diff --git a/waku/waku_rln_relay/group_manager/on_chain/group_manager.nim b/waku/waku_rln_relay/group_manager/on_chain/group_manager.nim
index 50df20cf0..d243469ab 100644
--- a/waku/waku_rln_relay/group_manager/on_chain/group_manager.nim
+++ b/waku/waku_rln_relay/group_manager/on_chain/group_manager.nim
@@ -46,6 +46,8 @@ contract(WakuRlnContract):
   proc MAX_MESSAGE_LIMIT(): UInt256 {.view.}
   # this function returns the merkleProof for a given index
   proc merkleProofElements(index: Uint256): seq[Uint256] {.view.}
+  # this function returns the Merkle root
+  proc root(): Uint256 {.view.}
 
 type
   WakuRlnContractWithSender = Sender[WakuRlnContract]
diff --git a/waku/waku_rln_relay/group_manager/on_chain_sync/group_manager.nim b/waku/waku_rln_relay/group_manager/on_chain_sync/group_manager.nim
index 1d8469f97..4fa4969af 100644
--- a/waku/waku_rln_relay/group_manager/on_chain_sync/group_manager.nim
+++ b/waku/waku_rln_relay/group_manager/on_chain_sync/group_manager.nim
@@ -24,6 +24,11 @@ proc fetchMerkleProof*(g: OnchainSyncGroupManager) {.async.} =
   except CatchableError:
     error "Failed to fetch merkle proof: " & getCurrentExceptionMsg()
 
+proc fetchMerkleRoot*(g: OnchainSyncGroupManager) {.async.} =
+  let merkleRootInvocation = g.wakuRlnContract.get().root()
+  let merkleRoot = await merkleRootInvocation.call()
+  return merkleRoot
+
 method generateProof*(
     g: OnChainSyncGroupManager,
     data: seq[byte],
@@ -50,14 +55,15 @@ method generateProof*(
     x: data,
     external_nullifier: poseidon_hash([epoch, rln_identifier]),
   )
-  
+
   let serializedWitness = serialize(witness)
   var inputBuffer = toBuffer(serializedWitness)
 
   # Generate the proof using the zerokit API
   var outputBuffer: Buffer
-  let success =
-    generate_proof_with_witness(g.rlnInstance, addr inputBuffer, addr outputBuffer)
+  let success = generate_proof_with_witness(
+    g.fetchMerkleRoot(), addr inputBuffer, addr outputBuffer
+  )
   if not success:
     return err("Failed to generate proof")
 
@@ -100,3 +106,37 @@ method generateProof*(
     nullifier: nullifier,
   )
   return ok(output)
+
+method verifyProof*(
+    g: OnChainSyncGroupManager, input: openArray[byte], proof: RateLimitProof
+): GroupManagerResult[bool] {.base, gcsafe, raises: [].} =
+  ## verifies the proof, returns an error if the proof verification fails
+  ## returns true if the proof is valid
+  var normalizedProof = proof
+  # when we do this, we ensure that we compute the proof for the derived value
+  # of the externalNullifier. The proof verification will fail if a malicious peer
+  # attaches invalid epoch+rlnidentifier pair
+  normalizedProof.externalNullifier = poseidon_hash([epoch, rln_identifier]).valueOr:
+    return err("could not construct the external nullifier")
+
+  var
+    proofBytes = serialize(normalizedProof, data)
+    proofBuffer = proofBytes.toBuffer()
+    validProof: bool
+    rootsBytes = serialize(validRoots)
+    rootsBuffer = rootsBytes.toBuffer()
+
+  trace "serialized proof", proof = byteutils.toHex(proofBytes)
+
+  let verifyIsSuccessful = verify_with_roots(
+    g.fetchMerkleRoot(), addr proofBuffer, addr rootsBuffer, addr validProof
+  )
+  if not verifyIsSuccessful:
+    # something went wrong in verification call
+    warn "could not verify validity of the proof", proof = proof
+    return err("could not verify the proof")
+
+  if not validProof:
+    return ok(false)
+  else:
+    return ok(true)
\ No newline at end of file