ZK-Rollup for Hyperledger Fabric: Architecture and Performance Evaluation
Sania Siddiqui, Neha, Hari Babu K
TL;DR
The paper addresses scalability and privacy challenges in Hyperledger Fabric by introducing a Layer-2 ZK-Rollup with an off-chain sequencer that batches 32 transactions, builds a Poseidon-based Merkle tree, and proves batch correctness via a PLONK ZK-SNARK. Only the Merkle root and batch metadata are stored on-chain, while the IPFS CID references the off-chain data, decoupling ingestion from settlement and reducing on-chain load. Empirical results show baseline Fabric at 5–7 TPS with ~4 s latency, while the ZK-Rollup achieves 100+ TPS ingestion and ~300–400 ms client latency, though proof generation time (~35–45 s per batch on test hardware) bottlenecks settlement. The work demonstrates the practical feasibility of ZK-Rollups in a permissioned, enterprise blockchain, outlining clear paths to optimization with hardware acceleration and dynamic batching.
Abstract
A big challenge posed in blockchain centric platforms is achieving scalability while also preserving user privacy. This report details the design, implementation and evaluation of a Layer-2 scaling solution for Hyperledger Fabric using Zero Knowledge Rollups (ZK Rollups). The proposed architecture introduces an off chain sequencer that accepts transactions immediately and sends them for batching into a Merkle tree based rollup, using ZK proofs to attest to the correctness and verifiability of the entire batch. The design aims to decouple transaction ingestion from actual on chain settlements to address Fabric scalability limitations and increase throughput under high load conditions. The baseline architecture in Hyperledger Fabric constrains transaction requests due to endorsement, ordering and validation phases, leading to a throughput of 5 to 7 TPS with an average latency of 4 seconds. Our Layer-2 solution achieves an ingestion throughput of 70 to 100 TPS, leading to an increase of nearly ten times due to the sequencer immediate acceptance of each transaction and reducing client perceived latency by nearly eighty percent to 700 to 1000 milliseconds. This work demonstrates that integrating ZK Rollups in Hyperledger Fabric enhances scalability while not compromising the security guarantees of a permissioned blockchain network.