Jordi Baylina, Co-founder of Iden3, talks about building zk circuits and the recently announced Hermez, a new zkrollup with a proof-of-donation mechanism. They discuss the role of Circum as a circuit compiler and its connection to ZK Snarks. They also explore the innovative features of Hermes, including proof of donation and decentralized selection process for the roll-up coordinator.
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Quick takeaways
Zero Knowledge Circuits and roll-up projects play a crucial role in improving scalability and privacy in the blockchain space.
Jordi Baylina shares his journey in the blockchain industry, emphasizing the importance of understanding both the social and technical aspects of the community.
IDEN3 protocol and CIRCOM offer solutions for decentralized identity systems by leveraging Zero Knowledge Proofs.
Deep dives
Building Zero Knowledge Circuits and Roll-up Projects
In this podcast episode, Jordi Bailena, the co-founder of IDEN3 and creator of CIRCOM, Snark.js, discusses his work in the ecosystem and building Zero Knowledge Circuits. He highlights the importance of Zero Knowledge Proofs in scaling blockchains and ensuring privacy. Jordi also explains the concept of roll-up projects, where transactions are batched and verified off-chain before being submitted to the main chain. He emphasizes that while roll-up transactions within the project may have lower fees, they are not free and the coordinator/operator needs to pay gas fees on the main chain. Overall, this episode provides valuable insights into the role of Zero Knowledge Circuits and the potential of roll-up projects in improving scalability and privacy in the blockchain space.
Lessons from the DAO Hack and Early Years in Blockchain
Jordi Bailena shares his experience and lessons learned from the infamous DAO hack in 2016, where he was involved in the rescue efforts to recover lost funds. He discusses his early interest in blockchain, starting in 2013 with Bitcoin and later discovering Ethereum in 2015. Jordi explains how his passion for smart contracts led him to become deeply involved in the crypto space. He also highlights the social and technical aspects of the blockchain community, emphasizing the importance of understanding both. The episode provides an engaging account of Jordi's journey and the pivotal moments that shaped his involvement in the blockchain industry.
IDEN3: Decentralized Identity and the Power of Zero Knowledge Proofs
Jordi Bailena introduces IDEN3, a protocol that allows anyone to create and verify identities using Zero Knowledge Proofs. He explains that this decentralized identity system enables individuals to make claims about themselves or others while preserving privacy. Jordi highlights the scalability challenges in identity systems and how Zero Knowledge Proofs can address them. He also discusses the importance of trusted setups in ZK Snarks and the advantages they provide in terms of fast verification and lower costs. Additionally, the episode delves into the development of CIRCOM, a circuit compiler language created by Jordi to simplify the process of writing Zero Knowledge Circuits. Overall, this episode offers valuable insights into the potential of decentralized identity and the role of Zero Knowledge Proofs in enhancing privacy and scalability in identity systems.
Circum as a Versatile Tool for Building Complex Circuits
Circum is a language that allows developers to write circuits for various applications. It provides full control over the constraints and components in building circuits, making it ideal for complex circuit designs. Circum can be used in projects beyond Ethereum, introducing developers to the zero knowledge space and enabling the creation of intricate circuits. It offers the flexibility to write any language within Circum itself, making it a valuable tool for electrical engineers and developers seeking to build advanced circuits.
SNARK J.S. and Its Implementation of the ZK-SNARK Protocol
SNARK J.S. is a JavaScript library that implements the ZK-SNARK protocol. It takes the R1CS constraint system and witness generated by Circum and incorporates all the necessary tools for generating and verifying zero knowledge proofs. SNARK J.S. handles the trusted setup ceremony, generates proving and verification keys, and enables the deployment and verification of smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain. One notable feature is its browser compatibility, allowing users to perform all the necessary operations in the browser. It currently supports the Groth 16 protocol and focuses on providing a reliable toolkit for developers building applications with SNARKs.
In this week's episode, Anna and Fredrik catch up with Jordi Baylina, co-founder of Iden3, the creator of Circom & SnarkJS. They chat about his work in the ecosystem, building zk circuits and the recently announced Hermez, a new zkrollup with a novel proof-of-donation mechanism that will redistribute 40% of earnings to Ethereum-based community projects.
Jordi has an amazing story, which we got to explore in this episode, so thanks again Jordi for being on the show!
Parity is currently looking to fill a number of job positions including many on the engineering side.
As an engineer at Parity, you would get to write Rust all day, be at the forefront of creating and shaping the decentralized web and hopefully also dig into some cool zero knowledge crypto tech! The best way to get noticed for this role is to familiarise yourself with Substrate - the platform built by Parity to make building blockchains much much easier. So go check out the substrate libraries and then head over to parity.io/jobs to find out more