Skip to main content
Version: 0.17 (unstable)

FAQ

How is privacy implemented in Miden?​

Miden leverages zero-knowledge proofs and client side execution and proving to provide security and privacy.

Does Miden support encrypted notes?​

At the moment, Miden does not have support for encrypted notes but it is a planned feature.

Why does Miden have delegated proving?​

Miden leverages delegated proving for a few technical and practical reasons:

  1. Computational: Generating zero-knowledge proofs is a computationally intensive work. The proving process requires significant processing power and memory, making it impractical for some end-user devices (like smartphones) to generate.
  2. Technical architecture: Miden's architecture separates concerns between:
    • Transaction Creation: End users create and sign transactions
    • Proof Generation: Specialized provers generate validity proofs
    • Verification: The network verifies these proofs
  3. Proving efficiency: Delegated provers can use optimized hardware that wouldn't be available to end-user devices, specifically designed for the mathematical operations needed in STARK proof generation.

What is the lifecycle of a transaction?​

For a client-executed transaction:

1. Transaction Creation​

  • User creates a transaction specifying the operations to perform (transfers, contract interactions, etc.)
  • Client loads the account state and input notes needed for execution

2. Transaction Execution​

  • The Miden VM executes the note and transaction scripts locally
  • The resulting state transitions and execution trace are computed
  • During authentication, the account pays the protocol fee through a public TX_FEE note and authorizes the transaction summary

3. Proof Generation​

  • The client or a delegated prover generates a cryptographic proof attesting to the correctness of the execution

4. Transaction Submission​

  • The proven transaction, sealed inputs, and public state updates are submitted to Miden network nodes
  • The node verifies the proof and admission rules before accepting the transaction into the mempool

5. Transaction Selection​

  • Accepted transactions are selected from the mempool
  • Transactions are grouped into batches for inclusion in a block

6. Block Production​

  • Transaction batches and their proofs are assembled into a block
  • The client synchronizes to observe the transaction's inclusion and updated state

7. L1 Submission​

  • Block proofs are aggregated for settlement
  • The resulting proof and state commitments are submitted for L1 verification

8. Finalization​

  • L1 settlement establishes finality for the submitted state
  • Inclusion in a Miden block does not by itself establish L1 finality

Do notes in Miden support recency conditions?​

Yes, Miden enables consumption of notes based on time conditions, such as:

  • A specific block height being reached
  • A timestamp threshold being passed
  • An oracle providing specific data
  • Another transaction being confirmed

What does a Miden operator do in Miden?​

A Miden operator is an entity that maintains the infrastructure necessary for the functioning of the Miden layer 2. Their roles may involve:

  1. Running Sequencer Nodes
  2. Operating the Prover Infrastructure
  3. Submitting Proofs to L1
  4. Maintaining Data Availability
  5. Participating in the Consensus Mechanism

How does bridging work in Miden?​

Miden testnet applications can integrate Agglayer or Epoch. Agglayer provides canonical bridge semantics for ETH, while Epoch provides a faster quote-and-solve flow for test USDC. Both integrations are testnet-only.

What does the gas fee model of Miden look like?​

Miden does not meter gas linearly. Its transaction fee grows logarithmically with the transaction's estimated VM cycles. During authentication, the account pays by creating a public TX_FEE note that the batch builder can collect. See Transaction Fees for the formula, payment assets, and network-account sponsorship fees.