Zero Knowledge

In this week's episode, we catch up with our friends Tarun Chitra and James Prestwich at the Stanford Blockchain Conference. We chat about the Flashloan phenomenon & the recent arbitrage 'exploit'. We also catch up about the known challenges facing PoS systems, what EVM support means on other chains & more! Catch our previous episodes with Tarun and James here: https://www.zeroknowledge.fm/99https://www.zeroknowledge.fm/61https://www.zeroknowledge.fm/34The tweet that Anna quotes in the episode is here -> https://twitter.com/bneiluj/status/1228757175595438080If you want to join the zkSummit, happening on March 31st, Berlin, do get your application in here: https://forms.gle/WDhUCmowAEk2ymYa7Thanks to this week's sponsor Nucypher! Nucypher is currently looking for an engineering lead to work on a new open-source cryptosystem for privacy-preserving smart contracts. This is a new product and so you will get to work on some cool primitives like fully homomorphic encryption and zero knowledge proofs. For more about lead engineer role, check out the ad here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21693548If you like what we do: Follow us on Twitter - @zeroknowledgefmJoin us on TelegramSupport our Gitcoin GrantSupport us on the ZKPatreonOr directly here: ETH: 0xC0FFEE1B5083230a5154F55f253B6b6ae8F29B1aBTC: 1cafekGa3podM4fBxPSQc6RCEXQNTK8ZzZEC: t1R2bujRF3Hzte9ALHpMJvY8t5kb9ut9SpQ

Luca De Feo, a researcher at IBM and co-inventor of SIDH, delves into the fascinating world of isogenies and their role in cryptography. He explains how isogenies relate to public key encryption and supersingular curves, emphasizing their importance for post-quantum security. The discussion includes isogenies' connection with verifiable delay functions and their implications for randomness generation. De Feo also explores the unique challenges of isogeny graphs and the potential impact on blockchain technology, making complex mathematical concepts accessible and engaging.

In this episode, Alex Glukowski of Matter Labs discusses zkSync, a scaling and privacy engine for Ethereum. They also talk about the Redshift protocol, a transparent zkSNARK system. The podcast covers building the zkSync blockchain, differences between pair chains and layer one blockchains, creating a censorship-resistant network, building with UX and Devx in mind, programming environment of CK Sync and CK transaction receipts, and trusted setups and Redshift in smart contracts.

In this week’s episode, we catch up with Christopher Goes, IBC Lead at Tendermint. We learn a bit more about the Cosmos Network ecosystem and his work on IBC. We then focus in on how he is thinking about zero knowledge proofs in the context of IBC like-interoperability constructions. We explore some of the ways in which zkps could be incorporated into different schemes for interoperability - including bridging, lightclient constructions, validity proofs and more. We mention the following episodes on Cosmos: Light Clients and ZKPs with CeloDiving into Cosmos with SunnyGive the Zero Knowledge Podcast some feedback. Whether you are a long-time listener or new to the show, we would love to hear from you! Please share your feedback with us here: https://forms.gle/LtQQyKJV6r7LrSND7If you like what we do: Follow us on Twitter - @zeroknowledgefmJoin us on TelegramCatch up with us on YoutubeSupport our Gitcoin GrantSupport us on the ZKP PatreonOr directly here: ETH: 0xC0FFEE1B5083230a5154F55f253B6b6ae8F29B1aBTC: 1cafekGa3podM4fBxPSQc6RCEXQNTK8ZzZEC: t1R2bujRF3Hzte9ALHpMJvY8t5kb9ut9SpQ

Dev Ojha and Nick Spooner, authors of the Fractal transparent SNARK construction, discuss how Fractal improves on earlier work, its differences from STARKs, and the discovery of recursive SNARKs. They explore the relationship between Fractal and Aurora, the role of oracles in DeFi, efficient recursion in transparent SNARKs, and the process of converting a construction. They also discuss collaboration between academic groups and the cryptographic implications of snarks.

Izaak Meckler from O(1) Labs discusses the launch of a recursive snark based incentivized test net, updates on the working SNARKitecture, and new use-cases for zkps in making computer programs more accountable to users.

Ariel Gabizon and Zac Williamson from Aztec discuss Plonk, a highly efficient SNARK construction. They explore Plonk's focus on Lagrange-bases, compare it to other constructions, and mention the influence of the Bayer groth permutation argument. They also discuss polynomial commitment schemes and optimizations, metrics and naming software libraries, the Plonk protocol, and enabling private value transfers and privacy preserving smart contracts.

Co-founders of Tornado.cash, Roman Storm and Roman Semanov, discuss mixers and how they work. They explore incorporating Zero Knowledge for more privacy and the challenges faced in the Tornado.Cash project. They also talk about the future of Tornado Cash and bringing privacy to everyone.

In this end of year episode, we chat about what we've learned in 2019, some of our favourite episodes, this year's explosion in ZK research and what we are looking forward to in 2020! Thanks to Henrik José for updated jingle! We mention a number of episodes from this past year, have a look through our episodes here: https://www.zeroknowledge.fm/For the Zk Specific episodes have a look here: https://www.zeroknowledge.fm/zkseriesGive the Zero Knowledge Podcast some feedback. Whether you are a long-time listener or new to the show, we would love to hear from you! Please share your feedback with us here: https://forms.gle/LtQQyKJV6r7LrSND7If you like what we do: Follow us on Twitter - @zeroknowledgefmJoin us on TelegramCatch up with us on YoutubeSupport our Gitcoin GrantSupport us on the ZKP PatreonOr directly here: ETH: 0xC0FFEE1B5083230a5154F55f253B6b6ae8F29B1aBTC: 1cafekGa3podM4fBxPSQc6RCEXQNTK8ZzZEC: t1R2bujRF3Hzte9ALHpMJvY8t5kb9ut9SpQ

Daniel Benarroch and Aviv Zohar from QEDIT discuss the power of zero knowledge proof systems and emerging use cases. They also touch on The Zero Knowledge Standardization Effort and the importance of creating infrastructure for using zero knowledge proofs.