Robinhood reportedly working on zero-knowledge privacy protocol for anonymous swaps

Robinhood appears to be stepping into one of crypto’s most controversial corners: privacy. The retail trading platform is reportedly developing its first privacy protocol built on zero-knowledge proof technology, which would allow users to make private deposits, swaps, and withdrawals. Zero-knowledge proofs let one party prove to another that a statement is true without revealing any underlying information. Projects like Zcash pioneered ZK-based privacy in blockchain transactions, and more recently, zkSync and other layer-2 scaling solutions have used ZK proofs primarily for throughput improvements on Ethereum. Robinhood currently supports cross-chain swaps across networks including Ethereum, Solana, and Polygon. None of those existing swap features include ZK-based anonymity layers. The platform also lists the ZK token associated with zkSync for trading on its European platforms, but that’s a tradeable asset, not a protocol integration. Robinhood has been expanding its crypto footprint. The company launched Robinhood Chain for tokenized assets and rolled out a non-custodial wallet that gives users direct control over their private keys. Robinhood, as a publicly traded company subj...