An Energy-Efficient and Privacy-Centric Consensus Protocol for Secure Blockchain Finance Using zk-SNARKs

An Energy-Efficient and Privacy-Centric Consensus Protocol for Secure Blockchain Finance Using zk-SNARKs | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article An Energy-Efficient and Privacy-Centric Consensus Protocol for Secure Blockchain Finance Using zk-SNARKs Anwar Ali Sathio, Prof Dr Muhammad Malook Rind, Dr. Shafique Ahmed Awan This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7175542/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Blockchain technology has revolutionized financial systems, however, conventional consensus protocols, PoW and PoS face energy, efficiency, privacy, and scalability issues. In the study proposed a ZKPCA, a novel framework integrating zk-SNARKs to validate transactions secure the sensitive data. In proposed algorithm, it eliminates the need for resource-intensive mining or stake-based voting, instead relying on mathematically optimized proofs to ensure privacy and reduce computational overhead. We tested the benchmark Ethereum datasets to validate the ZKP Consensus against PoW and PoS in a Docker-containerized environment. We achieve the 99.8% reduction in energy consumption (15 mWh/tx vs. PoW’s 5000 mWh/tx), a 75 Tps throughput, and near-perfect privacy (99.9% score). The proposed algorithm achieves sub-second latency (1.0 ms) while maintaining BFT and addresses the critical gaps in the existing systems. In the study, we establish an energy efficient, scalable, secure, and sustainable consensus mechanism for blockchain financial transactions. zk-SNARKs Blockchain Consensus Zero-Knowledge Proofs Homomorphic Encryption Ethereum ETL Datasets Cryptographic Proof Verification Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7175542","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":490228246,"identity":"b62aa21e-6d3e-4d2f-91c1-581a7fea5433","order_by":0,"name":"Anwar Ali Sathio","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABD0lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYFADCcYGho8NBxgY2IEcHpAAIR08QC2MM0FamInXAlTMS4wW/tk9hp8rGOrk7aWbGx/b7rhjb3CYgfHB2zaGPMkGHD64c8ZY8gzDYcMemYPNxrlnniVuOMzAbDi3jaFYGpeDbuRuABp3gLFHIrFNOrftcALQFjZp3jaGxHk4dMjfyN38s4Ghzh6sxbLtMMhh7L/xaTG4kbsNaAtzIlgLY9thRqDD2JhBWmbj0GJ4I/+bZYPB4eSeG4nNhr1Av8w8zNgsOeecRDEu78vdSEu+2VBRZ9s+I/3hg5/AEOM73nzww5symzyJA7j8D3YeCo8RZLxEAj4N2AEZWkbBKBgFo2CYAgDdXF0JZPREogAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"","institution":"Benazir Bhutto Shaheed University Lyari Karachi Sindh Pakistan","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Anwar","middleName":"Ali","lastName":"Sathio","suffix":""},{"id":490228247,"identity":"72663320-1d86-426e-89ad-f9a6bfba0d34","order_by":1,"name":"Prof Dr Muhammad Malook Rind","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Sindh Madressatul Islam University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Prof","middleName":"Dr Muhammad Malook","lastName":"Rind","suffix":""},{"id":490228248,"identity":"24354901-043a-4e71-876e-495f4da22b79","order_by":2,"name":"Dr. Shafique Ahmed Awan","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Benazir Bhutto Shaheed University Lyari Karachi Sindh Pakistan","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"Dr.","firstName":"Shafique","middleName":"Ahmed","lastName":"Awan","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-07-21 09:23:19","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7175542/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7175542/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":94113440,"identity":"8a4c51e8-48af-4da6-b3bf-04abbcba8ce5","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-10-22 13:53:30","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":907793,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"manuscript4FD.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7175542/v1_covered_99830c4c-20ea-4f29-9458-ea0f481e0ac3.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"An Energy-Efficient and Privacy-Centric Consensus Protocol for Secure Blockchain Finance Using zk-SNARKs","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"zk-SNARKs, Blockchain Consensus, Zero-Knowledge Proofs, Homomorphic Encryption, Ethereum ETL Datasets, Cryptographic Proof Verification","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7175542/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7175542/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eBlockchain technology has revolutionized financial systems, however, conventional consensus protocols, PoW and PoS face energy, efficiency, privacy, and scalability issues. In the study proposed a ZKPCA, a novel framework integrating zk-SNARKs to validate transactions secure the sensitive data. In proposed algorithm, it eliminates the need for resource-intensive mining or stake-based voting, instead relying on mathematically optimized proofs to ensure privacy and reduce computational overhead. We tested the benchmark Ethereum datasets to validate the ZKP Consensus against PoW and PoS in a Docker-containerized environment. We achieve the 99.8% reduction in energy consumption (15 mWh/tx vs. PoW\u0026rsquo;s 5000 mWh/tx), a 75 Tps throughput, and near-perfect privacy (99.9% score). The proposed algorithm achieves sub-second latency (1.0 ms) while maintaining BFT and addresses the critical gaps in the existing systems. In the study, we establish an energy efficient, scalable, secure, and sustainable consensus mechanism for blockchain financial transactions.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"An Energy-Efficient and Privacy-Centric Consensus Protocol for Secure Blockchain Finance Using zk-SNARKs","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-07-25 02:33:42","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7175542/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"06d5dd86-b5c9-4cb8-85c4-e555e0733962","owner":[],"postedDate":"July 25th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-10-22T13:53:17+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-07-25 02:33:42","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-7175542","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-7175542","identity":"rs-7175542","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}