The Mina Protocol invented the concept of a succinct blockchain, using recursive zero knowledge proofs to keep the chain verifiable at a constant size. This approach ensures that anyone can verify the entire chain state with a single 22KB proof, making Mina one of the most accessible and decentralized protocols in Web3.
While Mina is the most decentralized blockchain for settling ZKPs—offering secure and cheap ZK verification—Zeko, as a ZK rollup on Mina, complements this by accelerating transaction throughput and application UX with a built-in composable execution environment. Together, they will deliver scalable performance on top of Mina’s underlying security guarantees.
The promise of zero knowledge applications has always been compelling. Privacy-preserving computation, verifiable execution, and trustless interactions. Today, the Mina ecosystem transforms this promise into production reality through a powerful combination of foundational infrastructure and scalable execution layers.
How Mina and Zeko Work Together
Imagine applications where every interaction generates a cryptographic proof of correctness without revealing underlying data. Credit checks that protect financial privacy. Voting systems that ensure both transparency and confidentiality. Cross-chain DeFi or gaming operations using zkProofs as a global source of truth. LLM evals that are cryptographically provable. This is the zkInternet, and it’s being built today on Zeko with the Mina stack.
By separating verification from execution, the Mina stack delivers both the security of a decentralized blockchain and the performance modern applications demand. In fact, these are the principles upon which Mina was designed from the beginning. Unlimited size off-chain execution, and succinct on-chain proof verification. The addition of Zeko to the Mina stack delivers a huge win for zkApp developers by enabling instant sequencing of transactions that result in 100x faster slot times than Mina today, and 50x faster slot times post the Mesa Upgrade.
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Understanding the Stack
Mina Protocol maintains its constant 22KB size through recursive zero knowledge proofs. This ensures that anyone can verify the entire chain state from the browser, making Mina one of the most accessible and decentralized protocols in Web3—the ideal settlement layer for applications.
o1js is a TypeScript library for writing general-purpose ZK programs and ZK smart contracts for Mina. It provides developers with familiar tools to build sophisticated zero knowledge applications. Every smart contract on Mina is a ZK program, ensuring privacy and verifiability by default.
Zeko extends this foundation as a fully isomorphic ZK Rollup framework for the Mina Protocol ecosystem. This means applications written for Mina run identically on Zeko, but with improved throughput, responsiveness, and other developer experience enhancements. The Zeko L2 shared sequencer collects transactions, applies them to the current state, and groups them into batches for efficient settlement on the Mina L1. Applications or enterprises can also deploy their own custom rollup infrastructure using Zeko, with different privacy, execution, or permissions parameters.
Zeko functions as a complete rollup stack – developers can deploy their own app-specific L3s (zkAppChains) that inherit Zeko’s sequencing and proving infrastructure. These zkAppChains can be optimized for specific use cases – a private DeFi chain, a gaming chain with custom parameters, an AI verification chain – all ultimately settling back to Mina L1 through the same recursive proof compression.
This means developers aren’t just building zkApps – they’re building entire zkApp ecosystems. Each with its own performance characteristics, governance, and fee models, but all secured by the same Mina settlement layer. The result: scalable zkApps with great UX on Zeko, secured and settled by Mina, with the flexibility to spawn specialized chains as applications grow.
Building on the Stack
Which Layer is Right for Your zkApp?
Start with Mina L1 when:
Mina L1 is battle-tested infrastructure. It’s the natural choice for settlement-only applications that primarily verify proofs from other systems or act as bridges to other chains. L1 also suits low-frequency, high-value operations like governance decisions, protocol parameters, or treasury management where 90-second block times are acceptable.
Scale with Zeko when:
Zeko becomes essential when building any user-facing application expecting regular interactions, whether DeFi protocols, gaming platforms, or identity systems. It’s designed for applications that need to instantly settle transactions and sync the latest state across multiple users, and for custom rollup implementations that benefit from the shared Zeko infrastructure. The batched proof settlement dramatically reduces per-transaction fees while maintaining Mina’s security guarantees, making it the economical choice for growing applications.
Production Performance
When applications move to production on Zeko, they gain access to:
- Sub-second transaction confirmation for responsive user experiences
- Batched settlement to Mina L1, maintaining security while minimizing costs; faster finalization to Mina will be enabled by Mina’s upcoming Mesa Upgrade
- Unlimited account updates with native recursion support, allowing complex computations to compress into constant-size proofs via o1js with unlimited account updates
Start Building Today
Whether you’re developing DeFi protocols, governance systems, gaming applications, or entirely new categories of zkApps, the Mina stack provides the foundation you need. With a growing developer community and ongoing DevX improvements, there’s never been a better time to bring your vision for the zkInternet to life.
The best way to get started is to build a simple zkApp on Mina, then test its scalability on Zeko. Check out the o1js docs and begin exploring the different paths on your dev journey.
Learn more about scaling with Zeko at docs.zeko.io. Tons of developers are in the #zkapps-developers channel on Mina’s Discord to share ideas and get support.
The zkInternet is being built today, one zkApp at a time. Join us in bringing privacy-preserving, verifiable computation to users worldwide.
About Mina Protocol
Mina is the world’s lightest blockchain, powered by participants. Rather than apply brute computing force, Mina uses advanced cryptography and recursive zk-SNARKs to design an entire blockchain that is about 22kb, the size of a couple of tweets. It is the first layer-1 to enable efficient implementation and easy programmability of zero knowledge smart contracts (zkApps). With its unique privacy features and ability to connect to any website, Mina is building a private gateway between the real world and crypto—and the secure, democratic future we all deserve.
