ZKP solutions using standardized and reproducible benchmarks, and advancing the most promising ZKP stacks with developer-friendly tooling to lower adoption barriers, enabling efficient client-side ZKP applications."
license: "MIT"
tags:
  keywords: ["Zero Knowledge", "Mobile", "Privacy", "Digital Identity"]
  themes: ["build", "research"]
  types: ["Legos/dev tools", "Benchmarking", "Proof systems"]
team:
  - name: "Alex Kuzmin"
    email: "alex.kuzmin@pse.dev"
  - name: "Guorong Du"
    email: "dgr009@pse.dev"
  - name: "Brechy"
    email: "brechy@pse.dev"
---

### Project Overview

The Client-Side Proving project aims to develop practical and efficient implementations and tooling for zero-knowledge (ZK) proving systems tailored specifically for mobile devices. By exploring various proving systems we provide benchmarks, insights, and optimized implementations that enable performant client-side applications.

### Objective

We publish the CSP Quarterly Report, which benchmarks zkVMs and ZKP stacks for mobile feasibility. In parallel, we research promising ZKP stacks, prioritizing transparent (no-setup), post-quantum–sound ZKP systems with direct on-chain verification. All evaluations respect realistic mobile RAM budgets - under 4 GB on Android and 6 GB on iPhone.

### Project Status

- **Stage:** MVP Development
- **Status:** Active
- **Team Lead:** Alex Kuzmin
- **Team Members:** Guorong Du, Brechy

### Technical Approach

- We are developing a standardized cloud-first benchmarking pipeline that uses fixed hardware profiles, supports straightforward circuit and stack extensions, and runs qualifying targets on real mobile devices.
- We aim to publish the benchmarking results in a comparison-friendly format that offers filtering and sorting.
- For ZKP stack R&D, we are currently exploring multilinear sumcheck-based ZKP schemes (Spartan, Hyperplonk, SuperSpartan) in combination with the latest transparent and post-quantum polynomial commitment scheme (WHIR).

### Milestones

- **April 2025**: Established baseline benchmarks for common mobile hardware.
- **June 2025**: Published the first benchmark results, [Efficient Client-Side Proving for zkID](https://pse.dev/blog/efficient-client-side-proving-for-zkid).
- **Q3 2025 (planned)**: Researching the most efficient sumcheck-based ZKP system with WHIR PCS, adding Noir frontend and on-chain verifier
- **Q4 2025 (planned)**: Publishing the first edition of the **CSP Quarterly Report** containing the benchmarks of demanding ZKP circuits (SHA-256, ECDSA) in latest ZKP systems and zkVMs that claim to be client-side oriented.

### Applications

Client-Side Proving enables numerous privacy-focused mobile applications, including:

- Mobile Digital ID wallets ensuring user privacy.
- Anonymous online communication and collaboration tools.

### How to get in touch

- Join the [PSE Discord](https://discord.com/invite/sF5CT5rzrR)
- Reach out via email Alex: alex.kuzmin@pse.dev, Guorong Du: dgr009@pse.dev, Brechy: brechy@pse.dev

### Publications

- [Benchmarks for Digital ID Wallet](https://hackmd.io/@clientsideproving/S1wiUc0n1e)
- [Mobile Hardware Survey](https://hackmd.io/@clientsideproving/ByqafXAv1e)
- [Plonky2 Sha256 Benchmarks](https://hackmd.io/@clientsideproving/B1xLCuJL5yg)
- [Proof Systems Survey](https://hackmd.io/@clientsideproving/HyKBkz7jye)

Benchmark findings and technical write-ups will be released regularly, highlighting the project's research outcomes and performance evaluations.