zk proofs could be used to add privacy features to a blockchain, but also verifiable computation. Ethereum smart contracts are bound by “gas” as they run on-chain (and so highly expensive computation is infeasible), in Mina the smart contract computation can execute on the user’s own machine; only the lightweight zk-SNARK proof is submitted to the network.

Zk proofs also enable some novel forms of verifiable attestations. For example proving that you have sufficient funds for a bid, or belong to a group of addresses, or know something private, without revealing any additional information about it.