Zero-knowledge rollups present an intriguing scaling alternative that avoids congesting the base layer. The architecture works by having users run computations locally and produce a cryptographic proof, while validators on-chain only verify the proof itself rather than re-executing every operation. This design maintains strong privacy guarantees without sacrificing throughput—computation happens off-chain where resources are abundant, while the chain handles lightweight verification. The result is a system where both privacy and performance coexist naturally, making it a compelling option for applications requiring either privacy or high transaction velocity.