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This paper is a great resource if you're unfamiliar with zk-SNARK and how it works: Why and How zk-SNARK Works (2019) https://arxiv.org/abs/1906.07221
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Why and How zk-SNARK Works
Maksym Petkus
2019 · arXiv
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From the abstract
Despite the existence of multiple great resources on zk-SNARK construction, from original papers to explainers, due to the sheer number of moving parts the subject remains a black box for many. While some pieces of the puzzle are given one can not see the full picture without the missing ones. Hence the focus of this work is to shed light onto the topic with a straightforward and clean approach based on examples and answering many whys along the way so that more individuals can appreciate the state of the art technology, its innovators and ultimately the beauty of math. Paper's contribution is a simplistic exposition with a sufficient and gradually increasing level of complexity, necessary to understand zk-SNARK without any prerequisite knowledge of the subject, cryptography or advanced math. The primary goal is not only to explain how it works but why it works and how it came to be this way.
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Neutral mention · rule
Another nice resource for understanding zk snarks that I found easily digestible was this paper that was shared on hn a few months ago[0]. https://arxiv.org/abs/1906.07221 [0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24815649
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I liked this PDF that starts with using modular arithmetic to prove knowledge of polynomial, using bilinear EC pairings to make it self and then, finally, encoding computations as polynomials: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1906.07221.pdf
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For Ethereum, there's Tornado Cash[1] and other projects based on zk-SNARK[2] or similar tech. I'm not sure if there's a fully decentralized equivalent for Bitcoin. [1] https://tornado.cash/ [2] Why and How zk-SNARK Works: https://arxiv.org/abs/1906.07221
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