Threat Model & Mitigations

ZkStable is designed assuming real-world adversaries, chain monitoring systems, MEV bots, state actors, and protocol-level attacks.

Threat Categories & Defenses

🏦 Collateral Theft (Liquidity Seizure)

Risk: Malicious minting without collateral Mitigation: On-chain verifier checks every mint, cannot be bypassed.

🧮 Proof Forgery (Fake zkSNARK)

Risk: Generating false collateral proof Mitigation: Uses Groth16 with deterministic verification; forging is computationally infeasible.

🔁 Replay Attacks

Risk: Resending old proofs to mint again Mitigation: Every proof includes:

• Unique nullifier set

• Relay nonce and block height

• One-time commitment constraints

🕵️ Chain Surveillance

Risk: Wallet deanonymization through metadata Mitigation: Zcash shielded transaction pools + no on-chain identity mapping.

👑 Governance Capture

Risk: Large stakeholder takes control of decisions Mitigation:

• Quadratic voting

• Staking-weight caps

• Time-delayed proposal execution

Summary

ZkStable’s security model assumes:

• Hostile networks

• High-value attack incentives

• Capabilities of nation-state surveillance

And mitigates them through zero-knowledge cryptography, distributed governance, and composable risk controls.