Zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) have emerged as a promising solution to address the scalability challenges in modern blockchain systems. This study proposes a methodology for generating and verifying ZKPs to ensure the computational integrity of cryptographic hashing, specifically focusing on the SHA-256 algorithm. By leveraging the Plonky2 framework, which implements the PLONK protocol with FRI commitment scheme, we demonstrate the efficiency and scalability of our approach for both random data and real data blocks from the NEAR blockchain. The experimental results show consistent performance across different data sizes and types, with the time required for proof generation and verification remaining within acceptable limits. The generated circuits and proofs maintain manageable sizes, even for real-world data blocks with a large number of transactions. The proposed methodology contributes to the development of secure and trustworthy blockchain systems, where the integrity of computations can be verified without revealing the underlying data. Further research is needed to assess the applicability of the approach to other cryptographic primitives and to evaluate its performance in more complex real-world scenarios.

翻译：零知识证明已成为解决现代区块链系统可扩展性挑战的一种有前景的解决方案。本研究提出了一种生成和验证零知识证明的方法，旨在确保密码学哈希（特别聚焦于SHA-256算法）的计算完整性。通过利用实现了PLONK协议与FRI承诺方案的Plonky2框架，我们证明了该方法对于随机数据以及来自NEAR区块链的真实数据块均具有高效性和可扩展性。实验结果表明，在不同数据规模和类型下性能表现一致，证明生成与验证所需时间均保持在可接受的范围内。即使对于包含大量交易的真实世界数据块，生成的电路和证明也保持了可管理的大小。所提出的方法有助于开发安全可信的区块链系统，其中计算的完整性可以在不泄露底层数据的情况下得到验证。未来需要进一步研究以评估该方法对其他密码学原语的适用性，并在更复杂的现实场景中评估其性能。