The Blink Test:
Why Authentication Speed Matters

How fast is fast? Here's a reference point everyone understands: a human blink takes about 300 milliseconds—that's 300,000 microseconds.

H33 completes full authentication in 2,648 microseconds. That means we can authenticate you 209 times before your eye finishes closing.

This is the Blink Test: authentication so fast it's invisible to human perception.

Why Speed Matters

Authentication is the gateway to every digital experience. Every millisecond of authentication latency is a millisecond your users are waiting. At scale, these milliseconds become minutes, hours, years of collective waiting time.

"Users don't care about your cryptographic sophistication. They care that your app feels instant."

The fastest cryptographic proof is meaningless if users perceive delay. The Blink Test isn't about benchmarks—it's about user experience.

The H33 Performance Stack

But ZK proofs are just the beginning. Here's how the full H33 stack performs:

The Competitive Landscape

Traditional authentication systems operate in milliseconds—sometimes hundreds of milliseconds. Cloud authentication services add network latency. Password-based systems add human typing time.

H33 operates in microseconds. The security is invisible because the delay is imperceptible.

Beyond Individual Requests

Individual request latency is just part of the story. At enterprise scale, batch efficiency matters even more:

• 1,000 users in 116µs: That's high-throughput authentication
• 100 ZK proofs in 35ms: 73% faster than sequential processing
• 67x cache speedup: Returning users verify in 32µs instead of 2.14ms

These aren't theoretical maximums. They're measured production performance on standard cloud infrastructure (AWS c8g.metal-48xl).

The User Experience Impact

What does sub-millisecond authentication mean for users?

• No loading spinners: Authentication completes before the UI can show one
• Instant app switching: Re-authentication in 50µs feels like no auth at all
• Real-time applications: Gaming, collaboration, and trading without auth lag
• Invisible security: Full ZK privacy without any perceived cost

Pass the Blink Test

The next time you evaluate an authentication solution, ask: does it pass the Blink Test? If users can perceive the authentication happening, it's too slow.

H33 authenticates you 209 times before your eye closes. That's the new standard.