What Is Axiom? ZK Coprocessor Solution Funded by Paradigm

As on-chain data needs explode, Axiom emerges as a purpose-built ZK coprocessor protocol, empowering smart contracts to query and compute over Ethereum’s full historical state with zero-knowledge proofs. Backed by a $20 million Series A from Paradigm and other top investors, Axiom promises to unlock new on-chain use cases—ranging from advanced DeFi analytics to complex governance logic—without the trust assumptions or cost overhead of off-chain services. As a content creator at Gate, here’s your comprehensive introduction to Axiom: what it is, how it works, why its ZK coprocessor matters, and who’s behind the project.

What Is Axiom?

Axiom is a permissionless protocol that functions as a ZK coprocessor for Ethereum. Instead of relying on centralized indexers or external oracles, developers build Axiom circuits—custom zero-knowledge programs—that specify exactly which on-chain data and computations are needed. When a smart contract submits a query on-chain, Axiom executes the circuit against Ethereum’s archived state, generates a succinct ZK proof of correct execution, and returns the verified result to the contract. This approach lets dApp teams access everything from historical block headers to transaction receipts at a fraction of the gas cost and without trusting third-party data providers.

How Axiom Works

Under the hood, Axiom operates in three stages:

1. Submission
Developers author an Axiom circuit using the Axiom Type_script_ SDK, defining the on-chain data and logic required. The circuit is deployed on Axiom’s Query contract, and users invoke it by sending a transaction with the query parameters.

2. Fulfillment
Axiom nodes fetch the requested historical data—block headers, Ethereum state trie entries, and transaction receipts—from archive nodes. They compute the result off-chain and generate a ZK proof that attests to the correctness of both data retrieval and computation.

3. Verification & Callback
Once the proof is relayed on-chain, the Axiom smart contract verifies it in a single on-chain execution. If valid, Axiom calls back the original smart contract with the computed result, enabling trustless, gas-efficient access to deep on-chain insights.

This model ensures that every result carries the cryptographic guarantees of Ethereum, while drastically reducing on-chain computation and storage requirements.

Benefits of Axiom’s ZK Coprocessor

Axiom’s design brings several advantages over traditional data-indexing solutions:

• Full Historical Access: Query any block’s state or transaction history without running your own archive node.
• Zero-Trust Data Integrity: ZK proofs eliminate reliance on centralized oracles—results are verifiable on-chain.
• Gas Efficiency: By pushing heavy computation and data lookup off-chain, Axiom reduces gas costs for complex queries by up to 90%.
• Seamless Smart Contract Integration: Contracts interact with Axiom via a simple Query API, requiring minimal code changes.
• Composable Design: Multiple circuits can be combined to build richer on-chain applications, from automated auditing tools to advanced DeFi strategies.

Gate’s research team leverages these capabilities to prototype novel DeFi analytics dApps, and we’re keeping a close eye on any Axiom airdrop events to reward early community members.

Team and Investors

1. Core Team
Axiom was founded by Jonathan Wang and Yi Sun, both former academics with deep expertise in zero-knowledge proofs and distributed systems. Jonathan, a PhD in computer science from MIT, focuses on protocol design and cryptography. Yi, with a background in teaching at Chicago and Cambridge, leads the developer experience and SDK architecture.

2. Investors and Funding
The project’s $20 million Series A round was led by Paradigm, with participation from Standard Crypto, Polychain, and several angel investors. This capital will accelerate Axiom’s mainnet rollout, expand the validator network, and fund ecosystem grants for ZK coprocessor integrations.

Similar Projects

While Axiom specializes in on-chain ZK coprocessing, a few adjacent solutions exist:

• Brevis: Focuses on ZK-powered off-chain computation for Ethereum data, with a proprietary prover architecture.
• Bonsai: Offers zkVM-based proofs for both on-chain and off-chain computations, developed by Risk Zero.

Each project targets different trade-offs in proof system design, but Axiom’s tight integration with Ethereum’s archived state and developer-friendly SDK sets it apart.

Axiom represents a major step forward in decentralized data availability and computation. As Gate continues to monitor ZK innovation, we’ll bring you tutorials on building with Axiom circuits, updates on any Axiom airdrop announcements, and deeper analysis of use cases that could redefine on-chain applications. Stay tuned to our blog for the latest on Axiom and other cutting-edge blockchain protocols.