The Future of Web3 Privacy: Exploring zkTLS and Sophon’s Vision

Imagine you’re a high-net-worth customer holding an exclusive credit card at the prestige level. This card grants you access to premium services, like spa treatments at a 5-star hotel. All you need to do is present your card, and you receive the privilege. The spa staff just verify that your card is not expire and asked your permission to record your name in their registration form — simple and seamless in real life.

Now, consider a similar scenario in the blockchain world. You’ve been onboarded on a DeFi platform and earned significant points or rank due to your Total Value Locked (TVL) contribution. Naturally, you might want to extend these privileges to other dApps like Web3 games, NFT trading platforms, or other DeFi services. However, this process raises several challenges.

The source platform may be reluctant to share sensitive information directly, and the target platform may struggle to verify your credentials using only on-chain data.

What else we can do?

On-chain information is often limited, subject to specific transaction events, and may not fully meet the verification requirements. Additionally, there are potential legal implications if users prefer not to share personal data.

While middleman services like Passport.xyz offer a solution for human verification, they may lack flexibility in proving additional information that the platforms require.

Introducing zkTLS: A New Layer of Security

What if we had a security protocol integrated directly into the blockchain that could mitigate these challenges? A protocol that establishes trust without relying on the middleman, reducing counterparty risk while addressing smart contract vulnerabilities? This is where zkTLS (Zero-Knowledge Transport Layer Security) comes into play.

From my understanding, zkTLS functions as an additional security layer between wallets* like MetaMask and dApps, allowing me to control not only the transactions I sign or approve but also my sensitive data and usage information. It acts as a privacy-enhancing layer, similar to GDPR-compliant data management, strengthening security beyond existing protections.

Note: zkTLS is not a feature of MetaMask and is not directly tied to wallets. Instead, it operates as a security layer at the protocol level, ensuring data privacy and control. I referenced MetaMask simply to illustrate the concept more clearly.

By enabling secure, private, and verifiable communication between platforms, zkTLS ensures that sensitive user information remains protected while still allowing for proof of status or contribution or other sensitive data sharing across different dApps.

What Sophon is currently doing?

As of February 14, 2025, the mainnet has launched, with TGE expected by the end of Q1. They are actively onboarding multiple dApps onto the Sophon network, some of which are already open for beta testing.

Let’s see how these dApp will take shape in Sophon with zkTLS.

Game

Imagine you’re playing a Web3 game, and after hours of grinding, you finally get a legendary sword or a rare skin. In a normal Web3 game, that item is an NFT tied to your wallet, meaning anyone can look it up on-chain. At first, that sounds cool — you can prove ownership. But then you realize scammers start DM you fake offers, hackers might try to drain your wallet, and even in PvP, players could target you just because they know what you have. It’s like walking around with a neon sign saying, “I have valuable loot, come get me.”

Now, imagine a zkTLS-powered Web3 games*. You still own that legendary sword, but instead of being fully exposed, you can prove you have it without revealing your wallet. You can trade privately, make marketplace bids without people tracking your other assets, and earn rewards without anyone knowing how much you’re making.

Note: These are technically feasible, but its full implementation is still in the early stages of development.

Even better, zkTLS prevents bots from farming the game, since players have to prove they’re real without exposing personal info. It’s like having all the benefits of blockchain gaming, but without the risks of getting tracked or exploited.

And let’s say you want to use your NFT items in another game — normally, you’d have to link your wallet again, exposing your entire inventory. With zkTLS, you can verify ownership without exposing anything else. That means no tracking, no linking your whole portfolio, and no risk if one game gets hacked. In short, zkTLS makes Web3 gaming what it’s supposed to be — secure, private, and fun, without turning players into easy targets.

Music

If you’re familiar with Gala Music, you already know the listen-to-earn concept — where you can stream tracks, and both you and the artist can earn tokens, especially if you own the track NFT. However, with zkTLS, you can prove that you’ve actually listened to the music without revealing your personal data or wallet identity, ensuring privacy, security, and fair reward distribution.

In Gala Music, the platform needs to know at least your username and wallet address to identify you and process rewards. This means your listening activity is linked to your identity on-chain.

With zkTLS, no such exposure is needed — you don’t even have to share your wallet address to prove that you’re listening. Instead, zkTLS generates a cryptographic proof (such as a Zero-Knowledge Proof) that verifies your engagement without revealing any private details.

What we can expected in the near future?

In the near future, more dApps will be onboarded, enabling seamless integration with each other through zkTLS. Additionally, based on their whitepaper and X posts, they claim they won’t just wait for users to join — instead, they plan to integrate zkTLS directly into existing Web2 platforms, bringing blockchain benefits to users without disrupting their experience.

This brings me to the end of the article. Sophon is still in its early stages, and I’m excited to see how zkTLS concepts evolve into real-world applications. If there are any major updates in the future, I’ll definitely write a follow-up article. Thank you for reading!