ZK Compression on Solana

ZK Compression enables rent-free tokens and PDAs on Solana by storing state on the ledger instead of in accounts, using zero-knowledge proofs to validate state transitions. Built by Light Protocol and indexed by Helius Photon.

When to Use ZK Compression

Use ZK Compression when:

• Creating millions of token accounts (5000x cheaper than regular accounts)
• Minting to many recipients (airdrops, loyalty programs, gaming assets)
• Building apps with many user accounts that are infrequently updated
• Reducing rent costs for PDAs with low update frequency

Use regular accounts when:

• Account is updated frequently (>1000 lifetime writes)
• Account stores large data accessed in on-chain transactions
• Compute budget is critical (compression adds ~100k CU overhead)

Quick Start

Installation

# TypeScript client
npm install @lightprotocol/stateless.js @lightprotocol/compressed-token

# Rust SDK for programs
cargo add light-sdk

# CLI for development
npm install -g @lightprotocol/zk-compression-cli

Local Development

# Start local validator with compression support
light test-validator

# Initialize a new Anchor project with compression
light init my-program

Mint Compressed Tokens (TypeScript)

import { createRpc } from '@lightprotocol/stateless.js';
import { createMint, mintTo, transfer } from '@lightprotocol/compressed-token';

const rpc = createRpc(); // or createRpc('https://mainnet.helius-rpc.com?api-key=YOUR_KEY')

// Create mint with token pool for compression
const { mint } = await createMint(rpc, payer, payer.publicKey, 9);

// Mint compressed tokens (creates compressed token accounts)
await mintTo(rpc, payer, mint, recipient, payer, 1_000_000_000);

// Transfer compressed tokens
await transfer(rpc, payer, mint, 500_000_000, owner, recipient);

// Query compressed token accounts
const accounts = await rpc.getCompressedTokenAccountsByOwner(owner, { mint });

Build Program with Compressed PDAs (Anchor)

use anchor_lang::prelude::*;
use light_sdk::{
    account::LightAccount,
    address::v1::derive_address,
    cpi::{v1::CpiAccounts, CpiSigner},
    derive_light_cpi_signer,
    instruction::{account_meta::CompressedAccountMeta, PackedAddressTreeInfo, ValidityProof},
    LightDiscriminator, LightHasher,
};

declare_id!("YourProgramID");

pub const LIGHT_CPI_SIGNER: CpiSigner = derive_light_cpi_signer!("YourProgramID");

#[program]
pub mod my_program {
    use super::*;
    use light_sdk::cpi::{v1::LightSystemProgramCpi, InvokeLightSystemProgram};

    pub fn create_account<'info>(
        ctx: Context<'_, '_, '_, 'info, MyAccounts<'info>>,
        proof: ValidityProof,
        address_tree_info: PackedAddressTreeInfo,
        output_state_tree_index: u8,
    ) -> Result<()> {
        let light_cpi_accounts = CpiAccounts::new(
            ctx.accounts.signer.as_ref(),
            ctx.remaining_accounts,
            crate::LIGHT_CPI_SIGNER,
        );

        let (address, address_seed) = derive_address(
            &[b"my_account", ctx.accounts.signer.key().as_ref()],
            &address_tree_info.get_tree_pubkey(&light_cpi_accounts)?,
            &crate::ID,
        );

        let new_address_params = address_tree_info.into_new_address_params_packed(address_seed);

        // Create new compressed account
        let mut account = LightAccount::<MyAccount>::new_init(
            &crate::ID,
            Some(address),
            output_state_tree_index,
        );
        account.owner = ctx.accounts.signer.key();
        account.data = 0;

        LightSystemProgramCpi::new_cpi(LIGHT_CPI_SIGNER, proof)
            .with_light_account(account)?
            .with_new_addresses(&[new_address_params])
            .invoke(light_cpi_accounts)?;

        Ok(())
    }

    pub fn update_account<'info>(
        ctx: Context<'_, '_, '_, 'info, MyAccounts<'info>>,
        proof: ValidityProof,
        current_data: u64,
        account_meta: CompressedAccountMeta,
    ) -> Result<()> {
        // Modify existing compressed account
        let mut account = LightAccount::<MyAccount>::new_mut(
            &crate::ID,
            &account_meta,
            MyAccount {
                owner: ctx.accounts.signer.key(),
                data: current_data,
            },
        )?;

        account.data = account.data.checked_add(1).unwrap();

        let light_cpi_accounts = CpiAccounts::new(
            ctx.accounts.signer.as_ref(),
            ctx.remaining_accounts,
            crate::LIGHT_CPI_SIGNER,
        );

        LightSystemProgramCpi::new_cpi(LIGHT_CPI_SIGNER, proof)
            .with_light_account(account)?
            .invoke(light_cpi_accounts)?;

        Ok(())
    }
}

#[derive(Accounts)]
pub struct MyAccounts<'info> {
    #[account(mut)]
    pub signer: Signer<'info>,
}

#[event]
#[derive(Clone, Debug, Default, LightDiscriminator, LightHasher)]
pub struct MyAccount {
    #[hash]
    pub owner: Pubkey,
    pub data: u64,
}

Core Concepts

Compressed Account Model

Compressed accounts are similar to regular Solana accounts but stored differently:

Key differences:

• Hash changes on every write (accounts identified by content hash)
• Optional persistent address for PDAs (similar to regular PDAs)
• State stored in Merkle trees with only roots on-chain

State Trees

Compressed accounts are stored in concurrent Merkle trees using Poseidon hashing:

• Only the tree root is stored on-chain
• Leaves contain compressed account hashes
• Validity proofs prove account inclusion in tree

Validity Proofs

ZK proofs (Groth16) validate state transitions:

• Prove existence of N accounts in M state trees
• Constant 128-byte proof size regardless of accounts
• ~100k CU for proof verification

Transaction Lifecycle

1. Build: Client fetches compressed accounts and validity proofs via RPC
2. Submit: Transaction includes account data + proof in payload
3. Validate: Light System Program verifies proof and account integrity
4. Update: New state appended to tree, old state nullified
5. Index: Photon RPC nodes index new state from ledger

LightAccount Operations

// Create new account (no input state, only output)
let account = LightAccount::<T>::new_init(&program_id, Some(address), tree_index);

// Modify existing account (input + output state)
let mut account = LightAccount::<T>::new_mut(&program_id, &account_meta, current_state)?;
account.field = new_value;

// Close account (input state, no output)
let account = LightAccount::<T>::new_close(&program_id, &account_meta, current_state)?;

Helius SDK Integration

Query compressed state via Helius RPC:

import { Helius } from 'helius-sdk';

const helius = new Helius('YOUR_API_KEY');

// Get compressed account by hash or address
const account = await helius.zk.getCompressedAccount({ address });

// Get all compressed accounts for owner
const accounts = await helius.zk.getCompressedAccountsByOwner(owner);

// Get compressed token accounts
const tokenAccounts = await helius.zk.getCompressedTokenAccountsByOwner(owner, { mint });

// Get validity proof for accounts
const proof = await helius.zk.getValidityProof({ hashes: [hash1, hash2] });

// Get compression signatures for account
const signatures = await helius.zk.getCompressionSignaturesForAccount(hash);

RPC Methods

ZK Compression RPC API (via Helius or self-hosted Photon):

Infrastructure

Node Types

Running Photon Locally

# Install
cargo install photon-indexer

# Run against devnet
photon --rpc-url=https://api.devnet.solana.com

# With Postgres for production
photon --db-url=postgres://postgres@localhost/postgres --rpc-url=<RPC_URL>

# Load from snapshot for faster bootstrap
photon-snapshot-loader --snapshot-dir=~/snapshot --snapshot-server-url=https://photon-devnet-snapshot.helius-rpc.com

Trade-offs

Break-even analysis: Compressed account becomes more expensive than regular account after ~1000 writes.

Reference Documentation

• compressed-accounts.md - Detailed account model, hashing, addresses
• compressed-tokens.md - Token operations, pools, batch operations
• compressed-pdas.md - Building programs with compressed PDAs
• client-integration.md - TypeScript/Rust client setup, RPC methods

Resources

• ZK Compression Docs
• Light Protocol GitHub
• Helius SDK
• Photon Indexer
• Program Examples
• Helius ZK Blog