01 — Proof system · Failure mode

Treating a quoted security level as comparable

Benchmarks are compared across systems configured at different security levels. Hash-based systems in particular ship at 96–100 bits in production far more often than teams assume, and a proof size quoted at 96 bits is not comparable to one quoted at 128.

By MarketComp Updated 2026-09-12 v1.3 About the authors Changelog

Mitigation

Require a full written parameter statement with every benchmark, and normalise to a common target before comparing. Treat any bit count without its derivation as unverified.

Cite this page

MarketComp (2026). Treating a quoted security level as comparable. The ZK Field Manual (Version 1.3). MarketComp. https://zkpick.com/proof-systems/failure-modes/treating-a-quoted-security-level-as-comparable/

@misc{zkfieldmanual-treating-a-quoted-security-level-as-comp,
  title        = {Treating a quoted security level as comparable — The ZK Field Manual},
  author       = {MarketComp},
  year         = {2026},
  version      = {1.3},
  howpublished = {\url{https://zkpick.com/proof-systems/failure-modes/treating-a-quoted-security-level-as-comparable/}},
  note         = {Accessed: YYYY-MM-DD}
}