How does Security and verification works?

Security is the foundation of any blockchain system. In Zentra, it spans several dimensions, including:

• Theoretical foundations

• Security of the underlying L1 or L2 networks

• Zentra system security

• Programming language security

Theoretical foundations

Zentra was created as an implementation of Minus Theory. More precisely, Minus Theory is based on the textbook State Machine Theory. (See State Machine Overview for more detail.)

A solid mathematical foundation ensures that security is built into Zentra's design from inception. Any honest individual running an unmodified Zentra indexer, given the same block order, will always produce the same state result due to its deterministic nature, unless a hardware error occurs.

Like Bitcoin, Zentra relies on the majority of consensus participants acting honestly. However, it extends this model with universal verifiability: anyone can run a Zentra indexer locally to recompute the state from consensus-ordered blocks and identify malicious indexers providing false results through Merkle proofs, multiple indexer checks, or fraud proofs.

Security of the underlying L1 or L2 networks

Zentra is a new type of blockchain infrastructure project. It is not a Layer 1 (L1) or Layer 2 (L2) network; it uses existing L1 or L2 networks for consensus. The blocks generated by these networks are assumed to be immutable; however, in the event of a hard fork or chain reorganization, Zentra uses asynchronous state computation to deterministically recalculate the affected blocks and restore the correct state.

Zentra system security

Security challenges increase in complexity when moving from theory to engineering.

The Zentra system may contain bugs during the engineering process. However, the strength of decoupling consensus from computation is that the blocks are frozen by the underlying L1 or L2 network. As a result, Zentra can fix bugs, replay all transactions from those blocks, and recover the correct state, consistent with the deterministic guarantees of State Machine Theory.

Programming language security

Modern blockchain systems and cryptography are generally robust, but attackers continually look for vulnerabilities in immature or unstable designs, including those introduced by programming languages. For example, recent exploits in the Vyper compiler and the Move language on Sui highlight how language-level flaws can undermine blockchain security.

For this reason, Zentra does not attempt to create a new programming language. Instead, it chooses a well-designed, mature language —Python—and brings it into the blockchain ecosystem. This aligns with Minus Theory’s principle of minimizing complexity and avoiding unnecessary verification burdens.

As a dynamic language, Python allows developers to focus on high-level business logic without worrying about low-level type conversions. Python’s integers are arbitrary-precision, eliminating issues such as converting uint128 to uint64. While static analysis in compiled languages can detect many issues before runtime, Python avoids lengthy compilation and shifts emphasis toward thorough test coverage, which complements Zentra’s off-chain computation model.

A key security advantage in Zentra’s model is code readability. Significantly fewer developers are fluent in C++ or Rust compared to Python, meaning a larger pool of programmers can review and audit Python-based smart contract code. This broader accessibility increases the likelihood of detecting vulnerabilities and strengthens the overall security model.