Bonsol

What Is Bonsol?

Bonsol is a Solana-native verifiable computation framework---often called a ZK co-processor---that allows developers to offload arbitrarily complex computations off-chain while producing cryptographic proofs that Solana smart contracts can verify on-chain. Originally built and open-sourced by Anagram, the project transitioned to a community model under the Bonsol Collective and is now led by Bonsol Labs.

The core insight Bonsol addresses is a practical tension in blockchain development: as on-chain compute becomes expensive and constrained, developers increasingly move logic off-chain---but doing so normally reintroduces trust assumptions. Bonsol eliminates that tradeoff by making off-chain execution fully verifiable without the executor needing to reveal sensitive inputs.

The Problem It Solves

Solana's execution environment places hard limits on compute units per transaction and has no native mechanism for proving that an off-chain process ran correctly. Projects that need complex computations---randomness selection, privacy-preserving calculations, historical state proofs, or post-quantum cryptography---have historically either squeezed expensive logic on-chain or accepted a centralized, trusted backend. Bonsol provides a third path: off-chain execution with on-chain verification.

How It Works

RISC Zero as the Proving Engine

Bonsol is built on the RISC Zero zkVM, a zero-knowledge virtual machine that compiles arbitrary Rust programs to the RISC-V instruction set and generates cryptographic proofs of their execution. Developers write their computation in Rust, build it with RISC Zero's toolchain, and register the resulting program image on Bonsol's on-chain registry.

The Execution Pipeline

The workflow follows five stages:

1. Request submission. A user or smart contract submits an execution request on-chain, specifying the registered program, input data, a time window for execution, and a tip for the prover.

2. Relay claiming. Network operators---called relays---monitor the chain and compete to claim execution requests. To claim work, a relay must stake collateral worth approximately half the tip value. This stake is subject to slashing if the relay fails to produce a valid proof within the agreed window.

3. Proof generation. The relay runs the program through the RISC Zero zkVM, producing a STARK proof. STARK proofs grow only logarithmically with computation size and require no trusted setup, making them well-suited for variable-complexity tasks.

4. SNARK wrapping. Raw STARK proofs from RISC Zero can reach approximately 200 KB---too large for efficient on-chain verification. Bonsol converts them into Groth16 SNARKs using Circom circuits. The resulting proof is a constant 256 bytes regardless of computation complexity.

5. On-chain verification. The Groth16 SNARK is submitted to Solana, where Bonsol's verifier program checks it in under 200,000 compute units. Once verified, the calling smart contract can act on the result with full cryptographic confidence.

Input Integrity

A critical security feature is input commitment. Programs are required to compute a cryptographic hash of their inputs at execution time and commit that digest during the proof. On-chain, Bonsol verifies that the committed digest matches the inputs specified in the original request. This prevents malicious provers from substituting different inputs to produce a valid-looking but fraudulent proof.

Architecture and Network Participants

Bonsol defines three participant roles:

• Developers write and register verifiable programs using the RISC Zero toolkit and Bonsol's SDK.
• Users (which can be end-users or smart contracts) submit execution requests with specified inputs and tips.
• Relays are prover operators who run the computation, generate proofs, and earn tips in return. Slashing enforces liveness: a relay that claims a job and fails to deliver forfeits its stake.

Programs are composable. A developer can deploy a reusable ZK primitive---for example, proving a keypair signature from a hierarchical key set without revealing the keys---and other applications can reference it. The original deployer receives a tip each time their primitive is used.

Use Cases

Bonsol's architecture supports a wide range of applications:

• Privacy-preserving liquidity pools. Proofs can hide the composition of a token pool until the appropriate moment, while still mathematically guaranteeing correct random selection and valid token ranges.
• Autonomous verifiable agents. On-chain agents can delegate decision logic off-chain and receive back proofs that the logic ran correctly, without trusting a centralized server.
• Historical ownership and transaction proofs. Applications can prove facts about past blockchain state---useful for airdrops, governance, or compliance---without requiring the recipient to reveal their full transaction history.
• Complex game mechanics. Game state transitions that are computationally expensive can be simulated off-chain and verified on-chain, enabling richer experiences without prohibitive on-chain costs.
• Post-quantum cryptography. In October 2025, Bonsol Labs partnered with BTQ Technologies to achieve the first NIST-standardized post-quantum cryptography signature verification on Solana. PQC signature operations that are too compute-heavy for direct on-chain execution are performed through Bonsol's proving network, with the resulting SNARK verified on Solana. This demonstrates how Bonsol can extend Solana's cryptographic capabilities beyond what the base runtime natively supports.

Team and Governance

Bonsol was created by Anagram, a Solana-focused build studio. Hunter Hsiao, co-founder of Bonsol Labs, and Joe Eagan, co-founder of Anagram, are among the project's founding contributors. The project is open-source under the Bonsol Collective, a community of builders, researchers, and partners focused on advancing verifiable compute on Solana. The GitHub repository at bonsol-collective/bonsol reflects the collective ownership model.

The project actively monitors adjacent proof systems---JOLT, zkLLVM, Spartan 2, Binius, and fully homomorphic encryption approaches---suggesting a long-term commitment to incorporating advances in cryptographic infrastructure as the field matures.

Solana Ecosystem Fit

Bonsol is designed to complement, not compete with, Solana's existing runtime. Solana's architecture---native support for elliptic curve operations, low fee compute, high transaction throughput---makes it a strong host chain for ZK verifiers. Bonsol treats Solana as the settlement layer and the relay network as a decentralized execution layer, with proofs as the trust bridge between the two.

The framework can be integrated as a composable layer beneath existing programs, enabling existing Solana projects to add verifiability to off-chain components without redesigning their on-chain architecture.

Token and Audits

As of the time of writing, Bonsol does not have a publicly announced native token. The tip mechanism built into the relay network uses SOL or program-specified assets. No formal security audit has been publicly disclosed by the project.

Conclusion

Bonsol fills a meaningful gap in the Solana ecosystem: making off-chain computation trustless. By combining RISC Zero's battle-tested zkVM with Solana's verification efficiency and a decentralized prover network, it enables application categories---private computation, autonomous agents, PQC integration---that would otherwise require centralized infrastructure or prohibitively expensive on-chain logic. For developers building at the frontier of what Solana programs can do, Bonsol provides a composable, cryptographically sound path to unlimited compute.