Zama, the cryptography firm known for developing the Zama Confidential Blockchain Protocol, has announced the acquisition of KKRT Labs, a research and development company specializing in Zero-Knowledge (ZK) Proof-based blockchain scaling. The deal is being positioned as a key step toward expanding Zama’s technical expertise in ZK rollups while accelerating its mission to bring high-performance confidentiality to public blockchains.
KKRT Labs, also referred to as Kakarot, has built a reputation for designing modular rollup architectures and advanced proving systems optimized for Ethereum-equivalent environments. The company is backed by several well-known industry contributors, including Vitalik Buterin, Starkware, Lambda Class, and Stake Capital. It has been recognized as one of the most capable teams in the ZK-rollup space, with a focus on developing scalable proving engines for chains compatible with Ethereum.
Through this acquisition, Zama aims to enhance the scalability of its protocol, setting a target of exceeding 10,000 confidential transactions per second on networks such as Ethereum, Solana, and others. The company expects this level of performance to support secure, private financial applications ranging from stablecoin payments to confidential asset management solutions and privacy-preserving DeFi services.
Zama’s leadership stated that KKRT Labs’ team is regarded as one of the strongest in the ZK-rollup ecosystem and expressed confidence that the combined expertise will accelerate development timelines, resulting in greater throughput and performance for the Zama Protocol.
Both companies appear aligned in their philosophy toward cryptographic innovation, particularly around the idea that decentralization should not compromise privacy or scalability. They share a belief that confidentiality and high performance are interdependent requirements for the next generation of blockchain infrastructure rather than opposing priorities.
— Kakarot (@KakarotZkEvm) November 5, 2025
Industry voices associated with KKRT Labs also commented on the merger. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin was cited as having acknowledged the team’s ongoing contributions to the advancement of zero-knowledge technology, noting its work on ZK-EVMs and privacy-focused client-side proving. He expressed interest in seeing how the team’s research continues under Zama’s umbrella.
Zama has indicated that integration plans are already underway, with an emphasis on minimizing disruption. Key engineers, leadership, and operations staff from KKRT Labs are expected to join Zama in full, and existing development initiatives will be synchronized with Zama’s broader product roadmap.
StarkWare co-founder Eli Ben Sasson reportedly praised the technical progress achieved by KKRT Labs, highlighting its evolution from an early proof of concept into a widely respected cryptographic scaling effort. He suggested that the team’s experience in privacy and scalability will be instrumental in supporting Zama’s long-term vision.
KKRT Labs’ leadership also shared its perspective, noting that joining Zama provides an opportunity to address what it considers one of the final major challenges in blockchain adoption: real-time confidentiality at scale. The team reiterated its belief that the combination of scalability and privacy is essential for bringing high-throughput confidential finance on-chain.
With the acquisition, Zama is signaling its intent to position itself at the forefront of encrypted blockchain computation, aiming to merge high-performance ZK technology with confidential smart contract execution. The company appears to be betting that future blockchain adoption will hinge on the ability to process large volumes of private transactions without compromising speed or decentralization.
