Zero Knowledge

This week Anna chats with Nathan Ginnever, an applied cryptographer and contributor to Zodiac, and Auryn Macmillan, a product manager and Solidity dev at Gnosis Guild, about the modules and components that make up Zodiac’s suite of composable DAO tooling. In the conversation, they explore the DAO landscape and the lessons they’ve gathered from earlier tools like the Gnosis Safe and SafeSnap. As well as run-through the components that make up the Zodiac standard, new upcoming innovations, the emerging trends in DAO management and more. Here are some links for the episode: ZK Episode 29: The DAO, the white hat hacker group & Giveth with Griff ZK Episode 159: MACI with Koh Wei Jie ZK Episode 183: CowSwap & DAO Tech with Gnosis’s Martin Köppelmann Zodiac github Zodiac: The expansion pack for DAOs Gnosis Safe website Blog post - Introducing SafeSnap SekerDAO reality.eth DAO Landscape blog post Omen and the Next Generation of Prediction Markets Kleros Court There are a lot of exciting events and initiatives for the ZK Podcast on the horizon! If you do want to keep track of what’s going on be sure to check out our channels – especially: The ZK community board: https://community.zeroknowledge.fm/ The ZK Jobs Board: https://jobsboard.zeroknowledge.fm/ Today’s episode is sponsored by Polygon. Polygon is one of the top Ethereum scaling platforms for developers with more than 130+ mn unique user wallets. They are committed to bringing web3 to the masses by improving scalability and fostering the network effects of Ethereum. Polygon's projects now include a number of fully secured EVM-compatible Zero Knowledge rollup solutions like Polygon Hermez, Polygon Miden, and Polygon Nightfall and the most recently announced acquisition of Mir Protocol, now known as Polygon Zero. These solutions inherit the security of Ethereum and use the power of zero knowledge. Check out our recent episodes to learn more about the journey of these Polygon projects: Episode 194: zkEVM with Jordi & David from Hermez Episode 210: The Road to STARKs and Miden with Bobbin Threadbare If you like what we do: Follow us on Twitter - @zeroknowledgefm Join us on Telegram Catch us on Youtube Read up on the r/ZKPodcast subreddit Give us feedback! -https://forms.gle/iKMSrVtcAn6BByH6A Support our Gitcoin Grant Support us on the ZKPatreon Donate through coinbase.commerce Read transcript

This week Anna chats with Emin Gün Sirer - CEO Ava Labs and Founder of Avalanche. They chat about the experiences that led him to become interested in distributed systems research and his work as a professor at Cornell that led to the development of Avalanche. They then dig into their novel consensus mechanism which uses the sub-sampling technique, the architecture of the network with the 3 distinct components: X-Chain, C-Chain and P-Chain, bridges and more. Here are some links for the episode: Episode 127: Consensus Algorithms & HotStuff with Ittai Abraham Avalanche on Twitter Emin’s blog Paper: Avalanche Platform Paper: Scalable and Probabilistic Leaderless BFT Consensus through Metastability Paper: KARMA: A Secure Economic Framework for Peer-To-Peer Resource Sharing Paper: Majority is not Enough: Bitcoin Mining is Vulnerable Avalanche’s consensus protocol: Snowflake AVAX Roadmap Avalanche grant program There are a lot of exciting events and initiatives for the ZK Podcast on the horizon! If you do want to keep track of what’s going on be sure to check out our channels – especially: The ZK community board: https://community.zeroknowledge.fm/ The ZK Jobs Board: https://jobsboard.zeroknowledge.fm/ Today’s episode is sponsored by Polygon. Polygon is one of the top Ethereum scaling platforms for developers with more than 130+ mn unique user wallets. They are committed to bringing web3 to the masses by improving scalability and fostering the network effects of Ethereum. They’re known for Polygon PoS chain and the team is actually working on a spectrum of solutions like - Polygon Edge, which offers developers the capability to build sovereign EVM-compatible chains. As well as a number of fully secured EVM-compatible Zero Knowledge rollup solutions like Polygon Hermez, Polygon Miden, and Polygon Nightfall and the most recently announced acquisition of Mir Protocol, now known as Polygon Zero. These solutions inherit the security of Ethereum and use the power of zero knowledge. Check out our recent episodes to learn more about the journey of these Polygon projects: Episode 194: zkEVM with Jordi & David from Hermez Episode 210: The Road to STARKs and Miden with Bobbin Threadbare If you like what we do: Follow us on Twitter - @zeroknowledgefm Join us on Telegram Catch us on Youtube Read up on the r/ZKPodcast subreddit Give us feedback! -https://forms.gle/iKMSrVtcAn6BByH6A Support our Gitcoin Grant Support us on the ZKPatreon Donate through coinbase.commerce Read transcript

This week Anna chats with Wanseob Lim an Applied ZKP Developer in the Privacy & Scaling Exploration Team at the Ethereum Foundation and one of the authors of the Zkopru protocol. They explore how Zkopru uses optimistic rollups and zero knowledge proofs to create a privacy-focused Layer 2. Wanseob walks us through the transaction process and how the protocol is built to circumvent high gas fees. We also hear a little about what’s to come in the Zkopru ecosystem from merchandising to private exchange of NFTs. Here are some links for the episode: Zkopru's website Zkopru’s blog: Privacy & Scaling Explorations Announcement of Zkopru (zk optimistic rollup) for private transactions zkSummit6: Decentralized privacy layer is coming by Wanseob Lim Episode 177: Unwrapping Optimism with Ben and Mark Episode 179: Diving into Arbitrum’s Optimistic Rollup There are a lot of exciting events and initiatives for the ZK Podcast on the horizon! If you do want to keep track of what's going on be sure to check out our channels - especially: The ZK community board: https://community.zeroknowledge.fm/ The ZK Jobs Board: https://jobsboard.zeroknowledge.fm/ Today’s episode is sponsored by Aztec. Aztec aims to be the privacy layer for Ethereum. They believe that unlocking programmable privacy is the next frontier for blockchains. Aztec is the first zero knowledge rollup built from the ground up for anonymous payments and DeFi transactions. Try out Aztec to send funds privately on zk.money. If you like what we do: Follow us on Twitter - @zeroknowledgefm Join us on Telegram Catch us on Youtube Read up on the r/ZKPodcast subreddit Give us feedback! -https://forms.gle/iKMSrVtcAn6BByH6A Support our Gitcoin Grant Support us on the ZKPatreon Donate through coinbase.commerce Read transcript

This week, Anna checks in with co-hosts & friends, Tarun Chitra, James Prestwich, Josh Cincinnati and Guillermo Angeris, for a retrospective look at 2021 and a look forward to 2022! Enjoy this conversation full of blasphemous hot takes, bad 2022 predictions and dad jokes. Listen to last year's recap: Episode 163: Kicking off 2021 with Anna, Tarun, James & Josh If you like what we do: Follow us on Twitter - @zeroknowledgefm Join us on Telegram Catch us on Youtube Read up on the r/ZKPodcast subreddit Give us feedback! -https://forms.gle/iKMSrVtcAn6BByH6A Support our Gitcoin Grant Support us on the ZKPatreon Donate through coinbase.commerce

While we decided not to release a full episode this week, Anna did get a chance to catch up with Kobi Gurkan, one of the co-organizers of ZK Hack and someone who was very missed in the last episode about the event! Enjoy this special bonus New Years eve ep, one last look back at ZK Hack 2021 and a look forward as well for the project! We also mention a few links for ZK related channels to check out: ZK Jobs Board ZK Forum / Community Board ZK Telegram ZK Hack Discord

This week, Anna hosts a special 5-part interview with a roundup of perspectives from ZK Hack. First, she chats with puzzle hackers who share what it was like to solve these real-world cryptography bugs and learn complex concepts in real time. They discuss how they got started learning in this space and the resources and tools that helped them. Next, Anna speaks with the puzzle builders on the challenges of designing and building these novel zk puzzles. They discuss the state of the community and how the community could work together to create learning resources to enable its growth. Last but not least, there is a chat with part of the ZK Hack organizing team on what they thought of the event and what’s to come next! Thanks to our guests this week: Puzzle hackers - grjte, William Borgeaud and Innokentii SennovskiiJoe Bebel and Joshua Fitzgerald from Anoma who built 3 puzzles. Alex Pruden and Errol Drummond from Aleo who built 3 puzzles.Some of the ZK Hack organizing team – Susannah Evans and Tanya Karsou Here are some links for the episode:ZK Hack Puzzles 1-6, Solution link on each puzzle pageZK Hack Workshops 1-7YouTube Playlist of WorkshopsJustin Thaler ManuscriptBlog post by Joshua Fitzgerald - PLONK by Hand (Part 1: Setup)3Blue1BrownMatasano Crypto Challenges Join the ZK Hack Discord to check out all of the resources the community has been sharing: https://discord.com/invite/tHXyEbEqVNAnd join the mailing list to get notified about the next ZK Hack coming in March! https://www.zkhack.dev/Today’s episode is sponsored by PrivateStorage. PrivateStorage, a private, secure and end-to-end encrypted storage solution is preparing to launch version one of the service.Created by Least Authority, a leader in the security of distributed systems, PrivateStorage uses privacy and security by design principles to ensure users have greater anonymity and assurance that their data is protected.Features include end-to-end encryption, a zero-knowledge access pass payment system and accountless authorization. No one, including PrivateStorage, can see user data when it is stored on their grid.Visit www.private.storage and register to be notified once the service is launched.If you like what we do:Follow us on Twitter - @zeroknowledgefmJoin us on TelegramCatch us on YoutubeRead up on the r/ZKPodcast subredditGive us feedback! -https://forms.gle/iKMSrVtcAn6BByH6A Support our Gitcoin GrantSupport us on the ZKPatreonDonate through coinbase.commerce Read transcript

This week, Anna chats with Bobbin Threadbare about his project Miden, a STARK-based roll-up which was recently purchased by Polygon. We recap the differences between STARKs and SNARKs and the increasingly blurred line between these two proving systems. We then map Bobbin’s journey to Miden VM (now Polygon Miden), how it originated from his earlier project Distaff VM and now incorporates the Winterfell prover from his days at Facebook. Here are some links for the episode:Episode 194: zkEVM with Jordi & David from HermezBlog Post: Polygon Announces Polygon MidenMiden repoIntroducing Distaff: a STARK-based VM written in RustDistaff VM repoAirScript - a low-level language for zk-STARKsAirScript: Arithmetization for zk-STARKs, with Bobbin Blog Post: Open sourcing Winterfell: A STARK prover and verifierWinterfell repo Vitalik’s write-up on STARKs, Part 1 of 3 Support ZK Podcast on Gitcoin - last couple days to get donations matched! https://gitcoin.co/grants/329/zero-knowledge-podcast-2ZK Tech Matching Round with GitcoinIf you’re interested in supporting ZK-focused tech or tools, including learning material or documentation then check out this Gitcoin matching round running until December 16th. This ZK tech side round is funded by the ZK Validator and some great teams in the ZK ecosystem. Join the push towards more ZK! Today’s episode is sponsored by Aztec.Aztec aims to be the privacy layer for Ethereum. They believe that unlocking programmable privacy is the next frontier for blockchains. Aztec is the first zero knowledge rollup built from the ground up for anonymous payments and DeFi transactions.Try out Aztec to send funds privately on zk.money.If you like what we do:Follow us on Twitter - @zeroknowledgefmJoin us on TelegramCatch us on YoutubeRead up on the r/ZKPodcast subredditGive us feedback! -https://forms.gle/iKMSrVtcAn6BByH6A Support our Gitcoin GrantSupport us on the ZKPatreonDonate through coinbase.commerce Read transcript

This week Anna and Tarun chat with Vasiliy Shapovalov from [Lido](Lido) and Felix Lutsch of Chorus One about liquid staking on the ETH2 Proof of Stake consensus chain. Vasiliy explains Ethereum’s unique PoS validator setup and how liquid staking behaves on this network. They also talk about how liquid staking behaves on other live PoS, the inevitability of liquid staking and how to best design these systems. Lastly, they chat about navigating control and decision making in liquid staking protocols, touching on topics of decentralisation and governance. Here are some links for the episode:Episode 140: Staking derivatives & DeFi with Alex Evans (and Tarun!)Blog post: How Lido WorksBlog post: The Road to Trustless Ethereum StakingEthCC 4 - Vasiliy Shapovalov : Liquid staking in Ethereum securityA Note on Borrowing Constant Function Market Maker Shares Liquid Staking Research Report: Implications of Proof-of-Stake Assets in Decentralized Finance OlympusDAOZK Focused matching round with Gitcoin! If you’re working on an open source ZK-focused tech or tools, including learning material or documentation then check out the next Gitcoin Matching beginning December 1st. This will be a ZK-focused side round, funded by the ZK Validator and some great teams in the ZK ecosystem. Read more about how to submit your project here: https://medium.com/zero-knowledge-validator/funding-zero-knowledge-tech-with-gitcoin-51b861f4e089 Today’s episode is sponsored by Least Authority. Least Authority is committed to building and supporting the development of technology to preserve your privacy and keep your data secure. They do this by reviewing third-party software for security vulnerabilities and by building their own secure software, with a specific focus on increasing the security of the data and systems. They have several job opportunities, including a Tech Lead to help design and build a service offering the use of Zero Knowledge Access Passes (ZKAPs), a cryptographic authorization protocol, to other organizations. Visit LeastAuthority.com to see more details about the job listing, read their findings on projects such as Tezos and Mina, and to learn about their work on Zero Knowledge Proofs and zk-SNARKS. If you like what we do:Follow us on Twitter - @zeroknowledgefmJoin us on TelegramCatch us on YoutubeRead up on the r/ZKPodcast subredditGive us feedback! -https://forms.gle/iKMSrVtcAn6BByH6A Support our Gitcoin GrantSupport us on the ZKPatreonDonate through coinbase.commerce Read transcript

This week Anna chats with Ismail Khoffi from Celestia about how and why they’re focusing on building a data availability-first L1 blockchain. Ismail takes us through how data availability can be a problem, primarily with light clients and breaks down the components necessary to understanding the data availability problem such as state changes, the separation of consensus from execution and how Celestia aims to be a pluggable consensus layer. Here are some links for the episode:Episode 151: John Adler on Optimistic vs ZK Rollup and the data availability problemEpisode 207: Journey Through the Cosmos Ecosystem with Billy Rennekamp Celestia on TwitterCelestia’s websiteLazy Ledger is now CelestiaZK Podcast Blog: Data Availability & Scaling Blockchains Paper: LazyLedger: A Distributed Data Availability Ledger With Client-Side Smart Contracts by Mustafa Al-Bassam Paper: Fraud and Data Availability Proofs: Maximising Light Client Security and Scaling Blockchains with Dishonest Majorities by Mustafa Al-Bassam, Alberto Sonnino, Vitalik Buterin ZK Focused matching round with Gitcoin!If you’re working on an open source ZK-focused tech or tools, including learning material or documentation then check out the next Gitcoin Matching beginning December 1st. This will be a ZK-focused side round, funded by the ZK Validator and some great teams in the ZK ecosystem. Read more about how to submit your project here: https://medium.com/zero-knowledge-validator/funding-zero-knowledge-tech-with-gitcoin-51b861f4e089 Also, join us at the ZK Hack Party + Jobs Fair, Thursday December 2nd Register HereToday’s episode is sponsored by Aztec.Aztec aims to be the privacy layer for Ethereum. They believe that unlocking programmable privacy is the next frontier for blockchains. Aztec is the first zero knowledge rollup built from the ground up for anonymous payments and DeFi transactions.And catch their ZK Hack workshop HERETry our Aztec to send funds privately on zk.money.If you like what we do:Follow us on Twitter - @zeroknowledgefmJoin us on TelegramCatch us on YoutubeRead up on the r/ZKPodcast subredditGive us feedback! -https://forms.gle/iKMSrVtcAn6BByH6A Support our Gitcoin GrantSupport us on the ZKPatreonDonate through coinbase.commerce Read transcript

This week, Anna chats with Billy Rennekamp about the Cosmos Hub ecosystem, ICF and some of the latest innovations he is watching. They discuss his early experiments with NFTs that led to the Clovers Network and his move into the Cosmos ecosystem. Through this, they cover how the space has evolved and the game changing potential of the IBC paradigm. Billy explains how the Cosmos Hub aims to support innovative modular development and shares the latest research into Interchain security, bridges, governance and much more.Here are some links for the episode:Billy on TwitterClovers Networkfolia.appCosmos HubCosmos SDK - IBC OverviewCosmos Hub roadmap Learn ->> ZK Hack - learn - now until December 7th, attend ZK workshops & solve ZK puzzlesBuild ->> ZK Jobs Board - find new opportunities in the ZK space! Meet ->> ZK Jobs Fair - December 2nd, meet top zk projects that are hiring. Funding for ZK projects ->> Zero Knowledge Gitcoin Matching Round beginning December.Today’s episode is sponsored by cLabs. cLabs works on building Celo. Celo is a mobile-first platform that makes financial dApps and crypto payments accessible to anyone with a mobile phone. Its mobile-first approach, SNARK-based light client with full node incentives, and gas payable in ERC-20 tokens allow crypto payments and DeFi tools to reach the 6 billion smartphones on Earth. Celo’s interoperability and full EVM-compatibility makes it easy to start building dApps that reach global users across devices, carriers, and countries.If you're interested, come join Celo's vibrant ecosystem. Visit celo.org to learn more.If you like what we do:Follow us on Twitter - @zeroknowledgefmJoin us on TelegramCatch us on YoutubeRead up on the r/ZKPodcast subredditGive us feedback! -https://forms.gle/iKMSrVtcAn6BByH6A Support our Gitcoin GrantSupport us on the ZKPatreonDonate through coinbase.commerce Read transcript