Michał Zając and Albert Garreta from the Nethermind team discuss the origin story of Nethermind, cryptography research on FRI-based protocols, identifying security issues with Fiat-Shamir, exploring ZK malleability and aggregation, and building SNARKs over rings.
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Quick takeaways
The research conducted by the Nethermind team highlights the limitations and security implications of using Fry as a polynomial commitment scheme.
The Nethermind team emphasizes the importance of non-malleable proof systems to enhance the security and trustworthiness of applications like Tornado Cash.
Deep dives
Research on Security of Fry-Based Protocols
The podcast episode discusses the research conducted by the Nethermind team on the security of Fry-based protocols. Fry is a commonly used polynomial commitment scheme in snarks and starks. The team explored the limitations and security implications of using Fry as a polynomial commitment scheme. They discovered that Fry is not a perfect polynomial commitment scheme, and there can be security loss when using it in certain scenarios, such as parallel repetition of protocols. The team aims to provide a better understanding of Fry's security properties and shed light on the considerations for designing secure protocols using Fry.
Non-Malleability of Proof Systems
Another topic of research discussed in the podcast episode is the non-malleability of proof systems. The Nethermind team emphasizes the importance of having non-malleable proof systems, which prevent adversaries from altering proofs or related instances in a way that compromises the system's security. They focus on strengthening the non-malleability of proof systems used in applications like Tornado Cash, where the security of funds withdrawal relies on the integrity of zero-knowledge proofs. By ensuring non-malleability, the team aims to enhance the security and trustworthiness of these systems.
Joint Proof Aggregation for Starks
The podcast episode also delves into the topic of joint proof aggregation for Starks. The Nethermind team collaborates with experts from Ivan State University to explore methods for aggregating proofs in Starks. The team aims to optimize the utilization of additively homomorphic vector commitment schemes or polynomial commitment schemes in folding schemes. By aggregating FRI-based protocols, the team seeks to achieve more efficient proof aggregation, enhancing the scalability and performance of Starks-based systems.
Snarks and Starks Over Rings
The Nethermind team's research also focuses on developing Snarks and Starks over rings, specifically the modulo 2^64 ring. They aim to improve the efficiency and applicability of proof systems by natively incorporating operations over rings, rather than translating elements into fields. This research has potential applications in fields such as fully homomorphic encryption and floating-point arithmetic, where operations are naturally defined over rings. By enabling proofs over rings, the team aims to enhance the security, efficiency, and broader applicability of Snarks and Starks in various computational domains.
On this week’s episode, Anna Rose interviews Michał Zając and Albert Garreta from the Nethermind team. They discuss the origin story of Nethermind and its role in the ecosystem today. They also delve into the cryptography research being done at Nethermind, including their work on proving the security of FRI-based protocols, identifying security issues with Fiat-Shamir, exploring topics like ZK malleability and aggregation, and building SNARKs over rings.
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