MAM: A zkSNARK-Based Protocol for Privacy-Preserving Cross-Metaverse Asset Interoperability

Abstract

The rapid growth of the metaverse has led to a scattered ecosystem in which digital assets are deployed on different blockchain platforms. This disintegration creates significant challenges for interoperability, as users need secure, decentralized, and privacy-preserving protocols to enable interoperability between chains. Existing solutions typically depend on centralized exchanges or third-party relays, introducing a single point of failure and potential privacy risks. We propose MAM (Metaverse Asset Management), a novel user-centric protocol utilizing zkSNARK technology (Zero-Knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge) that enables seamless movement of metaverse assets across various blockchain platforms. MAM’s architecture ensures privacy by generating all zkSNARK proofs locally on the user’s machine, ensuring that sensitive data, including private keys and asset metadata, never leave the device. The protocol employs a secure one-time setup to distribute the global circuit-specific proving key, ensuring the permanent destruction of toxic-waste data. Experimental evaluation demonstrates that MAM achieves a constant and minimal proof size (192 bytes), low gas cost (281,107 Gas per verification), and an end-to-end asset transfer latency under 15 seconds, outperforming recent alternatives such as MetaOpera and MAP. Static security analysis confirms the robustness of MAM’s smart contracts against the most significant vulnerability types. This research enhances the state-of-the-art of privacy-preserving and scalable cross-metaverse interoperability, providing a practical approach for fully decentralized digital asset management and transfer across the Metaverse.