Theory to Code: Building the Breakthrough zkVM Jolt
May 1, 2024
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Learn about the breakthrough zkVM Jolt and the use of SNARKs in verifiable computing. Discover the evolution of the field, similarities to computer chip architecture, and the challenges of turning theory into practical engineering. Explore the efficiency and security benefits of SNARKs and ZKVMs, and the potential applications in blockchain security, processing capabilities, and decentralized social algorithms. Dive into the optimization of cryptographic protocols for efficiency gains and the future of decentralized app stores.
Efforts to reduce Prover overhead by 10X with hashing-based commitments broaden SNARK applications.
Continual advancements in SNARK protocols optimize efficiency and hardware compatibility for future gains.
Deep dives
Introduction to ZKVMs and SNARKs
Verifiable computing and SNARKs play a crucial role in scaling blockchains and beyond. ZKVMs, powered by SNARKs, offer a new design like Jolt, enhancing performance and usability. The discussion delves into the history and evolution of this technology, highlighting similarities to computer chip architecture and the shift towards application-specific programming.
Decentralization and Efficiency in Blockchain Networks
Blockchain networks operate with decentralized authority, relying on numerous validators running the same program. SNARKs can reduce the significant Prover overhead, enabling broader applications. Jolt's approach facilitates efficient verification, potentially revolutionizing efficiency and decentralization in blockchain operations.
Improving Prover Efficiency and Performance
The Prover overhead in SNARKs can be 500,000 times slower than native program execution, affecting scalability. Efforts to reduce this overhead, by transitioning to hashing-based commitment schemes, could enhance Prover speed by 10X, broadening SNARK applications and driving future advancements.
Enhancing SNARK Design and Hardware Compatibility
Continual advancements in SNARK protocols, engineering, and potential hardware specialization are poised to optimize efficiency and performance gains. The incorporation of hashing-based commitment schemes aims to address Prover inefficiencies, paving the way for improved hardware compatibility and broader adoption.
Future of Snark Development and Market Adoption
The future of SNARK technology lies in better protocols, advanced engineering, and specialized hardware. Ongoing developments, such as the introduction of hashing-based commitments like Benius, indicate a promising trajectory towards improved efficiency and broader market adoption.
The Importance of Efficient Engineering for Performance Gains
Efficient engineering plays a key role in achieving significant performance gains in implementing projects like Jolt. While theoretical advancements lay the groundwork for improved efficiency, practical implementation often requires customizations and adaptations due to existing tooling constraints. In the case of Jolt, leveraging small numbers in commitments and optimizing processes like number conversion to field elements led to notable speed enhancements. This highlights the importance of aligning theoretical advancements with practical engineering to fully realize performance benefits.
Enhancing Security as a Critical Focus for Snark Technology
In the realm of snark technology, the paramount concern lies in enhancing security to ensure the technology's reliability and viability. While performance optimization is crucial for widespread adoption, security vulnerabilities pose a significant threat. Current snark systems, despite providing obscurity-based protection, are riddled with bugs necessitating a shift towards robust security measures. Strengthening the security protocols of snarks is imperative to mitigate risks and propel the technology towards fulfilling its potential for positive impact.
Welcome to web3 with a16z, a show about building the next era of the internet by the team at a16z crypto. That includes me, host Robert Hackett. Today's all new episode covers a very important and now fast developing area of technology that can help scale blockchains, but that also has many uses beyond blockchains as well.
That category of technology is verifiable computing, and specifically, SNARKs. So today we dig into zkVMs, or "zero knowledge virtual machines," which use SNARKs, and we discuss a new design for them that the guests on this episode helped develop — work that resulted in Jolt, the most performant, easy-for-developers-to-use zkVM to date.
The conversation that follows covers the history and evolution of the field, the surprising similarities between SNARK design and computer chip architecture, the tensions between general purpose versus application specific programming, and the challenges of turning abstract research theory into concrete engineering practice.
Our guests include Justin Thaler, research partner at a16z crypto and associate professor of computer science at Georgetown University, who came up with the insights underpinning Jolt, along with collaborators from Microsoft Research, Carnegie Mellon, and New York Universities. His is the first voice you'll hear after mine, followed by Sam Ragsdale, investment engineer at a16z crypto, and Michael Zhu, research engineer at a16Z crypto, both of whom brought Jolt from concept to code.
▶️📹 Correcting some SNARK misconceptions by Justin Thaler — a deeper dive into some of the common misconceptions behind Lasso (the theoretical foundation of Jolt) and how this new paradigm works
As a reminder, none of the following should be taken as tax, business, legal, or investment advice. See a16zcrypto.com/disclosures for more important information, including a link to a list of our investments.
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