Zero Knowledge

Ying Tong Lai, a researcher at Geometry Research known for her work on Zcash's Halo 2, and Bryan Gillespie from Inversed Tech, who focuses on privacy technologies, dive into the intricacies of programmable privacy. They discuss their research on classifying and implementing privacy in distributed systems. The duo shares insights on zero-knowledge proofs, the evolution of cryptographic systems, and the balance between privacy and usability in decentralized finance. Their personal journeys from academia to the crypto space unravel the interdisciplinary nature of these innovations.

Alessandro Chiesa and Eylon Yogev discuss constructing cryptographic proofs from ideal hash functions, exploring SNARKs and Alessandro's role in ZK systems. They delve into superposition queries, limitations of the random oracle model, and future standardizations. The podcast highlights the importance of systematizing cryptographic proofs for security and efficiency.

Guests Sims Gautam and Liam Eagen from Alpen Labs discuss utilizing ZK for Bitcoin L2s, BitVM, covenants, and SNARKnado. They explore the distinctions between Bridge Operators in Bitcoin and Eth L2s, creating DA and authentic synthetic assets, and ways to enhance trust models and security in Bitcoin.

SummaryIn this week’s episode Anna chats with Shumo and Yi from NEBRA. They discuss how NEBRA UPA, or Universal Proof Aggregation, can mitigate the high price of putting ZKPs on-chain. They cover what it takes to incorporate proving systems into NEBRA UPA as well as the benefits that these systems will bring, how developers are meant to interact with them, and future integrations to enable seamless cross-zkRollup applications. They cover prover marketplaces, verification aggregation systems, and the design space that these systems open up. Here’s some additional links for this episode:NEBRANEBRA UPA DemoNEBRA DocsUPA Gas Costs by NEBRAMIT Bitcoin ClubfflonK: a Fast-Fourier inspired verifier efficient version of PlonK by Gabizon and WilliamsonUniPlonK: PlonK with Universal Verifier by Chu, Gomes, Iglesias, Norton and TebbsThe Web3 Summit is back!The next edition will be happening in Berlin from Aug 19-21! You can head over to web3summit.com to apply, learn more and grab your tickets today. Episode SponsorsLaunching soon, Namada is a proof-of-stake L1 blockchain focused on multichain, asset-agnostic privacy, via a unified shielded set. Namada is natively interoperable with fast-finality chains via IBC, and with Ethereum using a trust-minimized bridge.Follow Namada on Twitter @namada for more information and join the community on Discord discord.gg/namada. Aleo is a new Layer-1 blockchain that achieves the programmability of Ethereum, the privacy of Zcash, and the scalability of a rollup.As Aleo is gearing up for their mainnet launch in Q1, this is an invitation to be part of a transformational ZK journey. Dive deeper and discover more about Aleo at http://aleo.org/If you like what we do:Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | LinktreeSubscribe to our podcast newsletterFollow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefmJoin us on TelegramCatch us on YouTube Read transcript

There is no episode this week, but wanted to highlight the upcoming ZK Hack Montreal event, happening Aug 9-11 2024. This is the 4th IRL zk-focused hackathon produced by ZK Hack. Apply now to attend ZK Hack Montreal as a hacker and jump into zk. https://www.zkmontreal.com/ Find out more about ZK Hack as well at https://zkhack.dev/

SummaryIn this week’s episode Anna and Kobi chat with Muthu Venkitasubramaniam and Carmit Hazay from Ligero. They discuss their work on MPC and ZK for the last 20 years and how the research has evolved. They then dive into a nuanced conversation on how MPC & ZK are interrelated. The discuss Ligero, what led to the project and the early phases, as well as the new Ligetron system and how they plan on getting this technology into the wild. Here’s some additional links for this episode:LigeroLigero: Lightweight Sublinear Arguments Without a Trusted Setup by Ames, Hazay, Ishai and VenkitasubramaniamLigetron by LigeroLigetron: Lightweight Scalable End-to-End Zero-Knowledge Proofs. Post-Quantum ZK-SNARKs on a Browser by Wang, Hazay and Venkitasubramaniamℓ-Diversity: Privacy Beyond k-Anonymity by Machanavajjhala, Gehrke, Kifer and VenkitasubramaniamEfficient RSA Key Generation and Threshold Paillier in the Two-Party Setting by Hazay, Mikkelsen, Rabin, Toft and NicolosiMeshCal.comZero-Knowledge from Secure Multiparty Computation by Ishai, Kushilevitz, Ostrovsky and SahaiIntroduction to MPC-in-the-Head by Carmit HazayZKBoo: Faster Zero-Knowledge for Boolean Circuits by Giacomelli, Madsen and OrlandiEpisode 322: Definitions, Security and Sumcheck in ZK Systems with Justin ThalerCommunication complexity of secure computation by Franklin and YungZK Hack Montreal has been announced for Aug 9 - 11! Apply to join the hackathon here. Aleo is a new Layer-1 blockchain that achieves the programmability of Ethereum, the privacy of Zcash, and the scalability of a rollup.As Aleo is gearing up for their mainnet launch in Q1, this is an invitation to be part of a transformational ZK journey. Dive deeper and discover more about Aleo at http://aleo.org/If you like what we do:Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | LinktreeSubscribe to our podcast newsletterFollow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefmJoin us on TelegramCatch us on YouTube Read transcript

Tracy Livengood, co-founder of Pluto, discusses web proofs, bringing private web data to on-chain apps with ZK. He shares insights on transitioning to the decentralized web, using TLSNotary stack, and developing future tool sets for the project.

Antonio Sanso and Youssef El Housni discuss new elliptic curves, Bandersnatch, Verkle Tries, and their work on Families of prime-order endomorphism-equipped embedded curves on pairing-friendly curves. They dissect cryptographic technicalities, explore applications of their work, and unravel the mysteries of Bandersnatch and twisted curves in systems like Ethereum.

Georgios Konstantopoulos, CTO of Paradigm, talks about Reth project's design and future goals, client node landscape diversity in Ethereum, and how different clients can protect a chain. They also cover Foundry updates, ETH 2.0 research, and Verkle Trees for Statelessness.

Anna and Guillermo chat with Justin Thaler, from Georgetown and a16z, about his SNARKs article misconceptions, zkVM Jolt, and community contributions. They cover the importance of precision in defining ZK systems, Fiat-Shamir transformations, and advancements in small characteristic fields for SNARK performance. The discussion also delves into the Jolt system and polynomial IOP innovations, emphasizing community involvement and future developments.