Making money online isn’t new, but in Web2, it often feels like users are working for the platforms instead of themselves. Web2-specific passive income opportunities are mostly limited to affiliate marketing or monetized content, where platforms take a significant cut of earnings. In Web3, staking and restaking take passive income to another level, allowing users to earn yield on their digital assets. While decentralized finance ( DeFi ) is evolving, offering new ways to generate passive income, only a small fraction of assets are benefiting. So far, this opportunity has mostly revolved around Ethereum (ETH) and its derivatives, leaving much of DeFi’s potential untapped. Vadim Makovsky, founder and CEO of Diffuse , believes it’s time for a shift. His team is leveraging the zkServerless technology that unlocks the full potential of Collateral Abstraction —a concept that allows a broader range of assets to participate in securing various protocols and generate yield. Collateral Abstraction was introduced by Symbiotic, a major player in the decentralized finance space that focuses on enhancing capital efficiency. However, to scale this model efficiently, a robust and secure data processing mechanism is required—and this is where zkServerless comes in . Diffuse’s zkServerless protocol will provide a trustless interoperability for Web3. Unlike traditional zero-knowledge (ZK) solutions, it will eliminate ZK-related complexities, allowing users to execute custom interactive logic based on verifiable data. By enabling seamless verification of on-chain, off-chain, Web2, and Web3 data without intermediaries, zkServerless will remove the need for trust delegation. This makes it a viable solution for Web3 markets such as cross-chain bridges, liquid restaking, oracles, and yield farming . We sat down with Makovsky to hear his take on the joint efforts of Diffuse and Symbiotic and get some useful pointers on what to expect from Web3’s capital efficiency, interoperability, and future DeFi trends. Q: What inspired Diffuse to focus on Collateral Abstraction? Was this concept always part of your vision, or did it emerge as a response to inefficiencies in DeFi? VM: We’re building Diffuse to solve a fundamental problem: inefficiencies in how protocols interact and how assets generate value. Right now, many assets sit idle because existing systems aren’t designed to optimize their utility across different protocols. Collateral Abstraction allows us to change that. Although we didn’t invent the concept itself, we were very inspired by the idea of enabling assets that would otherwise remain idle to generate yield. Q: Collateral Abstraction seems to go beyond traditional staking by enabling different types of assets to participate in shared security. Can you explain what kinds of assets can now be integrated and how this expands the scope of DeFi? VM: Shared security is a major innovation, and it’s great that the most widely used assets in this space have traditionally been staked ETH and its derivatives. But with Collateral Abstraction, we’re entering a new era—one where assets like Uniswap liquidity provider (LP) positions, Curve LP tokens, wrapped BTC, and governance tokens can not only contribute to DeFi security but also generate yield. But introducing new assets into shared security is just one piece of the puzzle. For Collateral Abstraction to work at scale, it needs to be technically efficient, interoperable, and secure. Q: That makes a lot of sense. Beyond integrating more asset types, a big part of DeFi’s evolution is how these assets move across different chains. Interoperability has been evolving, but many cross-chain solutions still rely on consensus-based models. How has this approach aged, and do you see zkServerless becoming the new standard for cross-chain interoperability? VM: It’s true that most existing cross-chain solutions rely on consensus-driven data broadcasting, which made sense when they were first developed. But now, with the ZK Stack mature, we can move beyond consensus-based models into verifiable data broadcasting. This is where zkServerless comes in. It’s not just another interoperability model—it allows users to focus on their desired intentions without worrying about how they should be executed. Since the protocol handles verifiable data broadcasting internally, it’s particularly well-suited for cross-chain applications. So yes, I see enormous potential here. Q: Beyond interoperability, how does zkServerless contribute to the scalability and security of Collateral Abstraction? What makes it different from other ZK solutions in DeFi? VM: zkServerless is key to making Collateral Abstraction both scalable and easy to use. One of the biggest barriers to adoption in DeFi is complexity—most users and developers don’t want to deal with intricate zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) interactions. zkServerless simplifies this with a human-readable interface. Instead of writing advanced smart contract logic, a user can deploy a function like this: Observe events from: 0xFFe234.. (Smart contract) When a deposit event happens with D (data), call: 0xADp23.. (Smart contract) with D (data) Looks simple, right? By abstracting away these complexities, zkServerless makes it possible to scale Collateral Abstraction across any EVM-compatible L1 or L2 in just a few days. At the same time, security is not compromised—every event is broadcast with a ZKP, and polymorphic cryptography ensures trustless execution. Q: Let’s talk numbers. Uniswap V3 pools alone have over $3.5 billion locked. How much additional yield can Collateral Abstraction realistically unlock? VM: It’s hard to give an exact figure, but the potential is huge. We’re starting with Uniswap-like assets, but that’s just the beginning. Think BTC-like assets, governance tokens, and other DEX pools—there are no real technical limitations. What’s most exciting is that this isn’t just about optimizing existing yield—it’s about introducing entirely new asset types to shared security and unlocking revenue streams that were previously unavailable. But of course, bringing something this ambitious to life comes with its own set of challenges. Q: What are some of the biggest technical challenges in implementing Collateral Abstraction, and how is Diffuse addressing them? VM: Anytime you introduce something fundamentally new, there’s going to be a learning curve. From a technical standpoint, the main hurdle lies in integrating different technological stacks into a single protocol. For example, zkOracles based on zkTLS (Zero-Knowledge Transport Layer Security) are crucial for bridging Web2 and Web3. Oracles help smart contracts access off-chain data, but traditional solutions often require trusting a third party. zkTLS eliminates this trust issue by allowing Web3 applications to securely verify data from Web2 sources—like financial APIs or stock market feeds—without exposing sensitive details or relying on intermediaries. Additionally, state proofs remain a key challenge —we need to ensure that events and transactions occurring across different chains are included in a way that is both verifiable and scalable. Q: Once these challenges are addressed, does solving cross-chain inefficiencies and unlocking staked liquidity have the potential to push DeFi into a new growth cycle? VM: I try to keep my expectations in check, but there’s no doubt we’re creating a new instrument that expands the DeFi economy—one that introduces new asset types to shared security and unlocks income opportunities that haven’t been explored before in the context of Collateral Abstraction. Also, we have the potential to be a strong foundation for interchain abstraction—enabling users to automate their strategies to maximize profits, enhance security, and optimize liquidity. Q: As you look ahead, do you see Collateral Abstraction and zkServerless becoming a foundational layer in DeFi, or will they serve specific niches? More broadly, what paradigm shifts do you anticipate in DeFi, and how is Diffuse positioning itself to lead these changes? VM: We’re not just building a single-use case—we’re building infrastructure. Our main goal is to make asset and event automation in Web3 as seamless and trustless as possible. Collateral Abstraction and restaking are just two of the most obvious applications, but the real power lies in verifiable data. Many of the vulnerabilities in current consensus-based protocols become obsolete with ZK-based validation. And that’s what excites us—being the first team to drive this shift forward! Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
