L2 ZK Proof Demand Fell Off a Cliff. Cysic’s Founder on What Replaced It

Cysic founder and CEO Leo Fan on why zero-knowledge proofs are a hardware problem, not a math problem. Fan describes a decentralization gap he says runs through most major chains: validators concentrated on AWS, in a small number of regions. Cysic’s network pays contributors in CYS to run ZK proof generation on idle hardware, including consumer gaming GPUs rather than datacenter cards. He also covers Cysic’s move into AI inference after layer 2 proof demand fell this year, why the company verifies open-source models statistically instead of with ZK, Ethereum’s path to real-time proving, and a dark pool designed to let compliance screening coexist with transaction privacy. Guest: Leo Fan — @cysic_xyz Host: Camila Russo — @CamiRusso Explore The Defiant ✨ 📰 Website https://thedefiant.io/ ✉️ Free Daily Newsletter https://thedefiant.io/newsletter/defi... 🤑 Weekly Premium Newsletter https://thedefiant.io/newsletter/defi... ✊ Follow The Defiant X/Twitter: https://x.com/DefiantNews 📬 Contact our Newsroom [email protected] 🤝 Sponsorships & Partnerships [email protected] #TheDefiant​ #DeFi​ #Decentralized​ #Finance​ #Blockchain #Web3