From vision to production
The Boundless protocol demonstrates that zero-knowledge proofs can become a universal primitive - one any chain could tap into for unlimited computation and seamless interoperability without compromising its own security.
Today that promise goes live: Boundless Mainnet Beta is running in production on Base. Real deposits, real proofs, real rewards. A shared proving ground where builders and provers can push the limits and help shape the mainnet launch.
The Signal: Proof-powered scaling and interoperability
To show day-one utility, the Boundless team presents The Signal, an open-source ZK consensus client that distills Ethereum finality into a single proof.
- How it works: Each time the beacon chain finalizes, the Boundless protocol proves and compresses that event into a tiny ZK proof. That proof can be broadcast to any chain,continuously delivering Ethereum’s finalized state wherever you need it.
- What it unlocks: Any contract (or any other chain) can verify the proof, allowing the whole ecosystem to interact with Ethereum without multi-sigs or oracles. All information about a chain in a single lightweight proof.
- Why it matters: The reading state of Ethereum becomes global. Liquidity and logic can move across chains as easily as web services share APIs, opening the door to applications that feel like internet-scale UX, yet settle with blockchain-grade security.
The Signal will provide real demand for proving on Boundless, creating a more connected blockchain ecosystem where proofs become the universal language.
Why blockchains need ZK
Blockchains were engineered for state consensus, not high-throughput computation. Before a block can finalize, every node must re-execute every transaction to come to consensus. This design is great for integrity, but introduces many limitations and complexities around accessing onchain information. It needs to change to unlock true scaling:
- Execution ceilings. Gas/block size limits exist to keep verification latency bounded so that nodes can remain in sync. Any transaction that exceeds those limits in execution time or memory is rejected.
- Redundant computation. Thousands of nodes re-execute the same transactions, so total computational effort scales linearly with node count, even though the amount of “real” work remains constant.
- Current scaling methods fragment state. New networks increase execution through parallelization of state machines, however these create separate liquidity pools, state silos, and introduce bridging risks, rather than removing the bottleneck altogether.
As long as execution and consensus are the same process, compute will always be capped. It’s time to change things.
Boundless: The Universal ZK Protocol
Boundless is a universal protocol that brings ZK to every chain. Instead of forcing every node to re-execute everything, Boundless provides a network of nodes dedicated solely for computation, producing ZK proofs that the work was done correctly, verified on every chain at a low, constant cost. By decoupling execution from consensus, Boundless lets every chain keep its native security while escaping gas ceilings, re-execution, and state fragmentation.
With Boundless, you can simply add more nodes to scale any chain. Scarcity becomes abundance.
How to participate
Boost The Signal
Request a bundle of proofs on the Boundless marketplace with 0.002 ETH. These requests are transparently accepted and fulfilled by provers, creating a sustainable mechanism for The Signal to continue proving Ethereum. The second step is to vote on which blockchains The Signal should prove next as the network expands.
Prove The Signal
Run a Boundless prover node, connect up to 100 GPUs to a single node, and start generating proofs that keep The Signal live. Learn more about prover incentives.
Why Boundless skipped public testnet
30+ teams and select partners have been building with the Boundless testnet since late 2024, validating the core mechanics. The team and provers chose to launch Mainnet Beta because prover reward systems only reveal their true dynamics when real value is at stake. Instead of relying on testnets that focus on simulating price discovery, strategic behavior, and hardware economics; going live demonstrates that proofs carry tangible value.
By launching directly on Mainnet Beta with real deposits and market-rate pricing, authentic proving economics from day one are showcased.
We are not playing games. We are here to move things forward.
What’s live today
- 100% permissionless proving. Anyone can deploy a prover node capable of running 100 GPUs. Join the Boundless marketplace, and start fulfilling requests. No invite codes, no gatekeeping of valid provers.
- The Signal. An open-source ZK consensus client that distills Ethereum finality into a single proof, improving scaling and trustless interoperability across the ecosystem.
- Production-ready market: Applications in production can request proofs right now on Base mainnet.
Requirements
Participation is largely ungated and the Boundless Network is permissionless; however, participation in the proving campaign does require:
- ETH and USDC on Base
- RPC access or a self-hosted Base node
Note: Participation involves transferring real funds to facilitate proving. While the Boundless team and its developer partners will monitor and refund losses for eligible participants affected by technical issues outside of their control, participation in the proving campaign is at your own election and risk. Please ensure that you have read the terms and conditions and understand the details of the proving campaign before electing to participate.
The future is Boundless
This milestone belongs to our partners, early contributors, and community who believed in an abundant future. Now the protocol is live.
The Boundless Team