Zero Knowledge

This week, Anna chats with Brendan Farmer and Daniel Lubarov from Polygon Zero, formerly known as Mir, about their early experiments with different proving systems, their work combining PLONK and Halo called Plonky - as well as the more recent combination of PLONK plus FRI (a technique that is borrowed from STARKs) which makes up Plonky2. They discuss why these innovations matter, what the new paradigms enable within the Ethereum ecosystem, their goal to provide privacy and scalability for blockchains, their recent acquisition by Polygon and more.Here are some links for the episode:Polygon Zero Introducing Plonky2Episode 194: zkEVM with Jordi & David from HermezEpisode 210: The Road to STARKs and Miden with Bobbin ThreadbareEpisode 219: Scaling Ethereum with Polygon’s Mihailo BjelicEpisode 179: Diving into Arbitrum’s Optimistic RollupEpisode 32: Zero Knowledge at Zcon0!Tweet thread about Goldilocks field[EIP-4488: Transaction calldata gas cost reduction with total calldata limit](EIP-4488: Transaction calldata gas cost reduction with total calldata limit) If you’re looking to jump into ZK professionally – head over to the ZK Jobs Board to find job openings from some of the top teams working in the ZK space! https://jobsboard.zeroknowledge.fm/Today’s episode is sponsored by Aleo. Aleo is a new Layer-1 blockchain that uses cutting edge cryptography to achieve the programmability of Ethereum, the privacy of Zcash, and the scalability of a rollup. It gives developers the tools they need to build programs that protect privacy while allowing applications to be regulatory-compliant. It also features a new domain-specific programming language called Leo that enables non-cryptographers to harness the power of ZKPs to build private applications like decentralized exchanges, hidden information games, regulated stablecoins, and more. Go to aleo.org to learn more about the protocol, or roll up your sleeves and visit leo-lang.org to start building. 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 Mihailo Bjelic one of the co-founders of Polygon. Mihailo takes us through the evolution of Polygon and how the promise of web3 has led them to betting big on ZK-focused technologies. We learn about their approach to the two main challenges within their mission to scaling Ethereum – security and data availability; and how their suite of products aims to tackle these. Lastly, we hear about what’s next on the Polygon roadmap to onboarding the first billion to Ethereum – for the products themselves and the ecosystem as a whole. Here are some links for the episode:Episode 194: zkEVM with Jordi & David from HermezEpisode 210: The Road to STARKs and Miden with Bobbin ThreadbarePolygon's scaling solutionsThe Data Availability ProblemThe Polygon Thesis: Strategic Focus on ZK Technology as the Next Major Chapter for Polygon; $1B Treasury Allocation ZKVerse: Polygon’s Zero Knowledge Strategy ExplainedIf you’re looking to jump into ZK professionally – head over to the ZK Jobs Board to find openings from some of the top teams working in ZK: https://jobsboard.zeroknowledge.fm/ZK Hack returns for a 2nd edition with ZK Hack Mini – kicking off on 1st March with a series of workshops and puzzle hacking competitions.Sign up for the first workshops - on Winterfell and Miden happening on March 1st.Today’s episode is sponsored by Least Authority. Least Authority has been making advancements in the ZK space since 2013. This year, they will release the MoonMath Manual, a beginners guide to zk-SNARKs. The manual is designed to enable an audience with only minimal cryptography and programming experience to implement complex, real-world zk-building blocks. Least Authority has also published a whitepaper on Zero Knowledge Access Passes or ZKAPs. This privacy-enhancing technology enables users to access services without revealing personal information to the service provider. They are implementing ZKAPs in PrivateStorage, their soon to be released cloud storage service.To learn more about Least Authority and the upcoming MoonMath Manual visit leastauthority.com/moonmathmanualIf 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 Dean Tribble, co-founder and CEO of Agoric. Dean walks us through the landscape of programming languages and Agoric’s philosophy behind building a blockchain that has Hardened JS as its smart contract language. We hear about the two big challenges in using JavaScript in blockchain development, malleability and non-deterministic, and how Agoric addresses these. Dean explains the security implications of many popular blockchain languages and how this led them to build Agoric’s smart contract infrastructure allowing JavaScript functions to run with specific access control – leaving the money management to the larger framework. We touch on what to expect from the upcoming development phases of Agoric, various bridging partnerships to come, and last but not least – if, when and how they envision ZK roll-ups getting implemented into the stack. Here are some links for the episode:Zcon0 episodeAgoric's websiteAgoric Token and Crypto Economy White Paper SF Cryptocurrency Devs: Agoric - Programming Secure Smart ContractsA Deep Dive into Agoric: JavaScript Smart ContractsZKV presents Privacy in Cosmos: Scalability Edition - AgoricWhat is INTERCHAIN SECURITY? by BILLY RENNEKAMP Cøsmos Hub Mainnet Phase 0 LaunchIf you’re looking to jump into ZK professionally – head over to the ZK Jobs Board to find openings from some of the top teams working in ZK: https://jobsboard.zeroknowledge.fm/ ZK Hack returns for a 2nd edition with ZK Hack Mini - kicking off on 1st March with a series of workshops and puzzle hacking competitions. Sign up for the first event on March 1st.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. 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 Chitra chat with Sreeram Kannan, Associate Professor at University of Washington where he runs the UW Blockchain Lab. In this episode, they look at how information theory and blockchain intersect and map the progression of Bitcoin security. They discuss Sreeram’s early work on P2P mobile networks and how this evolved to work on consensus and fair sequencing. Sreeram takes us through his philosophical reasoning of shifting from genomic research to blockchain research and the two major areas in P2P systems that he focuses on: maximum throughput and low latency. Here are some links for the episode:Sreeram on Twitter Sreeram’s homepageEpisode 136 - Math competitions, crypto as alchemy & Gasper with Yan Zhang Prism: Scaling Bitcoin by 10,000xPrism: Deconstructing the Blockchain to Approach Physical LimitsThe Bitcoin Backbone Protocol: Analysis and ApplicationsEverything is a Race and Nakamoto Always WinsThemis: Fast, Strong Order-Fairness in Byzantine ConsensusBabylon: Reusing Bitcoin Mining to Enhance Proof-of-Stake SecurityBlockchain CAP Theorem Allows User-Dependent Adaptivity and FinalityCombining GHOST and Casper If you’re looking to jump into ZK Professionally I want to remind you to head over to the ZK Jobs board to find job posts from some of the top teams working in ZK: https://jobsboard.zeroknowledge.fm/ ZK Hack returns for a 2nd edition with ZK Hack Mini – a shorter form event spanning 2 weeks and kicks off on March 1st with a series of workshops and puzzle hacking competitions.Join the newsletter for updates or sign up for the first event on March 1st.Today’s episode is sponsored by Electric Coin Company.Electric Coin Company, the inventors of Zcash and Halo cryptography, are building the next generation of zero-knowledge tech. With Network Upgrade 5 happening this April, Zcash moves to the Halo zero-knowledge proving system, removing trusted setup and becoming shielded by default. With the help of Zcash and Halo cryptography, ECC aims to usher in an era of self-sovereignty and creative freedom. To learn more and explore the relationship between privacy, self-sovereignty and creative freedom, visit electriccoin.coIf 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 Dean Eigenmann and Edgar Aroutiounian from Project Blanc, a team building bots and developing MEV strategies. They revisit the topic of MEV, what it is and how teams like Project Blanc work to capture it. They also dive into the concept of re-orgs, accelerationism as a philosophy and get a look at what goes on in the Dark Forest.Here are some links for the episode:Monsters in the Mempool with Dan Robinson from ParadigmEpisode 168: Flashbots with Phil Daian and Stephane GosselinEpisode 188: Analyzing Osmosis & Preventing MEV with Sunny and Dev Dialectic on Twitter Dialectic's websiteBlog post: Ethereum is a Dark Forest by Dan Robinson, Georgios KonstantopoulosEth Research, Flashbots: Frontrunning the MEV crisisMEV… wat do? ZK Hack returns for a 2nd edition with ZK Hack Mini - a shorter form event spanning 2 weeks (instead of the previous 7) and kicking off on 1st March with a series of workshops and puzzle hacking competitions. Join the newsletter for updates or sign up for the first event on March 1st.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. Polygon's openings on the ZK Jobs Board. 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 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