# ZK Proving Markets: Proof Requests and Prover Rewards

> ZK proving markets tracked on-chain: proof requests, proofs fulfilled, prices paid and prover rewards on Boundless and Succinct, with collateral and stake.

Markdown copy of https://voltfincrypto.com/apps/zk-proving-markets

**Question:** How many ZK proofs are bought on decentralized proving markets, what do they cost and what do provers earn?

- Kind: Dashboard in Voltfin Vantage
- Topic: [Layer 2s](https://voltfincrypto.com/topics/layer-2)
- Chains: Base, Ethereum
- Status: Planned. The data is not published yet, so this page states no figure; each figure will open its receipt when it is.

Zero-knowledge proofs let a rollup, bridge or app prove that a computation ran correctly, but generating them takes heavy hardware. Proving markets turn that work into an open market: a requester posts a job and a price, provers compete to take it and the proof is verified on-chain before payment. This dashboard tracks the markets that settle on-chain, from their contracts.

Two designs lead. Boundless runs its market contracts on Base, where a prover locks ZKC as collateral to take a request and loses part of it if it misses the deadline. Succinct's prover network settles to Ethereum, where provers stake PROVE and delegators can back them. The dashboard counts requests, fulfilled and missed proofs, prices paid and what provers earn on each network.

## Blueprint

### Market

Proof requests, deliveries and prices.

- **Proof requests, period** (requests): Requests posted to the proving market contracts in the selected period.
- **Fulfilled on time** (%): Requests fulfilled before their deadline as a share of all requests whose deadline fell in the period.
- **Median price paid** (USD): The median price requesters paid for a fulfilled proof in the period, valued at the payment block.
- **Missed deadlines** (requests): Requests whose prover failed to deliver in time, which slashed its collateral.
- **Requests by day and outcome** (requests): Daily requests on each network, split into fulfilled, missed and still open.

### Provers

Who proves, what they earn and what they stake.

- **Active provers** (provers): Prover addresses that fulfilled at least one proof in the period.
- **Stake and collateral** (tokens): ZKC locked as collateral on Boundless and PROVE staked to provers on Succinct at the latest block.
- **Prover earnings by day** (USD): Request payments and token rewards that provers received each day, by network.
- **Provers ranked**: Each prover with proofs delivered, its share of the market, fees earned, token rewards and the collateral or stake behind it.

Filters: Network (Boundless, Succinct or both); Period (Last 7, 30 or 90 days).

## How it will be measured

- Boundless requests are read from its market contract on Base: each request submitted, locked by a prover, fulfilled or expired, with its price and the collateral locked.
- Succinct activity is read from its settlement and PROVE staking contracts on Ethereum, with fees and rewards as those contracts record them.
- A proof counts as delivered only when the market contract records it as fulfilled after on-chain verification; expired requests and slashed collateral are counted apart.
- Prices and rewards stay in the token they were paid in, with USD values from oracle prices at the same block where a feed exists.

## Data it needs

- `protocol_revenue_daily` (to build): Fees users paid to each protocol and the part kept by the protocol or its token holders, per protocol and day, including buybacks.
- `token_supply_daily` (to build): Total supply of each registry token on each chain at day end: wrapped BTC, liquid staking tokens, tokenized assets and other tracked tokens.
- `l2_activity_daily` (to build): Per layer 2 per day: transactions, active addresses, fees users paid on the L2, and what the L2 paid Ethereum to settle and post data.
- `native_prices_daily` (to build): Reference prices of major assets read from on-chain oracle feeds (Chainlink latestRoundData) at each day's last block, with each round's update time.
- Source: Boundless market contract events on Base: request submitted, locked, fulfilled and slashed
- Source: ZKC collateral deposits and withdrawals in the Boundless market
- Source: Succinct settlement and PROVE staking contract events on Ethereum
- Source: Verifier contract calls that accept each delivered proof

## Questions

### What is a ZK proving market?

A marketplace where anyone who needs a zero-knowledge proof posts a request and a price, and independent provers compete to generate it. A verifier contract checks the proof before the prover is paid, so the buyer does not have to trust whoever produced it.

### Who buys ZK proofs?

Rollups that prove their state to Ethereum, bridges and light clients that prove another chain's consensus and apps that move heavy computation off-chain and prove the result. Each request on the dashboard is labelled by requester where the requester is known.

### What happens if a prover misses a deadline?

On Boundless, the prover's locked collateral is slashed: part is burned and part is offered as a bounty to whoever completes the proof. On Succinct, a prover's stake is what holds it to delivering on time. The dashboard counts missed deadlines and slashed collateral.

### How do provers earn?

Provers earn the price of each request they fulfil, paid by the requester. Both networks also add token rewards: Boundless distributes ZKC to provers by verified work each epoch, and Succinct pays fees in PROVE that are shared with the prover's delegators.

### Why track proving on-chain?

Proof volumes are rarely published in audited form. Requests, fulfilments and payments that settle on-chain can be counted directly, so the market's real size and its prices can be checked without relying on announcements.

## Glossary

- **Prover**: An operator that runs the hardware to generate zero-knowledge proofs and submits them for verification.
- **zkVM**: A virtual machine whose execution can be proven, so ordinary programs can produce zero-knowledge proofs of their results.
- **Collateral**: Tokens a prover locks when it takes a request, forfeited in part if it fails to deliver in time.

## Related apps

- [Ethereum Layer 2 List Ranked by Activity, Fees and Value](https://voltfincrypto.com/apps/ethereum-layer-2-list)
- [L2 Profitability: Fees Earned vs Costs Paid to Ethereum](https://voltfincrypto.com/apps/l2-profitability)
- [Top Ethereum L2s: Monthly League Table of Rollups](https://voltfincrypto.com/apps/top-ethereum-l2s-monthly)
- [EigenLayer Restaking: TVL, Operators, AVSs and Slashing](https://voltfincrypto.com/apps/eigenlayer-restaking-dashboard)
- [Ethereum TPS: Mainnet and Layer 2 Transactions per Second](https://voltfincrypto.com/apps/ethereum-tps)
- [Ethereum L2 Fees Compared: Cost per Transaction](https://voltfincrypto.com/apps/ethereum-l2-fees)

Build it in Voltfin Studio: https://app.voltfincrypto.com/signup?next=%2F