Zero Knowledge

In this week’s episode, Anna and part-time Zero Knowledge co-hosts Tarun, Guillermo, Josh and Kobi, get together for a casual catch up and have a look back at 2022. They trace Jan to today in both the zk community and the larger ecosystem, discussing the highs and the lows, focusing on the major events which stood out to them.If you think the team missed anything, let us know by replying to our tweet announcing this episode of the Podcast. Find us at the Zero Knowledge FM Twitter. This is the final episode of 2022 and Anna and the Zero Knowledge Podcast team thanks you for your support this year! Happy Holidays and see you in 2023!Here are some additional links for this episode:Wormhole Hack zkSummit 7 + 8 Playlist The aftermath of Axie Infinity’s $650M Ronin Bridge hack Collapse of Luna cryptocurrency leads to $11 million exploit on Venus ProtocolThe Big Three zkEVM Announcements Three Arrows Capital to become latest casualty of crypto crash Nomad crypto bridge loses $200 million in ‘chaotic’ hackUnderstanding Tornado Cash by ChainalysisSingle Secret Leader Election by Dan Boneh, Saba Eskandarian, Lucjan Hanzlik, Nicola GrecoThe Eth Merge Celsius Crypto Meltdown: A Crypto Lender In CrisisFTX CrashZK Hack playlistArbitrum: Scalable, private smart contracts by Harry Kalodner, Steven Goldfeder, Xiaoqi Chen, S. Matthew Weinberg, and Edward W. Felten, Princeton UniversityFor the latest on Polygon’s ZK solutions, visit Polygon.technology/blog Today’s episode is sponsored by Mina Protocol The need for private, trustless solutions is clear. A new era of ZK powered decentralized applications is coming – and Mina is the place to build them.Introducing Mina’s zkIgnite Cohort 0, where developers complete tutorials and build zero knowledge apps, or zkApps, and get rewarded. There are a quarter-of-a-million MINA tokens up for grabs for zkIgnite Cohort 0 participants.If you are tuning in to this podcast later, no worries! Mina will be launching additional zkIgnite Cohorts, just head to minaprotocol.com/zkpodcast to check out the best way to get involved. If you like what we do:Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree Subscribe to our podcast newsletterFollow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefmCatch us on YoutubeSupport our Gitcoin Grant Read transcript

In this episode, Anna explores the concept of Ultrasound Money with Justin Drake from the Ethereum Foundation. They kick off with updates on his work in VDFs, MEV and censorship resistance, alongside his particular interests in ZK and how the progress VRFs have made can be applied in Ethereum’s POS architecture. They then dive into the original concept of Ultrasound Money and where Justin sees it progressing to in the future, including the current status around issuance.Here are some additional links for this episode:Episode 74: Blockchain 101: Randomness and Random Beacons with Justin DrakeEpisode 120: ZKPs in Ethereum with Vitalik Buterin & Justin DrakeEpisode 168: Flashbots with Phil Daian and Stephane GosselinZero Knowledge Episodes on zkEVMs ZK Whiteboard Sessions: Module Fourteen - Nova Crash Course with Justin Drake MevWatch.InfoDeFi Llama L2BEATUltrasound.Money WebsiteRISC Zero announce the next version of their ZKVM is now available on GitHub at github.com/risc0 Today’s episode is sponsored by Mina Protocol The need for private, trustless solutions is clear. A new era of ZK powered decentralized applications is coming – and Mina is the place to build them.Introducing Mina’s zkIgnite Cohort 0, where developers complete tutorials and build zero knowledge apps, or zkApps, and get rewarded. There are a quarter-of-a-million MINA tokens up for grabs for zkIgnite Cohort 0 participants. Cohort 0 is finishing soon so head to minaprotocol.com/zkpodcast to get involved today.If you are tuning in to this podcast later, no worries! Mina will be launching additional zkIgnite Cohorts, just head to minaprotocol.com/zkpodcast to check out the best way to get involved. If you like what we do:Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree Subscribe to our podcast newsletterFollow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefmJoin us on TelegramCatch us on YoutubeHead to the ZK Community ForumSupport our Gitcoin Grant Read transcript

This week, Anna explores the topic of proof of solvency with Kostas Chalkias, co-founder and chief of Cryptography at MystenLabs. They cover Kostas’ background in Cryptography and explore his work on Proof of Reserves, otherwise known as Proof of Solvency. They review past Proof of Solvency models using ZKPs and look at the protocols that major centralized exchanges are currently using. Then they dive into the security vulnerabilities, privacy issues, and general bugs that Kostas and his collaborators have identified in these protocols and their recommendations on how to better build Proof of Solvency systems.Here are some additional links for this episode:Episode 227: Move & Sui with Sam Blackshear from Mysten Labs Hard Questions: Update on Cambridge AnalyticaProvisions: Privacy-preserving proofs of solvency for Bitcoin exchanges By Dagher, Bünz, Bonneau, Clark and Boneh Broken Proofs of Solvency in Blockchain Custodial Wallets and Exchanges By Chalkias, Chatzigiannis and Ji Groth16 still lives: exploring tradeoffs of modern ZKProof systems - François Garillot Mysten Labs Join the ZK HACK III - final sessions here Join the ZK HACK Discord Today’s episode is sponsored by Aleo Aleo is a new Layer-1 blockchain that achieves the programmability of Ethereum, the privacy of Zcash, and the scalability of a rollup.If you’re interested in building private applications then check out Aleo’s programming language called Leo. Visit leo-lang.org to start building.You can also join Aleo’s incentivized testnet3 by downloading and running a snarkOS node. No sign-up is necessary to participate. For questions, join their Discord at aleo.org/discord.If you like what we do:Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree Subscribe to our podcast newsletterFollow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefmJoin us on TelegramCatch us on YoutubeHead to the ZK Community ForumSupport our Gitcoin Grant Read transcript

On this week’s episode, Anna and Kobi Gurkan chat with Dan Boneh, Professor of Computer Science at Stanford and Director of the Stanford Center for Blockchain Research. They cover an expanse of topics: from how strides have been made within the development of zkEVMs to how trusted set ups could be integrated into the blockchain itself. This episode covers open problems in ZK such as how to generate ZK proofs on large amounts of data such as video and what solutions could be implemented when attempting to run a DAO with a private treasury.Here are some additional links for this episode:Episode 100: Dan Boneh on the past, present & future of cryptography Experimenting with Collaborative zk-SNARKs: Zero-Knowledge Proofs for Distributed Secrets by Ozdemir and Boneh, 2021Powers-of-Tau to the People: Decentralizing Setup CeremoniesZK Whiteboard Sessions Join ZK HACK III - see the full schedule here Join the ZK HACK Discord Follow the ZK Hack Twitter Today’s episode is sponsored by Mina ProtocolThe need for private, trustless solutions has never been more clear.Introducing Mina’s zkSpark Cohort 0, where developers share tutorials and build zero knowledge apps, or zkApps, and get rewarded. There are a quarter-of-a-million Mina tokens up for grabs for zkSpark Cohort 0 participants.Mina’s zkApps are written in Typescript, so developers can easily get started without learning a custom programming language like other zk protocols.To sign up for zkSpark Cohort 0 head to minaprotocol.com/zkpodcast. Mina will be launching additional zkSpark Cohorts, just visit minaprotocol.com to check out the best way to get involved.If you like what we do:Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree Subscribe to our podcast newsletterFollow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefmJoin us on TelegramCatch us on YoutubeHead to the ZK Community ForumSupport our Gitcoin Grant Read transcript

In this week’s episode, Anna and Tarun speak with Succinct Labs. Guests Uma Roy and John Guibas discuss their interest in ZK, their work with 0xparc and the goals of Succinct Labs - that is to provide proof of consensus through SNARK-based light clients. Acting similar to IBC, but in the Ethereum context, we discuss the challenge of building ZK-based light clients on Ethereum, their first implementation linking Gnosis Chain to Ethereum, and how they imagine interacting with the larger blockchain space. Here are some additional links for this episode:0xPARC Learning Resources TrustBoost: Boosting Trust among Interoperable Blockchains by Wang, Sheng, Kannan, Nayak, Viswanath, 2022 Episode 136: Math competitions, crypto as alchemy & Gasper with Yan Zhang Past ZK HACK Events and Puzzles Join the ZK HACK III - Session #2 on 24 November Join the ZK HACK Discord Follow the ZK Hack Twitter Today's episode is sponsored by Aztec. Aztec Network is building the first privacy-enabled zkRollup on Ethereum. The team is proud to announce Noir, the world's first universal ZK language. Noir makes it safe and intuitive to write privacy-preserving ZK circuits. Aztec is now hiring engineers and cryptographers to build the execution layer supporting Noir's private smart contracts. Join the team making private Ethereum a reality. You can learn more by visiting aztec.network/careers. If you like what we do:Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree Subscribe to our podcast newsletterFollow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefmJoin us on TelegramCatch us on YoutubeHead to the ZK Community ForumSupport our Gitcoin Grant Read transcript

In this week’s episode, Anna and Josh Cincinnati chat with Matt Green, a cryptographer and professor at Johns Hopkins University. They explore Matt’s background in security, blockchain and privacy technologies. He shares his thoughts on early ZK blockchain research, the founding of Zcash, growth in the ZK space, how the industry is ready for tangible use-cases and navigating anonymity and regulatory bodies. This episode closes with a review of Matt’s perspective on the Tornado Cash sanctions and what this means for the space. Here are some additional links for this episode:Radiant Commons Website Sealance WebsiteZerocash: Decentralized Anonymous Payments from Bitcoin by Ben-Sasson, Chiesa, Garman, Green, Miers, Tromer, and Virza, 2014An approximate introduction to how zk-SNARKs are possible by Vitalik Buterin Episode 245: Sanctions against Tornado Cash: a Legal PerspectiveJoin the ZK HACK III - kick off event here Join the ZK HACK Discord This week’s episode is sponsored by Aave.Aave Grants is a community-led grants program, focused on growing a thriving ecosystem of contributors within Aave by funding ideas, projects and events that benefit the protocol or surrounding ecosystem.Aave’s latest deployment, V3, was launched on 6 networks and introduces new features like Isolation Mode, Efficiency Mode and Portals. A decentralized, collateral-backed stablecoin native to Aave called GHO has also been announced. Look out for more details on the testnet and release coming soon. Explore the protocol at Aave.com and if you’re building in the ecosystem, apply for a grant through aavegrants.org.If you like what we do:Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree Subscribe to our podcast newsletterFollow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefmJoin us on TelegramCatch us on YoutubeHead to the ZK Community ForumSupport our Gitcoin Grant Read transcript

In this week's episode, Anna speaks with Awa Sun Yin, co-founder of Anoma & Namada. They discuss her background in crypto analytics, her shift to working on infrastructure and privacy tech, and how the Anoma project came to be. Awa introduces us to the soon to launch Namada network and then describes the various cryptographic pieces that the Anoma team has been developing. They discuss how these fit into Namada and into the future of the Anoma Protocol. Here are some additional links for this episode:Episode 115: Cosmos, IBC and ZKPs with Chris Goes Episode 184: Anoma’s Adrian Brink on Validity Predicates, Ferveo DKG & More Episode 32: Zero Knowledge at Zcon0!Sign up link for zkMesh newsletter ZK7: VampIR: universal representation for arithmetic circuits - Joshua Fitzgerald - Anoma ZK8: Namada: asset-agnostic interchain privacy - Chris Goes - AnomaFerveo: Threshold Decryption for Mempool Privacy in BFT networks by Bebel and Ojha, 2022 Metastate WebsiteCryptium Labs WebsiteHeliax WebsiteJuvix WebsiteFerveo Cryptography Overview Check out the sub0 Polkadot Developer Conference in Lisbon here Join the ZK HACK III - kick off event here Join the ZK HACK Discord Today’s episode is sponsored by Aleo Aleo is a new Layer-1 blockchain that achieves the programmability of Ethereum, the privacy of Zcash, and the scalability of a rollup.If you’re interested in building private applications then check out Aleo’s programming language called Leo. Visit leo-lang.org to start building.You can also join Aleo’s incentivized testnet3 by downloading and running a snarkOS node. No sign-up is necessary to participate. For questions, join their Discord at aleo.org/discord.If you like what we do:Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree Subscribe to our podcast newsletterFollow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefmJoin us on TelegramCatch us on YoutubeHead to the ZK Community ForumSupport our Gitcoin Grant Read transcript

In this week’s episode, Anna and Tarun chat with Pramod Viswanath, Professor of Engineering at Princeton and co-founder of Witness Chain. They discuss Pramod’s early work on wireless networks and how this type of research was brought to market at the time. They also cover topics such as the introduction of adversarial thinking into his research, his move over to blockchain, how the incentives of blockchain could be used within the wireless industry, and Pramod’s new project Witness Chain, which aims to reshape the wireless industry. Here are some additional links for this episode:Episode 244: Journey to Blockchain with David TseEpisode 217: Information Theory & Blockchain with Sreeram Kannan Everything is a race and Nakamoto always wins Fundamentals of Wireless Communication by Tse and Viswanath, 2005 Dandelion: Redesigning the Bitcoin Network for Anonymity by Venkatakrishnan, Fanti and Viswanath, 2017 Blockchains at Princeton Class Join the ZK HACK III - kick off event here Join the ZK HACK Discord Check out the Aleo repo here Today’s episode is sponsored by Polygon Introducing Polygon zkEVM. Polygon’s vision for zkEVM is simple: developers can deploy any Ethereum smart contract to a Layer 2 and benefit from the scaling power of ZK proofs.Public testnet is now available, so you now have an opportunity to test their work and make improvements! If you’d like to learn more about Polygon zkEVM visit bit.ly/startonzkevm to check out the Getting Started guide.If you like what we do:Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree Subscribe to our podcast newsletterFollow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefmJoin us on TelegramCatch us on YoutubeHead to the ZK Community ForumSupport our Gitcoin Grant Read transcript

In this week’s episode, Anna and Guillermo chat with Brian Retford and Jeremy Bruestle from RISC Zero. They discuss their previous work in cloud infrastructure and how ZK offered unique solutions to long standing scaling problems. They cover topics like RISC-V, building VMs, and how RISC Zero aims to build a system which could support a decentralized public cloud.Here are some additional links for this episode:RISC Zero: General Purpose Zero-Knowledge Computation by Brian Retford and Jeremy Bruestle RISC-V Website Bitcoin: A Peer to Peer Electronic Cash System by Satoshi Nakamoto AirSnort Website Arduino Website Metal: Mac OS's acceleration framework Episode 131: Proof of Necessary Work with Akis Kattis (NYU) Check out the ZK Whiteboard Sessions here. Produced by ZK Hack and powered by Polygon. Join the ZK Hack DiscordZK Hack Twitter Today’s episode is sponsored by Mina Protocol. If you’re a developer looking to get hands-on experience building zero knowledge applications then you should apply for Mina’s zkApp Beta Testers Leaderboard. Participants will get access to test challenges where you can learn how to build zkApps on Mina for a chance to rank on the leaderboard against other participants. The top participants will have the opportunity to be considered for a grant! Learn more about the zkApp Beta Testers Leaderboard and how you can start building zkApps by heading to minaprotocol.com/zkpodcast.If you like what we do:Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree Subscribe to our podcast newsletterFollow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefmJoin us on TelegramCatch us on YoutubeHead to the ZK Community ForumSupport our Gitcoin Grant Read transcript

In this week’s episode, Anna and Kobi Gurkan speak with Dmitry Khovratovich, researcher at the Ethereum Foundation, Dusk Network, and ABDK Consulting and JP Aumasson CSO at Taurus. This episode compares symmetric and asymmetric cryptography as well as a deep dive into hash functions. They explore what hash functions are used for, the process of developing and improving hash functions, and what it means for a hash function to be zk friendly.Here are some additional links for this episode:Dmitry Khovratovich TwitterEthereum FoundationDusk NetworkABDK ConsultingJP Aumasson TwitterJP Aumasson Website Taurus Twitter Taurus Website ZK8: New Directions in ZK hashing - Dmitry Khovratovich - Ethereum FoundationZK8: On ZK hashes - JP Aumasson - TaurusZK7: Security of ZKP projects: same but different - JP Aumasson - Taurus Serious Cryptography - JP Aumasson, 2017Too Much Crypto - JP Aumasson, 2019Crypto Dictionary - JP AumassonScalable, transparent, and post-quantum secure computational integrity - Ben-Sasson, Bentov, Horesh, Riabzev, 2018, page 71 NIST National Institute of Standards and Technology BLAKE2Poseidon Network SHA-3 Reinforced Concrete - Maharramov, 2021 Nova - Recursive Zero-Knowledge Arguments from Folding Schemes - Kothapalli, Setty, Tzialla, 2021 ZK8: Fantastic Beasts: unfolding ZK hardware - Omer Shlomovits - IngonyamaFind the Aleo repo here github.com/aleohq. Today's episode is sponsored by Anoma. Anoma is a set of protocols that enable self sovereign coordination.Anoma's first fractal instance Namada is planned for later in 2022, and it focuses on enabling shielded transfers for any assets, with a few second transaction latency and near zero fees.Visit anoma.net for more information.If you like what we do:Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree Subscribe to our podcast newsletterFollow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefmJoin us on TelegramCatch us on YoutubeHead to the ZK Community ForumSupport our Gitcoin Grant Read transcript