From ZK-first to AT Protocol: Our Path to DDS

Agora's protocol work began with a ZK-first approach to identity, privacy, and verifiable participation. Over time, the team found that public deliberation infrastructure also needs to match how people actually adopt products: familiar sign-in flows, flexible identity, interoperability, and transparent data.

This technical note explains why Agora is proposing the Decentralized Deliberation Standard (DDS) as an open protocol for deliberation built on AT Protocol. It covers lessons from earlier work on Racine, the tradeoffs between ZK identity and everyday usability, why AT Protocol is a strong fit for public deliberation, and the open design questions around guest accounts, privacy, verification, and interoperability.

Read the original WhiteWind post.