Zero Knowledge

Dev Ojha on the Osmosis Story and his Return to Privacy

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 14:00:00 +0100

In this episode, Anna Rose and Guillermo Angeris catch up with Dev Ojha, co-founder of Osmosis and longtime ZK researcher. They revisit the story of Osmosis since its 2021 launch as a key Cosmos DEX, its role in early IBC adoption, the DeFi summer surge, the Terra collapse fallout, and the later pivot by the team toward privacy-focused cross-chain tools. The conversation then turns to Dev’s return to privacy tech, focusing on Zcash. They explore ongoing challenges like shielded sync, nullifier bloat, and scaling shielded transactions, along with proposed solutions involving private information retrieval (PIR), oblivious synchronization, evolving nullifiers, recursive SNARKs, faster block times with pre-confirmation ideas, and paths toward post-quantum recoverability. They wrap-up with a discussion about the need for further zkVM optimization and his vision for a more private future.

Related Previous ZK Episodes

Sean Bowe on Tachyon and the Evolution of Zcash

Applications to attend the zkSummit14 on May 7 in Rome are open! This edition has limited spots — we recommend applying early at www.zksummit.com zkMesh+ live! Subscribe for zkMesh+ and catch the latest State of ZK 2025 report.

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lean Ethereum Part 6: Formal Verification with Alex Hicks

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 14:00:00 +0100

https://youtu.be/9u4fu7TiZCA In this episode, Nico Mohnblatt speaks with Alex Hicks from the Ethereum Foundation about formal verification and its role in the lean Ethereum vision. This is the 6th and final episode of the lean Ethereum mini-series. Nico and Alex explore what it means to produce machine-checked proofs across the ZK stack, from RISC-V and zkVMs to circuits, compilers, and cryptographic primitives, and how these pieces connect in practice. The conversation also covers Alex’s path from physics and math into the ZK space, how the EF effort took shape, and the community push to formally verify the entire stack using proof assistants like Lean. They discuss efforts to formalize zkVM components, the tradeoffs between proof assistants and automated solvers, and what real progress looks like after a year and a half of focused work.

lean Ethereum Part 5: Devnets & Upgrade Coordination with Will and Raúl

Wed, 18 Mar 2026 14:00:00 +0100

https://youtu.be/Ul2bs8INF0k In this episode Nico Mohnblatt chats with Will Corcoran and Raúl Kripalani from the Ethereum Foundation. This is part 5 in the 6-part leanEthereum miniseries, shifting focus from the cryptographic primitives and LeanVM stack to the real-world integration happening through devnets, specs, and cross-team coordination. They dive into the human coordination layer, how independent teams align on post-quantum signatures, SNARK aggregation, and protocol changes, plus the networking upgrades needed for larger payloads. Raúl explains the shift from today's libp2p stack to a purpose-built Eth P2P next-gen version optimised for Ethereum's workloads, including better broadcast layers, erasure coding, and control planes to handle bandwidth competition between execution and consensus layers.

lean Ethereum Part 4: leanVM, a Custom VM for Signature Aggregation

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 14:00:00 +0100

https://youtu.be/YWkyvTrwtQU

In this episode of the lean Ethereum miniseries, Nico Mohnblatt speaks with Thomas Coratger and Emile from the Ethereum Foundation about the design and implementation of LeanVM, a minimal zkVM created to support post-quantum signature aggregation on Ethereum’s consensus layer. They explain why the team chose a VM architecture over fixed circuits and how LeanVM takes inspiration from Cairo with just 4 opcodes and 2 precompiles to keep the instruction set extremely small and make formal verification easier.

The conversation also covers LeanVM implementation choices like using Plonky3 and WHIR for efficient proving on CPUs, benchmarks for aggregation speed, and the role of Python specs in testing client interop. They share ongoing efforts to optimize low-level primitives and invite community input on the project.

Repos

Applications to speak at zkSummit14 close this Sunday March 15! This edition will be more intimate with limited spots — we recommend applying early. Apply at www.zksummit.com zkMesh+ live! Subscribe for zkMesh+ and catch the latest State of ZK 2025 report.

lean Ethereum Part 3: Security of PQ SNARKs and an update about the Proximity Prize

Wed, 04 Mar 2026 14:00:00 +0100

https://youtu.be/v8SGKS3T-3A In this episode, Nico Mohnblatt speaks with Giacomo Fenzi from EPFL and Antonio Sanso from the Ethereum Foundation. For this 3rd instalment of the lean Ethereum miniseries, they talk about the theory and security behind post-quantum SNARKs. They dive into the hash-based proof systems underpinning LeanVM, multilinear approaches like sumcheck, and how these fit into Ethereum's post-quantum upgrades. They cover the $1M Proximity Prize and the recent wave of papers on proximity gaps, correlated agreement, and list decoding. From negative results near the Elias bound to breakthroughs beyond the Johnson bound for certain codes, the discussion explores how new results slightly degrade conjectural security, why the 128-bit threshold still matters, and what it means to move from conjectural to provable security in large-scale systems like Ethereum.

Additional Resources

Applications to speak at zkSummit14 are now open! This edition will be more intimate with limited spots — we recommend applying early. Apply at www.zksummit.com zkMesh+ live! Subscribe for zkMesh+ and catch the latest State of ZK 2025 report.

lean Ethereum Part 2: PQ Signatures and Poseidon with Dmitry and Benedikt

Wed, 25 Feb 2026 14:00:00 +0100

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xh8hbz1nqxQ In this episode, Nico Mohnblatt speaks with Benedikt Wagner and Dmitry Khovratovich, cryptography researchers at the Ethereum Foundation, for the second instalment of the lean Ethereum miniseries. They explore leanSig, a hash-based multi-signature scheme designed as a post-quantum replacement for BLS in Ethereum consensus. The conversation walks through how one-time signatures and Merkle trees can be combined to support long-lived validators, and why SNARK-based aggregation is needed in a post-quantum setting. The talk touches on key tradeoffs like signature size versus verification speed, encoding challenges behind their At the Top of the Hypercube work, and the role of Poseidon as the core hash function.

lean Ethereum Part 1: Introduction with Justin Drake

Wed, 18 Feb 2026 17:00:00 +0100

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dad2UonQ9Ag&feature=youtu.be In this episode, Nico Mohnblatt sits down with Justin Drake from the Ethereum Foundation to kick off a miniseries on lean Ethereum, a bold vision to rethink Ethereum’s consensus, data, and execution layers. Justin outlines how post-quantum cryptography, faster finality, and enshrined zkEVMs fit together into a cohesive redesign. At the heart of it is leanVM, an ultra-minimal zkVM built to aggregate hash-based signatures and recursively verify proofs, potentially turning post-quantum migration into a scalability win. They also explore formal verification efforts, the shift from conjectured to provable proximity gaps, Poseidon2 as a hash candidate, and how this work could set a post-quantum standard not just for Ethereum, but for other blockchains as well. This episode sets the stage for deeper dives in coming episodes.

lean Ethereum Miniseries Kick-off with Anna & Nico

Wed, 18 Feb 2026 11:00:00 +0100

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbskOlf7oA0

In this episode, Anna Rose and Nico Mohnblatt kick-off a new six-part video miniseries exploring lean Ethereum. Lean Ethereum is a proposal initiated by the EF that weaves zero-knowledge cryptography and post-quantum upgrades throughout Ethereum’s stack. They discuss why the topic deserves a deeper series, what listeners can expect from upcoming episodes, and how this new video-first format will differ from the podcast’s usual style. The conversation previews key themes like hash-based signatures, formal verification, proximity gaps, and the broader goal of future-proofing blockchain protocols with minimal cryptographic assumptions. They also share details about the upcoming zkSummit14 and how the community can get involved.

Bonus: zkMesh+ & Upcoming Miniseries

Wed, 11 Feb 2026 14:00:00 +0100

There’s no full-length episode this week, but we wanted to highlighting a new bonus segment available exclusively to zkMesh+ subscribers. In this, we revisit last week’s conversation with Ian Miers, Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the University of Maryland. Ian dives deeper into:

The renewed cultural focus on privacy
The evolving narrative around Zcash
His recent research on reducing nullifier state growth without relying on traditional pruning

Join zkMesh+ as a paid subscriber to get access to this and all our extra members-only perks. https://zkmesh.substack.com/subscribe We return next week with a 6-part series on Lean Ethereum… stay tuned!

Stateful ZK Identity with Ian Miers

Wed, 04 Feb 2026 14:00:00 +0100

In this episode, Anna Rose and Nico Mohnblatt welcome back Ian Miers, Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the University of Maryland, to continue the conversation from a previous episode and dig deeper into his latest work like zk-Promises, zk-Cookies, and Cryptographic Personas. These ZK tools aim to build social networks that protect user privacy while maintaining integrity, like anonymous moderation and reputation systems without central databases. Ian explains how they differ from traditional creds but share ideas around proving attributes securely. The conversation explores real-world applications, such as banning bad actors without de-anonymizing them, setting rules in private group chats, and creating self-sovereign identities that persist over time. Ian also touches on challenges like stolen accounts, trolling, age checks, and how these primitives could shape future online interactions.

Bonus: Join zkMesh+ for some bonus podcast content!

Thu, 29 Jan 2026 14:00:00 +0100

No full length episode this week, but we have released an additional podcast clip with Sean Bowe to our a zkMesh+ paid subscribers. Sean Bowe is a Zcash core developer and lead on Tachyon. In this clip, Sean shares his thoughts on the question of quantum computers and their real impact on blockchains and ZK systems. Join zkMesh+ as a paid subscriber to get access to this and all our extra members-only perks. https://zkmesh.substack.com/subscribe

Sean Bowe on Tachyon and the Evolution of Zcash

Wed, 21 Jan 2026 14:00:00 +0100

In this episode, Anna Rose catches up with Sean Bowe, a Zcash core developer now leading work on Tachyon, the upcoming Zcash shielded pool upgrade. They discuss the evolution of Zcash’s technical roadmap over the past five years and how it has influenced the design of Tachyon. Sean then walks through the cryptographic ideas behind Tachyon, including its proving systems, new techniques for pruning nullifiers without disrupting other parts of the protocol, and how the upgrade aims to address Zcash’s remaining scalability bottlenecks. They also explore plans for Zcash governance, wallet UX, and the long-term outlook for privacy-focused zero-knowledge systems.

Bonus: Welcome to 2026 from ZK Podcast & zkMesh+

Mon, 19 Jan 2026 14:00:00 +0100

We share some updates about the upcoming episodes and the ZK Podcast & ZK Hack ecosystem - specifically zkMesh+ launching this Wednesday. zkMesh+ will bring together work from the Zero Knowledge Podcast, ZK Hack, and ZK Mesh. Subscribers will have access to a set of additional resources, including:

the quarterly State of ZK Report
monthly addendums on adjacent technologies such as FHE, iO, and MPC
early access and discounts for events like zkSummit and ZK Hack hackathons
select subscriber-only Zero Knowledge Podcast segments and other experimental content

If that sounds interesting, you can subscribe ahead of launch directly on the ZK Mesh Substack https://zkmesh.substack.com/subscribe

Year in Review: ZK Podcast in 2025 & Beyond

Wed, 03 Dec 2025 14:00:00 +0100

In this end-of-year episode, Anna recaps the major ZK themes of 2025 and gives a preview of what’s coming in 2026 — new episodes, a mini-series, zkSummit14, and the rollout of ZK Mesh Plus, a unified space for newsletters, educational content, and events. She highlights this year’s core research threads, from lattices and Ligero to quantum security, ZK-ID systems, emerging applications, and the ongoing push toward better proving benchmarks. Anna wraps with reflections on why privacy tech is becoming more urgent in the age of AI and what the community will be exploring next year.

Pratyush Mishra on Tiny Proofs, Folding, Low-Memory SNARKs and More

Wed, 26 Nov 2025 14:00:00 +0100

In this episode, Anna Rose and Nico Mohnblatt catch up with Pratyush Mishra, Assistant Professor of Computer and Information Science at the University of Pennsylvania. They discuss the various themes in his ZK research and some of the works he has been a part of in the last few years. They explore how Garuda and Pari achieve extremely small SNARK proofs, how Arc facilitates hash-based folding, proximity proofs with FICS and FACS, his work on low-memory SNARKs, and ZK applications outside the blockchain space. Pratyush shares how these ideas intersect with one another, from faster proving to smallest proof sizes to real-world uses. He also touches on his collaborations with other leading cryptographers like Benedikt Bünz and Alessandro Chiesa, and how ZK is finding its place in broader computer science. Related Links

Aztec is a privacy-first Layer 2 on Ethereum supporting smart contracts with both private and public state and execution. Details about Aztec’s technology, research, and community programmes are available at aztec.network.

ZK Whiteboard Sessions is an educational video series produced by ZK Hack in collaboration with Bain Capital Crypto. It is focused on the building blocks of zero knowledge technology. Find season 3 of the Whiteboard Sessions as well as previous seasons here. Check out the latest jobs in ZK at the ZK Podcast Jobs Board.

Lattices, Folding, & Symphony with Binyi Chen

Wed, 19 Nov 2025 14:00:00 +0100

In this episode Anna Rose and Nico Mohnblatt chat with Binyi Chen, researcher at Stanford University. They discuss his work on lattice-based folding schemes, revisit LatticeFold and LatticeFold+, and cover how lattices enable low-cost, post-quantum-secure folding by replacing Pedersen hashes with Ajtai commitments. They discuss the early folding work from 2023 and how it has evolved and explore the advantages of lattices over other approaches in the folding context while also highlighting their tradeoffs. Binyi goes on to introduce Symphony, his new work that eliminates the need to implement Fiat-Shamir in the recursive verification circuit, and describes how that improves efficiency and removes the chances for a KRS-style attack. Related Links

Further Reading

Check out the latest jobs in ZK at the ZK Podcast Jobs Board.

The Quest for Practical iO with Machina iO

Wed, 12 Nov 2025 14:00:00 +0100

In this episode, Anna Rose and Tarun Chitra chat with Sora Suegami and Enrico Bottazzi from Machina iO. They explain indistinguishability obfuscation (iO) technology and how they are working to bring this powerful cryptographic primitive from theoretical territory into the practical world. They discuss how the pair got into iO and how new assumptions like all-product LWE and evasive LWE will help bridge theory to practice. They explore the benchmarks, the challenges and opportunities of this cutting-edge privacy cryptography and cover potential optimizations and real-world uses. While iO is still far from being truly practical, their work shows tangible steps ahead and offers interesting insights into how this could actually work. Related Links

Check out the latest jobs in ZK at the ZK Podcast Jobs Board.

Countdown to Q-Day with Project 11

Wed, 05 Nov 2025 14:00:00 +0100

In this episode, Anna Rose chats with Alex Pruden and Conor Deegan from Project 11. They revisit the topic of quantum computing and explore the threat it poses to cryptographic systems like blockchains. As blockchain technology becomes increasingly integrated into global financial infrastructure — especially through stablecoins and banking rails — the stakes for quantum security continue to rise. Alex and Conor break down which algorithms are most at risk, why simple network upgrades won’t be enough, and what users will need to do to protect their own funds. They also outline potential mitigation strategies, including how Project 11 is approaching the challenge with post-quantum signature schemes, secure vaults, and a global namespace to coordinate user migrations ahead of “Q-Day.” The conversation also touched on how post-quantum thinking overlaps with zero-knowledge research, as hash- and lattice-based SNARKs offer resilience against future quantum attacks. Related Links

Related Episodes

Check out the latest jobs in ZK at the ZK Podcast Jobs Board.

Kevin Lacker on AI-Assisted Theorem Proving and Acorn

Wed, 22 Oct 2025 14:00:00 +0100

In this episode, Anna Rose and Guillermo Angeris talk with Kevin Lacker, creator of Acorn, a theorem prover utilising AI. They explore what theorem provers are, their history, and how they're used today. Kevin shares how Acorn brings in AI to simplify the proving process, letting users naturally write mathematical statements while the system checks the correctness of those statements. It's built to feel more like natural math, unlike tools like Lean that demand every step. They also explore the benefits of including AI in math, and also the challenges that come with it such as hallucinations, and how Acorn could speed up research in areas like zero-knowledge proofs. The dicussion also covers the history of mathematics, community building around Acorn and its open math library, acornlib. Related Links

Guillermo’s Blog Post:Acorn and the future of (AI?) theorem proving
Acorn Theorem Prover
Acorn Standard Library:acornlib
Lean Theorem Prover

ZK Whiteboard Sessions is an educational video series produced by ZK Hack. It is focused on the building blocks of zero knowledge technology. Find season 3 of the Whiteboard Sessions as well as previous seasons here.

Check out the latest jobs in ZK at the ZK Podcast Jobs Board.

Payy and Payy Card, the Undoxable Credit Card

Wed, 15 Oct 2025 14:00:00 +0100

In this episode, Anna Rose and Tarun Chitra catch up with Sid Gandhi and Calum Moore from Payy to discuss the Payy private payment system and the newly released Payy credit card. They explore their focus on building a user-friendly privacy focused product, how ZK tooling advancement makes this possible, and a walkthrough into how it works with the Visa remittance system. Sid and Cal explain Payy's design as a ZK Validium rollup on Polygon, using client-side proofs and a Merkle tree to ensure privacy and compliance. The discussion also delves into the history and past challenges of self-sovereign payments; how self-sovereign money goals were overshadowed by speculation, why many new stablecoin projects feel like a step back to traditional finance, and how privacy-focused payments are making a comeback in 2025. Related Links

ZKPassport, Obsidion & the Emerging Noir Ecosystem

Wed, 08 Oct 2025 14:00:00 +0100

In this episode, Anna Rose chats with Théo Madzou and Michael Elliot from ZKPassport and Obsidion about their ZK-based identity solution. Théo shares his start in ZK through ZK Hack hackathons using Noir, while Mike shares his path from Bitcoin and MakerDAO to working on zkID systems. They explain how they teamed up to build ZKPassport, a non-profit public-good ZK identity solution project,and how they plan to bring it into Obsidion, a for-profit, privacy-focused fintech-style application that they’re working on. They discuss Noir's evolution and their contribution to this accending zkDSL, how subcircuits and subproofs enable mobile proving, how ZKPassport differs from projects like Self and Rarimo, how they integrated ZKPassport in the wild with DevCon and Aztec, and their plans for better UX and user-friendly apps. Related Links

Related Episodes

Verifiable Key Management and TEEs with Turnkey

Wed, 01 Oct 2025 14:00:00 +0100

In this episode, Anna Rose and Kobi Gurkan chat with Arnaud Brousseau and Jack Kearney from Turnkey about verifiable key management using trusted execution environments (TEEs). They share how their past work on custody and validators inspired them to build more sophisticated key management tools and some of the qualities TEEs enabled. The discussion covers a range of challenges and techniques: the role of remote attestation and reproducible builds in ensuring trust, strategies to prevent downgrade attacks, and the use of authorisation and policy layers to reduce misuse of keys while still enabling automation. Related Links

Zerocoin to zk-creds: Modern ZK History with Ian Miers

Wed, 24 Sep 2025 14:00:00 +0100

In this episode, Anna Rose and Nico Mohnblatt catch up with Ian Miers from the University of Maryland, starting with his work on seminal ZK blockchain research, Zerocoin and Zerocash and the creation of the first zk-focused blockchain project Zcash. They then explore the history of trusted setups, including the trusted setup bug discovery in Zcash, and subsequent improvements like Powers of Tau. Ian also discussed his work on ZEXE, a system that has inspired the formation of Aleo, and his more recent works: zk-creds for building flexible anonymous credentials from existing identity signals like passports, and zk-promises for supporting anonymous reputation, moderation, and callbacks in decentralized systems. They also touch on broader topics like post-quantum security considerations, sybil resistance, and the need for programmable privacy tools. Related Links

If you have a few minutes, we’d love to get to know you better and hear your ideas for the ZK Podcast. You can anonymously complete the feedback form here. ZK Whiteboard Sessions is an educational video series produced by ZK Hack. It is focused on the building blocks of zero knowledge technology. Find season 3 of the Whiteboard Sessions as well as previous seasons here.

Evolving ZK Identity from Iden3 to Privado & Billions

Wed, 17 Sep 2025 14:00:00 +0100

In this episode, Anna Rose chats with David Z and Oleksandr (Sasha) from Privado ID and Billions Network about the evolution of ZK-based identity systems, tracing their roots back to iden3 in 2018, one of the earliest projects to pioneer ZK for on-chain identity. They discuss their origin as the iden3, their creation of the influential Circom DSL, the move into Polygon ID, the spin-out as Privado ID with a focus on B2B privacy tools and verifiable credentials, and the recent launch of Billions Network, which aims to build a scalable network of humans and AI agents with mobile-first verification and progressive proofs. They compare their broad, composable approach to projects like Self, Rarimo, and ZK Email, while highlighting future plans for reputation layers, on-chain economies, and AI agent identities to enable accountable interactions in a decentralised world. Related Links

Miden & the Edge Blockchain with Bobbin & Gaylord

Wed, 10 Sep 2025 14:00:00 +0100

In this episode, Anna Rose and Guillermo Angeris speak with Bobbin Threadbare and Gaylord Warner from Miden to explore their zkVM and edge blockchain architecture. The group also reminisces on how they've each been a part of the ZK Whiteboard Sessions over the years. Bobbin shares Miden's earliest beginnings from Winterfell at Facebook through its development within Polygon to the recent spin-out as an independent project. The team discusses their custom ISA designed for blockchain use cases, and the multi-stage compilation pipeline that supports it. The conversation also covers Miden's pragmatic approach to privacy implementation, their plans for gradual decentralization starting with a centralized L2, and how they incentivize users to keep state off-chain through multidimensional fee structures. Related Links

Indistinguishability Obfuscation (iO) with Huijia (Rachel) Lin

Wed, 03 Sep 2025 14:00:00 +0100

In this episode, Anna Rose and Tarun Chitra chat with Huijia (Rachel) Lin from the University of Washington to explore indistinguishability obfuscation (iO), often described as the 'holy grail of cryptography'. iO is a powerful primitive that, if fully realised, could have profound implications for privacy tech as a whole. Rachel helps break down the concept for listeners who may already be familiar with ZK, FHE and TEEs, clarifying how iO differs but also some of the similarities in the assumptions upon which it is based. Rachel also explains how it differs from similar concepts: garbled circuits and functional encryption. The discussion covers the evolution of iO research in her work over the last decade, how the cryptographic assumptions have hardened since that time, and what iO can offer in terms of precise, controlled information revelation. Related Links

Lighter, Perp DEXs and Custom ZK Circuits

Wed, 27 Aug 2025 14:00:00 +0100

In this episode, Anna Rose and Tarun Chitra chat with Vlad and Murat from Lighter, a ZK-powered perp DEX on Ethereum. They explore how perps, short for perpetuals/perpetual trades, emerged as a crypto invention, how the exchanges offering perps evolved over the years, and the tradeoff space between transparency and privacy, specifically for market makers. Vladimir discusses the advantage of building a perp DEX with a team consisting of both quants and engineers. They also cover how ZK has come to be used in some projects but not others, what opportunities verifiability can unlock, and why their project favored building custom ZK circuits over using existing zkVMs. Related Links

Check out the latest jobs in ZK at the ZK Podcast Jobs Board

Ethproofs, zkVM Benchmarks & the Unstoppable Rise of ZK with Justin Drake

Wed, 20 Aug 2025 14:00:00 +0100

In this episode, Anna Rose and Nico Mohnblatt catch up with Justin Drake from the Ethereum Foundation to explore Ethproofs, asking what exactly is Ethproofs: is it a meme, a platform, a benchmarking effort and/or an emerging community? Justin shares the emergence of the project within the EF, the influences that shaped it and what Ethproofs comprises of today. He also shares the goals of the project and how this initiative supports the snarkification of the EVM by providing standardized benchmarks for the growing ecosystem of zkVMs. Their discussion covers the evolution from monolithic zkEVM approaches to RISC-V-based systems, and movement towards mandatory proofs and eventual zkVM enshrinement. Related Links

Check out the latest jobs in ZK at the ZK Podcast Jobs Board

zkPDF and zkID with Vikas Rushi and Ying Tong

Wed, 13 Aug 2025 14:00:00 +0100

In this episode, Anna Rose and Kobi Gurkan chat with Vikas Rushi from PSE, and Ying Tong to explore two topics at the intersection of ZK and the real-world data: zkPDF and zkID. First they dive into zkPDF, a set of tools for proving facts on digitally signed PDFs. Vikas talks about the challenges of parsing data inside zkVMs—working with decades-old specifications that use many different encodings, and tackling practical use-cases like bank statements and ID verification. They also explain how issuers, such as India’s DigiLocker, can generate proofs in a way that protects individual privacy. Next they cover zkID and the EF’s work on building a system that would meet the EU’s Digital Identity Framework requirements ahead of its 2026 rollout. Ying Tong explains how the EF’s work on zkID differs from existing zk-based identity projects, particularly through its device-binding requirements, the cryptographic community’s feedback to the EU Commission, the trade-offs between proof systems, PSE’s work on standards and more. They wrap up with a chat about the challenges of revocation in both systems, and what’s next for the projects. Related Links

Check out the latest jobs in ZK at the ZK Podcast Jobs Board

How ZK inspired AI Watermarking with Miranda Christ

Wed, 06 Aug 2025 14:00:00 +0100

In this episode, Anna Rose and Tarun Chitra chat with Miranda Christ, a computer science PhD student at Columbia University, about the intersection of cryptography and AI through watermarking techniques. Miranda shares her research on developing imperceptible ways to prove that content was created by AI models, covering everything from simple red-green word lists to sophisticated pseudorandom error-correcting codes. The discussion explores the cryptographic properties of watermarks - including completeness, soundness, and undetectability - and how these parallel the properties we see in zero-knowledge proof systems. Miranda explains how watermarking differs from other cryptographic approaches like ZKML by only modifying the sampling process rather than the underlying model weights, making it computationally lightweight and practical for deployment. Related Links

Check out the latest jobs in ZK at the ZK Podcast Jobs Board

ZKTorch & the Evolution of ZKML with Daniel Kang

Wed, 30 Jul 2025 14:00:00 +0100

In this episode, Anna Rose welcomes back Daniel Kang professor at UIUC and founding technical advisor at VAIL, for an update on ZKML and how the space has evolved since early 2023. Daniel covers the 2023-2024 cohort of ZKML tools including zkCNN, zkLLM, EZKL, and his original ZKML project, while introducing his new project ZKTorch, which offers a flexible hybrid of specialized and general-purpose approaches. The discussion explores practical applications like verified FaceID, proof of prompt, and proof of training, along with the technical challenges of adding ZK proofs to machine learning models. Daniel shares insights on the performance trade-offs between specialized cryptographic systems and generic circuits, and how ZKTorch aims to offer both flexibility and speed for proving ML inference. Related Links

Check out the latest jobs in ZK at the ZK Podcast Jobs Board

Ligero for Memory-Efficient ZK with Muthu

Wed, 23 Jul 2025 14:00:00 +0100

In this episode, Anna Rose and Guillermo Angeris catch up with Muthu Venkitasubramaniam, Professor of Computer Science at Georgetown University and cofounder of Ligero. They discuss how Ligero’s small memory footprint makes it a good choice for client-side proving, as well as the importance of programmable compliance in blockchain. The conversation explores the differences between ‘MPC in the head’ and error-correcting code perspectives, and how well-established primitives influence the design of modern ZK systems. They also debate the challenge of adding ‘ZK’ privacy back into systems without it, why proving EVM traces may be absurd, and what kinds of guarantees might exist around the results of vibe coding. Related Links

Check out the latest jobs in ZK at the ZK Podcast Jobs Board

TLSNotary with Dan and Sinu

Wed, 16 Jul 2025 14:00:00 +0100

In this episode, Anna Rose and Nico Mohnblatt speak with Dan and Sinu from TLSNotary to trace the project’s journey from early Bitcoin forum ideas to its current role as a foundational protocol maintained by PSE. Dan recounts the origins of TLSNotary as a tool for cryptographically proving web data, while Sinu explains how the project was revived to provide modern TLS attestation. The conversation covers the use-cases for verifiable web proofs, the different modes these interactive protocols can take, and the broader impact of this technology on leveraging siloed user data. Related links:

Check out the latest jobs in ZK at the ZK Podcast Jobs Board.

Local-First with grjte and Goblin Oats

Wed, 09 Jul 2025 14:00:00 +0100

In this episode, Anna Rose and Nico Mohnblatt speak with Goblin Oats from Tonk and grjte from Bain Capital Crypto to explore the emerging world of local-first architecture. Goblin shares the evolution of Tonk from an experimental lab working on blockchain games to a product that enables anyone to build personalised local-first software using natural language. grjte discusses her Groundmist project exploring personal data lakes and the intersection between local-first systems and the AT Protocol. The conversation explores the technical foundations of local-first software, including Conflict-free Replicated Data Types (CRDTs), parallels with blockchain systems, and how ZK proofs show up within cloud-optional architecture. Related links:

Check out the latest jobs in ZK at the ZK Podcast Jobs Board.

Bringing ID Onchain with Self

Wed, 02 Jul 2025 14:00:00 +0100

In this episode, Anna Rose speaks with Florent Tavernier from Self and Marek Olszewski from Self and Celo to explore how Self are bringing identity onchain using ZK, the Sybil protection that offers, and the origins of OpenPassport. The discussion covers Self's approach to supporting different forms of ID, the challenges of disparate cryptographic standards, and how government signatures can be used to bootstrap onchain identity systems. Related links:

Check out the latest jobs in ZK at the ZK Podcast Jobs Board.

ZK in Sui & zkAt with Kostas Kryptos

Wed, 25 Jun 2025 09:00:00 +0100

In this episode, Anna Rose and Tarun Chitra catch up with Kostas Kryptos from Mysten Labs to explore the latest ZK innovations being built on Sui. Kostas shares updates on zkLogin and introduces zkAt (ZK Authenticator), a new research project enabling programmable and updatable access control for accounts where Groth16's trusted setup and the generated toxic waste is used in a very novel way. This discussion also covers Sui's ambitious plans to become quantum-ready, including their innovative approach to transitioning existing EdDSA accounts to post-quantum security using STARKs without requiring users to change their addresses. They touch on ZK Tunnels, working with the Greek stock market, and how ZK is breaking out of the web2/web3 paradigm. Related links:

Check out the latest jobs in ZK at the ZK Podcast Jobs Board.

AI and ZK Auditing with David Wong

Wed, 18 Jun 2025 09:00:00 +0100

In this episode, Anna sits down with David Wong from zkSecurity to discuss the impact of AI on the field of zero-knowledge auditing. David shares how his team is integrating AI agents into their workflow, the opportunities and challenges this brings, and how the role of the human auditor is evolving as AI becomes more capable. They also cover the unique aspects of auditing ZK-based systems, how this is different from smart contract auditing, and the broader implications of AI for security in cryptography and blockchain. The conversation touches on the ethical considerations of AI in security, the future of the auditing profession, and the ways ZK and AI are increasingly intersecting. Related links:

Check out the latest jobs in ZK at the ZK Podcast Jobs Board.

Bringing ZK to Google Wallet with Abhi and Matteo

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 09:00:00 +0100

In this episode, Anna and Nico speak with Abhi Shelat and Matteo Frigo from Google about their work integrating zero-knowledge proofs into the Google Wallet. They discuss the technical decisions behind the Anonymous Credentials for ECDSA system, including the challenge of designing a proof system where proving must be efficient enough to run on the client device in a large-scale consumer application, and how they design a system using sumcheck and Ligero to overcome NTT issues. The conversation also touches on the process of standardization, the return of ZK to its privacy roots, and the broader significance of seeing advanced cryptography adopted by a major tech company outside the blockchain space. Links:

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Boundless is a universal zero-knowledge protocol developed by RISC Zero, that lets anyone access abundant verifiable compute, regardless of the blockchain they are using. Learn more about Boundless at beboundless.xyz

--------------- **If you like what we do:** * Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree * Subscribe to our podcast newsletter * Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm * Join us on Telegram * Catch us on YouTube **Support the show:** * Patreon * ETH - Donation address * BTC - Donation address * SOL - Donation address Read transcript

zkTLS with Maddy from Reclaim

Wed, 04 Jun 2025 09:00:00 +0100

In this episode, Anna speaks with Madhavan (Maddy) Malolan from Reclaim Protocol about his work on zkTLS and its applications in web data verification. Maddy shares the journey of building Reclaim, from initial attempts at implementing DECO to developing their current proxy-based solution. The conversation explores the technical challenges of implementing zero-knowledge proofs for HTTPS connections, comparing proxy and MPC approaches, and discussing security considerations. Maddy explains how Reclaim is bringing ZK technology to mainstream applications, focusing on three key verticals: education verification, employment history, and financial background checks. Related links:

Implementing LatticeFold with Matthew and Albert from Nethermind

Wed, 14 May 2025 09:00:00 +0100

In this episode, Anna and Nico speak with Matthew Klein and Albert Garreta from Nethermind about their work implementing and advancing lattice-based cryptography systems, particularly focusing on folding schemes and their applications in zero-knowledge proofs. Matthew and Albert share insights from their implementation of LatticeFold and discuss the evolution of lattice-based systems, including newer developments like LatticeFold+ and Neo. The conversation explores the unique challenges and opportunities of working with lattice-based constructions, from performance optimizations to post-quantum security considerations. They also dive into their work on post-quantum signatures for Ethereum, light zkML solutions, and the Zinc project, which offers a novel approach to handling integer-based constraints in zero-knowledge proofs. Related links:

ZK Hack Berlin happens on June 20 - 22! Apply now at zkberlin.com

Quantum Punks with Alex and Nicola

Wed, 07 May 2025 09:00:00 +0100

In this episode, Anna and Guillermo are joined by Alex Obadia and Nicola Greco, co-authors of the Quantum Punks Manifesto, for a discussion at the intersection of quantum technology and cryptography. They explore the cultural and technical gaps between the quantum and crypto communities, sharing the story behind the manifesto, their vision for bridging these worlds and the applications that such a combination could unlock. Related links:

Lattice-based ZK Systems with Vadim Lyubashevsky

Wed, 30 Apr 2025 09:00:00 +0100

In this episode, Anna and Nico speak with Vadim Lyubashevsky, research scientist at IBM Research, about the evolving field of lattice-based cryptography and its role in zero-knowledge systems. Vadim shares the history and mathematical foundations of lattices, and explains how they might be used to build post-quantum secure ZK proofs and SNARKs. The conversation covers the unique challenges of adapting lattice techniques to zero-knowledge, explores the tradeoffs relative to hash-based constructions, and highlights the importance of developing quantum-safe standards for the future of cryptography. Related links:

Spots for zkSummit13 are limited - grab your ticket at www.zksummit.com!

Missing Link are a talent team built for the Web3 era, helping projects across the ecosystem connect with the right candidates at the right time. Whether you're an established project or a startup searching for specialized talent, Missing Link can help. Visit their website at missing-link.io.

Building ZK Registries Onchain with Rarimo

Wed, 23 Apr 2025 09:00:00 +0100

This week, Anna speaks with Lasha Antadze, co-founder of Rarilabs and Rarimo, about the evolution of digital identity systems. Lasha shares his journey from working with government eID systems to building decentralized identity solutions using zero-knowledge proofs. The conversation explores how Rarimo is taking a fundamentally different approach to identity verification by keeping all processing client-side, from passport scanning to biometric verification. This enables new use cases like censorship-resistant voting systems and privacy-preserving account recovery, while avoiding the traditional pitfalls of centralized identity providers. The discussion also covers the challenges of building trust in cryptographic systems, the potential applications of client-side ZK proofs for AI governance, and how Rarimo is working to make identity tools that are both powerful and accessible to everyday users. This episode provides a fascinating look at how zero-knowledge proofs are reshaping our understanding of digital identity and privacy. Further reading:

Spots for zkSummit13 are limited - grab your ticket at www.zksummit.com!

Missing Link are a talent team built for the Web3 era, helping projects across the ecosystem connect with the right candidates at the right time. Whether you're an established project or a startup searching for specialized talent, Missing Link can help. Visit their website at missing-link.io.

Quantum Engineering with Jelena Vučković

Wed, 16 Apr 2025 09:00:00 +0100

In this episode, Anna and Guillermo speak with Professor Jelena Vučković from Stanford's Nanoscale and Quantum Photonics Lab about the fascinating world of quantum engineering. Jelena explains different quantum technology platforms and how quantum entanglement serves as the foundation for various applications such as eavesdropping detection. They explore how researchers are developing chip-scale quantum systems and the significant implications these technologies have for secure communication and cryptography. Related links:

Spots for zkSummit13 are limited - grab your ticket at www.zksummit.com

ZK Benchmarks with Conner Swann

Wed, 09 Apr 2025 09:33:00 +0100

In this episode Anna explores the contentious topic of ZK benchmarking with Conner Swann, founder of ProofLab. Drawing parallels with AI's development, they explore how tools like ProofLab could help standardize benchmarking across dimensions like speed, cost, and security. The conversation touches on the importance of formal verification and real-world workload testing, while considering how better benchmarking could accelerate ZK adoption and potentially lead to ZK's own 'ChatGPT moment' Related links:

Coordinating Provers with Norbert from ZkCloud

Wed, 02 Apr 2025 09:00:00 +0100

In this episode Anna dives back into the topic of prover networks & prover marketplaces with Norbert Vadas, Head of Product at ZkCloud. They kick off by mapping out different actors in the ZK supply chain, and then cover the variety of approaches and economic models behind prover marketplaces. They explore the ZkCloud system before diving into Norbert’s perspective on the future of large-scale, industrial-grade ZK proving and what that will unlock. Related links:

Applications for zkSummit13 are now open, early bird tickets close this week! Apply now at www.zksummit.com.

The Founding of Zero Knowledge Systems with Austin Hill

Tue, 25 Mar 2025 14:02:00 +0100

This week, we present the third installment in the Zero Knowledge Systems story. In this episode, Anna chats with Austin Hill, one of the original founders of Zero Knowledge Systems. They explore the company’s early days, Austin’s background in tech, and what this scene in Montreal was like in the late ’90s. The conversation covers fundraising during the dot-com boom, Zero Knowledge Systems’s ambitious vision for internet privacy, its flagship product Freedom, and how the company pivoted from a broad individual privacy mission to a more focused B2B approach. They cover Austin’s journey after ZKS—including how he discovered Bitcoin, co-founded Blockstream, and navigated the challenges of building a business around open-source infrastructure. He also discusses a new project he's involved in, which ventures into a completely different field—material nanotechnology. We encourage you to check out the first two episodes of the series here and here before diving into this one. Related links:

Making ZK More Human with ZK Email

Wed, 19 Mar 2025 14:00:00 +0100

This week Anna catches up with Aayush Gupta from ZK Email, covering the latest developments and real-world applications of the ZK Email protocol. They explore how the project serves as a bridge between Web2 systems and Web3 infrastructure and go on to discuss use cases like wallet-based account recovery, anonymous reputation-based communication, and digital provenance verification. This was an exploration of novel ZK use cases, which is something we love to cover - so we hope you enjoy it! Related links:

Applications for zkSummit13 are open, spots are limited for this edition so apply soon (www.zksummit.com) if you want to join.

Missing Link are a talent team built for the Web3 era, helping projects across the ecosystem connect with the right candidates at the right time. Whether you're an established project or a startup searching for specialized talent, Missing Link can help. Visit their website at missing-link.io.

Learning ZK with Jeffrey from RareSkills

Wed, 12 Mar 2025 12:49:00 +0100

This week Anna chats with Jeffrey Scholz, founder of RareSkills. They discuss onboarding developers into ZK and dive into RareSkills' education program via The ZK Book and their ZK bootcamps. They explore strategies for breaking down complex topics, decisions on curriculum design, tool selection, and methodologies for enabling self-sufficient learning. A great listen for the listeners who want to learn ZK and are trying to figure out how to approach the challenge. Related links:

Applications for zkSummit13 are now open, spots are limited for this edition so apply soon (www.zksummit.com) if you want to join.

Zero Knowledge Systems, Privacy and Security with Jonathan Wilkins

Wed, 05 Mar 2025 09:00:00 +0100

This week Anna jumps back into the story of Zero Knowledge Systems with Jonathan Wilkins, cofounder Blockstream and Cloaked Services and previous employee of ZKS back in 2000. They explore the emergence of security culture in the 1990s, what led Jonathan to join Zero Knowledge Systems and his experience working on projects such as the Freedom Network. They discuss the office atmosphere and the research lab before catching up on the work Jonathan has focused on since then. Key concepts we see in the ZK community today were first pioneered by the Zero Knowledge Systems research team and we hope to invite more of these past members of the team in the future! Related links:

Podcast Episode: Back to the Future with Zero Knowledge
iSEC Partners
X.25 Networks
2600 Meetups
C++ Builder
Delphi
‘Zero-Knowledge: Nothing Personal’ - Wired
Handbook of Applied Cryptography by Alfred J. Menezes, Paul C. van Oorschot and Scott A. Vanstone
Ian Goldberg profile
Adam Schostack - Schostack + Associates
Adam Back Twitter
Austin Hill Twitter
Bitcointalk
Tor Network
Freedom Network excerpt by ScienceDirect

Applications for zkSummit13 are now open, spots are limited for this edition so apply soon (www.zksummit.com) if you want to join.

ZK in Solana with Mert Mumtaz

Wed, 26 Feb 2025 09:00:00 +0100

This week Anna and Tarun chat with Mert Mumtaz. Mert is the co-founder and CEO of Helius and is known for his contributions to the Solana ecosystem. They explore Mert’s background, his entry into the space, and his experiences during the 2022 market downturn and subsequent recovery. The conversation covers Solana’s positioning within the broader blockchain landscape and includes an overview of emerging ZK projects in the ecosystem. Related links:

Zero-Knowledge Proofs: Its Applications on Solana
Episode 135 - Look into Solana
Solana projects mentioned: Backpack, Anza, Gido, Jupiter
ZK projects mentioned: Phantom, Elusiv, Light Protocol, Dark Protocol
Solana Token Extensions

--------------- Applications for zkSummit13 are now open, spots are limited for this edition so apply soon (www.zksummit.com) if you want to join. --------------- **If you like what we do:** * Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree * Subscribe to our podcast newsletter * Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm * Join us on Telegram * Catch us on YouTube Read transcript

ZODA & The Accidental Computer

Wed, 19 Feb 2025 09:00:00 +0100

Read transcript This week Anna catches up with Nico, Guillermo and Alex from Bain Capital Crypto to discuss two of their recent works; ZODA: Zero-Overhead Data Availability by the trio and The Accidental Computer by Alex & Guille. The group starts with a discussion about how papers like FRIDA and Foundations of Data Availability Sampling inspired ZODA and then cover the innovations presented in ZODA itself. They wrap up with a discussion about The Accidental Computer, and in doing so tease out some of the fundamental concepts in current ZK research. Related links:

ZK Podcast: Disclosures
ZODA: Zero-Overhead Data Availability by Alex Evans, Guillermo Angeris and Nico Mohnblatt
FRIDA: Data Availability Sampling from FRI by Mathias Hall-Andersen, Mark Simkin and Benedikt Wagner
Foundations of Data Availability Sampling by Mathias Hall-Andersen, Mark Simkin and Benedikt Wagner
The Accidental Computer: Polynomial Commitments from Data Availability by Alex Evans and Guillermo Angeris
Guille's Tweet “anon, what if I told you that you can prove the correctness of the largest celestia block in <200ms on a single core of an mba”
Bain Capital Crypto Blog

--------------- Applications for zkSummit13 are now open, spots are limited for this edition so apply soon (www.zksummit.com) if you want to join. The deadline for Speaker applications is March 15th! --------------- IF YOU LIKE WHAT WE DO: Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree Subscribe to our podcast newsletter Follow us on X @zeroknowledgefm Join us on Telegram Catch us on YouTube ZK Podcast website Read transcript

Taking ZK IRL with Cursive

Wed, 12 Feb 2025 09:00:00 +0100

This week, Anna and Nico chat with Andrew Lu and Vivek Bhupatiraju from Cursive. They map out the timeline of their in-person activations and experiments using programmable cryptography, which they have been running since late 2023. By quickly developing small applications and products to test with real users, they have gathered tangible data about these innovations at various live conferences worldwide, including our own flagship events, zkSummit11 and zkSummit12. They share the challenges and insights gained from these experimental products. Additionally, they share the concepts that inspired their innovations, such as digital pheromones and narrowcasting. Related links:

--------------- Applications for zkSummit13 are now open, spots are limited for this edition so >> apply soon << if you want to join. --------------- IF YOU LIKE WHAT WE DO: Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree Subscribe to our podcast newsletter Follow us on X @zeroknowledgefm Join us on Telegram Catch us on YouTube ZK Podcast website Read transcript

Back to the Future with Zero Knowledge

Wed, 05 Feb 2025 09:00:00 +0100

We’re back with a new look and a new jingle! In this episode, ZK Podcast returns, and host Anna Rose shares a story from her past that strangely connects to the present day and the name "Zero Knowledge." Listen in as we kick off the show once again.

Applications for zkSummit13 are now open, apply for your spot here.

Check out the latest jobs in ZK at the ZK Podcast jobs board.

Zero Knowledge Systems on Wikipedia

IF YOU LIKE WHAT WE DO: Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree Subscribe to our podcast newsletter Follow us on X @zeroknowledgefm Join us on Telegram Catch us on YouTube ZK Podcast website Read transcript

ZK in Review: Decoding 2024 & Predicting 2025

Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:00:00 +0100

Summary

This week, Anna catches up with cohosts, Tarun, Nico and Guillermo to do a look back at the zk research and applications that came out in 2024. They go on to discuss the challenges facing the ecosystem. And they wrap with a brief look forward, covering what to expect in ZK in 2025.

This will be the last ep of 2024, thank you for joining us this year!

Latest ZK Research with Dan Boneh

Wed, 27 Nov 2024 15:00:00 +0100

Summary

In this week’s episode, Anna catches up with Dan Boneh, Professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, Stanford University. They discuss the focus of his research today, covering new ZK research problems and themes. This includes work on lattice-based SNARKs, ZK for content provenance, ZK in the FHE context, updates on ZK in ML and more!

Here’s some additional links for this episode:

ZK Hack V kicks off this week, running from Nov 26 to Dec 17! Sign up for your spot here.

Check out the latest jobs in ZK at the ZK Podcast jobs board 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 | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
Catch us on YouTube

Read transcript

ZK Events 2024 Recap

Wed, 16 Oct 2024 16:00:00 +0100

Summary

This week, Anna and Nico take a look back at some of the ZK Events produced in 2024 by the ZK Podcast, ZK Hack and other adjacent projects. Starting with the live ZK Jargon Decoder hosted in January and spanning the 10 months since, Anna and Nico share behind-the-scenes anecdotes, highlight key talks from the events and share some insight into how the programs for the zkSummit events are created. They wrapped with a summary of some of the themes in ZK that got them talking this year and are tracking going forward.

Don’t forget, this is the last episode of ZK Podcast before we take a pause in weekly shows for the rest of 2024 - but don’t worry we will be back! Further Reading:

While the show is taking a break, be sure to check out the ZK Whiteboard Sessions that are being produced by ZK Hack

Check out the ZK Jobs Board for the latest jobs in ZK at jobsboard.zeroknowledge.fm

Episode Sponsors

Have you heard about o1Labs?

From o1js, their SDK for simplifying zk development, to o1VM pushing the limits of zkVMs, o1Labs is working directly with the community to build tools that unlock new possibilities.

Visit o1labs.org and join them as they shape the future of the zk-powered internet.

A new era of decentralized, privacy-preserving computing is here.

Aleo recently announced their mainnet launch. Start by learning their domain specific programming language, Leo, to write and deploy your first ZK application at leo-lang.org, or head on over to aleo.org to learn more about our technology and what you can build.

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm Join us on Telegram
Catch us on YouTube

Mastering MPC & Memes with Mikerah

Wed, 09 Oct 2024 15:00:00 +0100

Summary

This week Anna chats with Mikerah Quintyne-Collins from HashCloak and Stoffel Labs. They discuss how Mikerah got her start in the crypto space and then dive into the work she did at ChainSafe and eventually at HashCloak. They cover Mikerah’s work on privacy preserving tech like ZK, TEE and MPC and learn about what drives her tweet game and the wisdom she has picked up over the years as a technical founder, driven by curiosity… and memes.

Here’s some additional links for this episode:

Check out the ZK Jobs Board for the latest jobs in ZK at jobsboard.zeroknowledge.fm

Episode Sponsor

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 | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
Catch us on YouTube

Read transcript

Catch up with Zac and Ariel

Wed, 02 Oct 2024 15:00:00 +0100

Summary

This week Anna catches up with Zac Williamson & Ariel Gabizon from Aztec. They cover what each has been working on over the last year, Zac shared updates about the development of Aztec and the finalization of their underlying ZK system: MegaPlonk. Ariel discussed his latest research on IVC with his publications of the ProtoGalaxy and Stackproofs works and how properties of this systems brought him and Zac to start working together again.

Here’s some additional links for this episode:

Check out the ZK Jobs Board for the latest jobs in ZK at jobsboard.zeroknowledge.fm

zkSummit12 is happening in Lisbon next week on Oct 8th! Buy your ticket at zksummit.com, spots are limited!

Episode Sponsors

Attention, all projects in need of server-side proving, kick start your rollup with Gevulot's ZkCloud, the first zk-optimized decentralized cloud!

Get started with a free trial plus extended grant opportunities for premier customers until Q1 2025. Register at Gevulot.com.

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 | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
Catch us on YouTube

Read transcript

coSNARKs with Ais and Lukas from TACEO

Wed, 25 Sep 2024 14:00:00 +0100

Summary

This week Anna and Nico chat with Lukas Helminger and Ais Connolly from TACEO.

They discuss Lukas & Ais’ early work in cryptography and privacy preserving technologies, the founding of TACEO and their recent work on coSNARKs - or Collaborative SNARKs - that combine MPC and ZK. They explore how these coSNARKs are created, their coCircom language, the characteristics of these systems as well as how they can be applied in the real world.

Here’s some additional links for this episode:

Check out the ZK Jobs Board for the latest jobs in ZK at jobsboard.zeroknowledge.fm

zkSummit12 is happening in Lisbon on Oct 8th! Applications to attend are now open at zksummit.com, apply today as spots are limited!

Episode Sponsors

Attention, all projects in need of server-side proving, kick start your rollup with Gevulot's ZkCloud, the first zk-optimized decentralized cloud!

Get started with a free trial plus extended grant opportunities for premier customers until Q1 2025. Register at Gevulot.com.

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 | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
Catch us on YouTube

Read transcript

Is Cosmos Dead? A critical look with Zaki Manian

Wed, 18 Sep 2024 15:00:00 +0100

Summary

This week Anna and Zaki Manian dive into the Cosmos ecosystem and ask the question: is Cosmos Dead? They explore key events, teams and players who worked on Cosmos during different eras before teasing out the strengths and structural flaws that made the project what it is today. The conversation wraps with a discussion around new initiatives aimed at reviving the ecosystem and aligning factions in Cosmos together towards a central goal.

Here’s some additional links for this episode:

Check out the ZK Jobs Board for the latest jobs in ZK at jobsboard.zeroknowledge.fm

zkSummit12 is happening in Lisbon on Oct 8th! Applications to attend are now open at zksummit.com, apply today as spots are limited!

Episode Sponsors

Get ready to build with intention. Anoma is the universal intent machine, introducing a new era of applications where you define the outcomes you want.

Follow Anoma on X to learn more at x.com/anoma

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 | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
Catch us on YouTube

Read transcript

TEEs with Andrew Miller

Wed, 11 Sep 2024 15:00:00 +0100

Summary

In this week’s episode, Anna and Tarun catch up with Andrew Miller. They cover his early work on consensus, ZK and MPC before switching focus to the topic of his current work: TEEs. They map his evolving opinion on TEEs and explore why they could be seen as an optimal solution to many of the blockchain challenges.

Here’s some additional links for this episode:

This week Anna and Zaki Manian dive into the Cosmos ecosystem and ask the question: is Cosmos Dead?

zkSummit12 is happening in Lisbon on Oct 8th! Applications to attend are now open at zksummit.com, apply today as tickets are limited!

Episode Sponsors

Attention, all projects in need of server-side proving, kick start your rollup with Gevulot's ZkCloud, the first zk-optimized decentralized cloud!

Get started with a free trial plus extended grant opportunities for premier customers until Q1 2025. Register at Gevulot.com.

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 | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
Catch us on YouTube

Read transcript

On Trust Infrastructure with Arnaud Schenk

Wed, 04 Sep 2024 15:00:00 +0100

Summary

This week Anna and Nico chat with Arnaud Schenk, one of the original co-founders of Aztec and creator of the Polaris Fellowship. They discuss Arnaud’s recent blog post ‘On Trust Infrastructure’, exploring the down sides of a trustless system, the need to make online community building more possible and how programmable cryptography may play a role in these solutions. They explore the history of computer culture, the rejection of institutions by mid-90s internet culture and how the seeds for this were set by the 60s counterculture.

Here’s some additional links for this episode:

05:09 * Episode 75: Exploring Aztec with Zac Williamson

05:09 * Episode 176: Zk-zk-rollup & zk.money with Zac and Joe from Aztec

05:09 * Episode 273: History of Plonk, Noir, and the building of Aztec 3

07:38 * Episode 237: Exploring ZK Research with Jens Groth

20:01 * Into the deep end: making sense of PLONK - Zac Williamson (CTO, Aztec Protocol)

23:55 * Collaborative Circles: Friendship Dynamics and Creative Work by Michael P. Farrell

27:05 * No Sense of Place: The Impact of Electronic Media on Social Behavior by Joshua Meyrowitz

29:33 * On Trust Infrastructure by Arnaud Schenk

39:28 * Crypto's Three Body Problem by Lotti, Shorin, Hart

48:13 * Plurality philosophy in an incredibly oversized nutshell by Vitalik Buterin

52:21 * From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the Rise of Digital Utopianism by Fred Turner

52:21 * The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe

Check out the ZK Jobs Board for the latest jobs in ZK at jobsboard.zeroknowledge.fm

zkSummit12 is happening in Lisbon on Oct 8th! Applications to attend are now open at zksummit.com, apply today as early bird tickets are limited!

Episode Sponsors

Attention, all projects in need of server-side proving, kick start your rollup with Gevulot's ZkCloud, the first zk-optimized decentralized cloud!

Get started with a free trial plus extended grant opportunities for premier customers until Q1 2025. Register at Gevulot.com.

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 | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
Catch us on YouTube

Read transcript

Restaking Research with Naveen & Tarun

Wed, 28 Aug 2024 15:00:00 +0100

Summary

In this week’s episode Anna and Tarun chat with Naveen Durvasula about his recent work ‘Robust Restaking Networks’. They discuss Naveen’s early work on matching markets and how this led him to work on mechanism design before exploring how the concepts of restaking were first presented, and how both Naveen and Tarun have been working to better model the mechanisms underpinning restaking, to understand how they work and how they can be optimized.

Episode Sponsors

Attention, all projects in need of server-side proving, kick start your rollup with Gevulot's ZkCloud, the first zk-optimized decentralized cloud!

Get started with a free trial plus extended grant opportunities for premier customers until Q1 2025. Register at Gevulot.com.

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 | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
Catch us on YouTube

Read transcript

ZK in Celestia with Connor O’Hara

Wed, 21 Aug 2024 15:00:00 +0100

Summary

In this week’s episode, Anna chats with Connor O’Hara from Celestia. After discussing the latest ZK Hack Montréal event where Connor was a judge, they dive into his professional background, the ecosystems he has been a part of and what led him to work on Celestia. They then discuss various ZK-focused initiatives within the Celestia ecosystem.

Here’s some additional links for this episode:

Episode 311: The Launch of Celestia and Beyond

03:22 ZK Hack Montréal

08:08 ZK Hack Devfolio

24:33 Episode 151: John Adler on Optimistic vs ZK Rollup and the data availability problem

30:24 Episode 208: Digging into Data Availability with Ismail Khoffi from Celestia

41:26 Episode 220: The Road to Plonky2 with Brendan and Daniel from Polygon Zero

46:49 Vitalik Buterin Endgame Blog Post

49:41 Light Nodes Everywhere: Why & How - Connor O'Hara at Modulard Summit

56:29 ZK11: 1 Circuit, 5 Rollups: Building a Re-Usable DA Integration for ZK Rollups - Connor O'Hara

Check out the ZK Jobs Board for the latest jobs in ZK at jobsboard.zeroknowledge.fm

Episode Sponsors

Get ready to build with intention. Anoma is the universal intent machine, introducing a new era of applications where you define the outcomes you want.

Follow Anoma on X to learn more at x.com/anoma

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:

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Groth16, IVC and Formal Verification with Nexus

Wed, 14 Aug 2024 15:15:00 +0100

Summary

In this week’s episode, Anna chats with Jens Groth and Daniel Marin from Nexus. They catch up on all things Groth16 with the author himself before diving into a variety topics, such as formal verification in the context of ZKPs, the Nexus architecture, the benefits and challenges of building a system from the ground up, folding and IVC plus the properties these offer in a zkVM context and much more.

Here’s some additional links for this episode:

zkSummit12 is happening in Lisbon on Oct 8th! Applications to speak or attend are now open at zksummit.com, speaker applications close TODAY (Aug 14th) and early bird tickets for attendance are limited!

Follow Namada on Twitter @namada for more information and join the community on Discord.

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 | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
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Read transcript

ZK Research Update with Joe Bonneau

Wed, 31 Jul 2024 15:00:00 +0100

Summary

In this week’s episode, Anna and Guille catch up with Joe Bonneau, Assistant Professor at NYU and Research Partner at a16z crypto research. They discuss the research Joe has been working on since he was last on the show in 2019, including Naysayer proofs, Zero-Knowledge Middleboxes, Sealed-Bid Auctions, and other ZK-related research projects to date. Here’s some additional links for this episode:

ZK Hack Montreal is happening on Aug 9 - 11. Don’t miss your chance to join, apply now to participate in the hackathon here. zkSummit12 is happening in Lisbon on Oct 8th! Applications to speak or attend are now open at zksummit.com, speaker applications close Aug 15th and early bird tickets for attendance are limited!

Episode Sponsors

Attention, all projects in need of server-side proving, kick start your rollup with Gevulot's ZkCloud, the first zk-optimized decentralized cloud! Get started with a free trial plus extended grant opportunities for premier customers until Q1 2025. Register at Gevulot.com. 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 | Linktree
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Verifiable SQL, Reckle Trees and ZK Coprocessing with Lagrange Labs

Wed, 24 Jul 2024 15:00:00 +0100

Summary

In this week’s episode Anna chats with Ismael Hishon-Rezaizadeh, Founder and CEO at Lagrange Labs and Charalampos (Babis) Papamanthou, Head of Research at Lagrange and Co-Director of the Applied Cryptography Lab at Yale University. They revisit the concepts of zk-powered coprocessors and dive into the work that Charalampos did previous to joining Lagrange on Verifiable SQL. They then explore how this is incorporated into the Lagrange coprocessor system, the work they are doing on Reckle Trees, future work and what all this enables for dApp developers. They discuss their new prover marketplace, the general state of infrastructure and how they are keen to bring more concepts from general computing into decentralized blockchain systems. Here’s some additional links for this episode:

The Web3 Summit is back! The next edition will be happening in Berlin from Aug 19-21, you can head over to web3summit.com and use code ZKPOD50 to apply, learn more and grab your tickets today.

Episode Sponsors

Launching 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. 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 | Linktree
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Brussels catch up with Hart from Across

Thu, 18 Jul 2024 15:00:00 +0100

Summary

In this week’s episode, Anna and Tarun sit down with Hart Lambur irl at EthCC week in Brussels. They start by exploring Hart’s project Across - a cross-chain interoperability solution and sister project to Uma. They explore the Across construction, the tradeoff space and how this compares to other interop solutions. Then, in ZK Podcast tradition, the group shift gears with a few drinks and explore thoughtful observations on the week in Brussels. Here’s some additional links for this episode:

ZK Hack Montreal has been announced for Aug 9 - 11! Apply to join the hackathon here.

Episode Sponsors

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
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ZK Hack Montreal

Mon, 15 Jul 2024 18:00:00 +0100

This week's ZK Podcast episode will be delayed to Thursday this week due to Brussels mania.

In the meantime, we 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 & join the discord as well at https://zkhack.dev/

Farcaster with Varun Srinivasan

Wed, 10 Jul 2024 15:00:00 +0100

Summary

In this week’s episode, Anna and Tarun meet with Varun Srinivasan, co-founder of Farcaster. They explore the Farcaster project, discussing the ideas that prompted its inception and what separates it from existing social media networks. The conversation explores the design space that Farcaster opens up for devs and the kinds of applications that can be built on top of it. Here’s some additional links for this episode:

ZK Hack Montreal is happening Aug 9 - 11! Apply to join the hackathon here.

Episode Sponsors

Gevulot is the first decentralized proving layer. With Gevulot, users can generate and verify proofs using any proof system, for any use case. Gevulot is offering priority access to ZK Podcast listeners, register on gevulot.com and write “ZK Podcast” in the note field of the registration form! 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 | Linktree
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Frameworks for Programmable Privacy with Ying Tong and Bryan Gillespie

Wed, 03 Jul 2024 15:00:00 +0100

Summary

In this week’s episode, Anna and Guille chat with Ying Tong Lai from Geometry Research and Bryan Gillespie from Inversed Tech about their latest research and works to date. They dive into the pair’s recent work ‘SoK: Programmable Privacy in Distributed Systems’, exploring the classifications and frameworks being introduced. Here’s some additional links for this episode:

ZK Hack Montreal has been announced for Aug 9 - 11! Apply to join the hackathon here.

Episode Sponsors

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 | Linktree
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Building Cryptographic Proofs from Hash Functions with Alessandro Chiesa and Eylon Yogev

Wed, 26 Jun 2024 15:00:00 +0100

Summary

In this week’s episode Anna and Nico chat with Alessandro Chiesa, Associate Professor at EPFL and Eylon Yogev, Professor at Bar-Ilan University. They discuss their recent publication; Building Cryptographic Proofs from Hash Functions, which provides a comprehensive and rigorous treatment of cryptographic proofs and goes on to analyze notable constructions of SNARGs based on ideal hash functions.

Here’s some additional links for this episode:

ZK Hack Montreal has been announced for Aug 9 - 11! Apply to join the hackathon here.

Episode Sponsors

Follow Namada on Twitter @namada for more information and join the community on Discord.

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 | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
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ZK on Bitcoin with Alpen Labs

Wed, 19 Jun 2024 15:00:00 +0100

Summary

In this week’s episode, Anna and Tarun chat with Sims Gautam and Liam Eagen from Alpen Labs. They dive into the world of Bitcoin L2s and focus on how ZK can be used to incorporate strong connections between Bitcoin and new execution environments. The group then explores BitVM, covenants, the distinction between the Bridge Operators and sequencers in this model and how this differs from how these actors work in Eth L2s. They then dive into SNARKnado, including what is happening under the hood, the ways in which this system offers round-based fraud games mixed with ZK and which agent provides DA and more.

Here’s some additional links for this episode:

ZK Hack Montreal has been announced for Aug 9 - 11! Apply to join the hackathon here.

Episode Sponsors

Gevulot is the first decentralized proving layer. With Gevulot, users can generate and verify proofs using any proof system, for any use case.

Gevulot is offering priority access to ZK Podcast listeners, register on gevulot.com and write “Zk Podcast” in the note field of the registration form!

Aleo is a new Layer-1 blockchain that achieves the programmability of Ethereum, the privacy of Zcash, and the scalability of a rollup.

Dive deeper and discover more about Aleo at http://aleo.org/.

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
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Proof Aggregation with Shumo and Yi from NEBRA

Wed, 12 Jun 2024 15:00:00 +0100

Summary

In 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:

The 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 Sponsors

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 | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
Catch us on YouTube

Read transcript

Bonus: ZK Hack Montreal!

Wed, 05 Jun 2024 16:00:00 +0100

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/

MPC & ZK in Ligero and Ligetron

Wed, 29 May 2024 15:00:00 +0100

Summary

In 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:

ZK 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 | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
Catch us on YouTube

Read transcript

Web Proofs with Tracy from Pluto

Wed, 22 May 2024 15:00:00 +0100

Summary

In this week’s episode Anna chats with Tracy Livengood, co-founder of Pluto; an applied cryptography org building developer tools which add verifiable data from web data to an on-chain application, using ZK.

They discuss Tracy’s move from being an engineer in Web2, what prompted his move into the decentralized web and how he eventually found his way into the ZK space. He shares the concept of ‘Web Proofs’, and how Pluto can use some of the TLSNotary stack to bring private web data into on-chain applications as well as a future tool set he hopes to develop with the project.

Here’s some additional links for this episode:

Gevulot is the first decentralized proving layer. With Gevulot, users can generate and verify proofs using any proof system, for any use case.

Gevulot is offering priority access to ZK Podcast listeners, register on gevulot.com and write “Zk Podcast” in the note field of the registration form!

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
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Discovering New Elliptic Curves with Antonio Sanso and Youssef El Housni

Wed, 15 May 2024 15:00:00 +0100

Summary

This week, Anna and Nico catch up with Antonio Sanso, Researcher at the Ethereum Foundation and Youssef El Housni, Engineer at ConsenSys and builder of Linea.

They discuss Antonio and Youssef’s new work, Families of prime-order endomorphism-equipped embedded curves on pairing-friendly curves and dive into Elliptic Curve cryptography, Bandersnatch and Verkle Tries amongst much more, before dissecting what terms in the title of this paper truly mean. After getting into the weeds of cryptographic technicalities, the group explores where this work could be used and what it would enable.

Here’s some additional links for this episode:

Check out the latest jobs in ZK at the ZK Podcast Jobs Board.

The next ZK Hack IRL is happening May 17-19 in Kraków, there’s still time to join at zkkrakow.com.

Namada is the shielded asset hub rewarding you to protect the multichain.

Built to give you full control over sharing your personal information, Namada brings data protection to existing assets, applications, and networks. Namada ends the era of transparency by default, enabling shielded transfers and shielded cross-chain actions to protect your data even when interacting with transparent chains.

Learn more and follow Namada mainnet launch at namada.net.

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree
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The Role of Reth with Georgios

Wed, 08 May 2024 15:00:00 +0100

Summary

This week, Anna and Tarun catch up with Georgios Konstantopoulos, CTO of Paradigm and long-standing friend of the ZK Pod!

First they cover the work Georgios has been doing since he last appeared on the show, covering everything from updates on Foundry to the more recent work on Reth. They then dig into what makes it different, what inspires its design, where it is heading and the eventual end goals of the project. They also chat about the general client node landscape, from the ETH 2.0 research days to present day, before diving into discussing different clients from different teams, how this diversity can protect a chain and how each client can differ.

Here’s some additional links for this episode:

Check out the latest jobs in ZK at the ZK Podcast Jobs Board.

The next ZK Hack IRL is happening May 17-19 in Kraków, apply to join now at zkkrakow.com.

o1Labs is excited to announce the v1 release of o1js, THE fastest way to build zkApps and

deploy to the Mina blockchain.

After 2 years and 70,000 downloads, o1js v1 is the enterprise-grade

Typescript zkDSL the community has been waiting for.

Are you ready to build the next killer zkApp? Then visit o1js.org and get started today.

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 | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
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Read transcript

Definitions, Security and Sumcheck in ZK Systems with Justin Thaler

Wed, 01 May 2024 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna and Guillermo catch up with Justin Thaler, Associate Professor at Georgetown and Research Partner at a16z.

The group dive into a handful of points from Justin’s ‘17 Misconceptions about SNARKs’ article, discussing if his views have changed since it was published back in 2023 and whether some points have become common knowledge since the article first rippled through the ZK community. They then dive into his new zkVM Jolt, which was initially described along with Lasso in 2023, but has now been implemented and is open to contributions from the community.

Here’s some additional links for this episode:

The next ZK Hack IRL is happening May 17-19 in Kraków, apply to join now at zkkrakow.com

Launching 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-minimised 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.

Dive deeper and discover more about Aleo at http://aleo.org/

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
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Read transcript

STIR with Gal Arnon & Giacomo Fenzi

Wed, 24 Apr 2024 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna and Kobi chat with Gal Arnon, Ph.D student from the Weizmann Institute of Science & Giacomo Fenzi, Ph.D. student in the COMPSEC Lab at EPFL.

Gal and Giacomo are amongst the co-authors of ‘STIR: Reed–Solomon Proximity Testing with Fewer Queries’ and in this conversation, they discuss how their research led them to work on these topics and where the thesis for this particular work sparked from. They set the stage by exploring the history of FRI and discussing some hidden nuances in how FRI works. And then they introduce STIR, a system that can be used in place of FRI, which incorporates various optimisations to improve the performance.

Here’s some additional links for this episode:

The next ZK Hack IRL is happening May 17-19 in Kraków, apply to join now at zkkrakow.com

Aleo is a new Layer-1 blockchain that achieves the programmability of Ethereum, the privacy of Zcash, and the scalability of a rollup.

Dive deeper and discover more about Aleo at http://aleo.org/

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
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Read transcript

A Deep Dive into Shared Sequencers with Espresso’s Ben Fisch

Wed, 17 Apr 2024 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna and Brendan Farmer catch up with Ben Fisch, CEO of Espresso Systems. They explore the inner workings of the current L2 sequencing landscape and then discuss how a shared sequencing marketplace like Espresso works. They touch on how MEV plays a part in the new system, how the role of the sequencer can be separated into subroles, how all these parts will work together in such a system and much more.

Here’s some additional links for this episode:

The next ZK Hack IRL is happening May 17-19 in Kraków, apply to join now at zkkrakow.com.

Launching 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-minimised 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.

Dive deeper and discover more about Aleo at http://aleo.org/.

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
Catch us on YouTube

Read transcript

The Past & Present of the L2 Landscape with Jordi Baylina

Wed, 10 Apr 2024 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna catches up with Jordi Baylina, OG Ethereum contributor and Polygon zkEVM Technical Lead. They cover what Jordi has been working on since he was last on the show in 2021. Back then, zkEVMs were still just an idea. Now that many of these systems have launched, they have a chance to look at how these fit into the general L2 landscape.

They cover Jordi’s view on engineering decentralized systems and how these are rolled out, and the recent research from Polygon, including their AggLayer proposal. They wrap up on what inspires him to keep contributing in the space.

Here’s some additional links for this episode:

The next ZK Hack IRL is happening May 17-19 in Kraków, apply to join now at zkkrakow.com

Gevulot is the first decentralized proving layer. With Gevulot, users can generate and verify proofs using any proof system, for any use case.

Gevulot is offering priority access to ZK Podcast listeners, register on gevulot.com and write “Zk Podcast” in the note field of the registration form!

Aleo is a new Layer-1 blockchain that achieves the programmability of Ethereum, the privacy of Zcash, and the scalability of a rollup.

Dive deeper and discover more about Aleo at http://aleo.org/

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram

Read transcript

Threshold Signature Schemes & FROST with Chelsea Komlo

Wed, 03 Apr 2024 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna and Nico chat with Chelsea Komlo, Chief Scientist for the Zcash Foundation and member of the Cryptography, Security, and Privacy lab at the University of Waterloo.

They discuss what sparked Chelsea’s interest in cryptography research, starting with her work contributing to Tor, to her move to Zcash and her PhD work on Threshold Signature Schemes. They define some important terms around different signature schemes and discuss possible optimizations that can be used to make these more performant. They then dive into her work on the FROST Threshold Signature Scheme plus some new upcoming work.

Here’s some additional links for this episode:

zkSummit11 is happening next week, head to the zkSummit website to apply for a waitlist spot now. The event will be held on 10 April in Athens, Greece.

Check out the ZK Jobs Board

Aleo is a new Layer-1 blockchain that achieves the programmability of Ethereum, the privacy of Zcash, and the scalability of a rollup.

Dive deeper and discover more about Aleo at http://aleo.org/

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
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Read transcript

Enhancing On-Chain Intelligence with Ritual

Wed, 27 Mar 2024 15:00:00 +0100

This week, Anna and Tarun chat with Niraj Pant and Anish Agnihotri from Ritual. They kick off by revisiting the AIxCrypto intersection before diving into the Ritual product and its goals around developing open access AI infrastructure. They explore the opportunities that open up when you bring ML to smart contracts.

Here’s some additional links for this episode:

zkSummit11 happens in 2 weeks, if you haven’t got your tickets yet head over to the zkSummit website to apply now. The event will be held on 10 April in Athens, Greece.

Check out the ZK Jobs Board

Aleo is a new Layer-1 blockchain that achieves the programmability of Ethereum, the privacy of Zcash, and the scalability of a rollup.

Dive deeper and discover more about Aleo at http://aleo.org/

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
Catch us on YouTube

Read transcript

Alin Tomescu on Distributed On-chain Randomness and Keyless Accounts

Wed, 20 Mar 2024 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna and Nico chat with Alin Tomescu, founding team member and Head of Cryptography at Aptos Labs. They discuss Alin’s journey to Aptos and his work on distributed on-chain randomness as well as the new Aptos Keyless project. They cover the Keyless accounts architecture, how the flow works for the user and some of the subtleties in the approach they have taken.

Here’s some additional links for this episode:

Check out the ZK Jobs Board

Applications to attend zkSummit11 are now open, head over to the zkSummit website to apply now. The event will be held on 10 April in Athens, Greece.

Launching 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-minimised bridge.

Follow Namada on Twitter @namada for more information and join the community on Discord discord.gg/namada.

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
Catch us on YouTube

Read transcript

ZK Hack Ecosystem & Winners of ZK Hack IV

Wed, 13 Mar 2024 15:00:00 +0100

This week’s episode is a little different from the usual and is split into two parts with Anna and Kobi exploring the history of ZK Hack, its origins and how the event has evolved into what it is today, including current activity in the ZK Hack ecosystem. The second half of the show splits off into Anna and Nico chatting the top 3 hackers from ZK Hack IV Online, which wrapped back in February. Each mini interview catches up with one of the winners and dives into what it was like to hack on the puzzles, which their favourites were and how they can be improved in the future.

Here’s some additional links for this episode:

Applications to attend zkSummit11 are now open, head over to the zkSummit website to apply now. The event will be held on 10 April in Athens, Greece.

Aleo is a new Layer-1 blockchain that achieves the programmability of Ethereum, the privacy of Zcash, and the scalability of a rollup.

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 | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
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Succinct’s Platform, Prover Network and SP1

Wed, 06 Mar 2024 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna and Tarun catch up with Uma Roy, CEO and cofounder of Succinct. They dive into Succinct’s developments over the last year ranging from the work they did on the ZK bridge infrastructure to the Succinct platform, the Succinct prover network and their most recent release of SP1. They discuss connections between these products, how their development evolved, the competitive landscape, the future for the project and much more.

Here’s some additional links for this episode:

Applications to attend zkSummit11 are now open, head over to the zkSummit website to apply now. The event will be held on 10 April in Athens, Greece.

Launching 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-minimised bridge.

Follow Namada on Twitter @namada for more information and join the community on Discord discord.gg/namada.

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
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Revisiting Hardware with Ingonyama

Wed, 28 Feb 2024 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna chats with Omer Shlomovits and Yuval Domb from Ingonyama. They go back to the start of the project, exploring Ingonyama’s initial vision for what ZK Hardware could be, how the field has evolved and how they are accelerating ZK Hardware today. The group discuss hardware product cycles, the hardware and algorithmic components, how a ZK ASIC is developed, they review some of the latest research from Ingonyama and more.

Here’s some additional links for this episode:

Applications to attend zkSummit11 are now open, head over to the zkSummit website to apply now. The event will be held on 10 April in Athens, Greece.

Aleo is a new Layer-1 blockchain that achieves the programmability of Ethereum, the privacy of Zcash, and the scalability of a rollup.

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 | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
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ZKP2P with Brian & Richard

Wed, 21 Feb 2024 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna and Tarun interview Brian Weickmann & Richard Liang from the ZKP2P project. They cover the opportunities and challenges of building ZK applications with the current tools available, as well as revisit the topic of ZK Email and explore how this lies at the heart of the current version of ZKP2P. They also discuss the goals of ZKP2P, what’s happening under the hood, the types of experiments and initiatives the project is running, how a user can already use the existing product and the opportunities systems like ZKP2P open up.

Here’s some additional links for this episode:

Applications to attend zkSummit11 are now open, head over to the zkSummit website to apply now. The event will be held on 10 April in Athens, Greece.

Launching 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-minimised bridge.

Follow Namada on Twitter @namada for more information and join the community on Discord discord.gg/namada.

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
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The Launch of Celestia and Beyond

Wed, 14 Feb 2024 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna and Guillermo chat with Yaz Khoury and Ismail Khoffi from Celestia. They share how the team prepared for the launch of the Celestia mainnet and what has been happening at Celestia since. They revisit the topic of DA (Data Availability) and explore how rollups and dApp developers can already use the Celestia DA layer. The group discusses Blobstream, which brings the benefits of Celestia to Ethereum and helps to scale the network, as well as community building, the modular thesis and much more.

Here’s some additional links for this episode:

Applications to attend zkSummit11 are now open, head over to the zkSummit website to apply now. The event will be held on 10 April in Athens, Greece.

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 | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
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Algorithmic Game Theory & PoS Tokenomics with Noam Nisan

Wed, 07 Feb 2024 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna and Tarun chat with Noam Nisan, Professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Principle Researcher at StarkWare Industries and one of the pioneers in the field of Algorithmic Game Theory. They cover his extensive research and academic background, starting with his work on complexity theory as well as Algorithmic Game Theory and his current work on blockchains and Tokenomics at StarkWare.

They discuss his recent blog post; Simple Tokenomics for a Proof-of-Stake Utility Token, comparing the measurable Tokenomic outcomes of different live PoS systems and explore how Noam aimed to better communicate best practices for those designing these systems, plus much more.

Here’s some additional links for this episode:

Applications to attend zkSummit11 are now open, head over to the zkSummit website to apply now. The event will be held on 10 April in Athens, Greece.

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 | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
Catch us on YouTube

Read transcript

ZK Jargon Decoder with Nico Mohnblatt

Wed, 31 Jan 2024 15:00:00 +0100

** This episode uses visual aids and slides throughout, you may want to check out the video version here**

In this week’s episode, Anna and Nico Mohnblatt from Geometry Research host a ZK Jargon Decoder episode. Based on Nico’s ZK Jargon Decoder Website, they discuss some of the confusing terms and concepts commonly used by the ZK community. The session aims to be digestible for those still in the early stages of their ZK learning journey, but it does take a dive into the depths of detail every now and again!

This episode uses visual aids and slides throughout, so you may want to check out the full video version of this discussion over on the ZK Podcast YouTube channel. This ZK Jargon Decoder Session is also very well complimented by the ZK Whiteboard sessions. Nico specifically references sessions 1, 4, 5 and 6.

Here’s some additional links for this episode:

Applications to attend zkSummit11 are now open, head over to the zkSummit website to apply now. The event will be held on 10 April in Athens, Greece.

ZK Hack IV online is now live, sign up for the final session on Tuesday 6 Feb here. For the latest news on the event check out the zhhack.dev/zkhackIV website.

Launching 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-minimised bridge.

Follow Namada on Twitter @namada for more information and join the community on Discord discord.gg/namada.

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
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Avail’s Approach to DA with Prabal Banerjee

Wed, 24 Jan 2024 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna catches up with Prabal Banerjee, co-founder of Avail. They deep dive into Prabal’s career, starting with his work in academia, his move to Polygon and to his spinning out the Avail project. They discuss how the project was built, tech decisions and the motivations behind them as well as their use of KZG, validity proofs and their position within the Ethereum and wider blockchain ecosystem. They go on to revisit Data Availability and the interaction with different parts of the modular blockchain stack, comparing Avail to competing systems and cover edge-cases and their impact in a DA-secured stack.

Here’s some additional links for this episode:

Applications to attend and speak at zkSummit11 are now open, head over to the zkSummit website to apply now. The event will be held on 10 April in Athens, Greece.

ZK Hack IV online is now live, sign up for the next session on Tuesday 30 Jan here. For the latest news on the event check out the zhhack.dev/zkhackIV website.

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 | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
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Read transcript

The Evolution of Aleo with Howard Wu & Alex Pruden

Wed, 17 Jan 2024 15:00:00 +0100

This week, Anna caught up on all things Aleo with Howard Wu co-founder of the Aleo Network & Alex Pruden executive director of the Aleo Foundation. Howard was last on the show back in 2020 when Aleo was in its infancy, so the group dive into how the project has evolved over the last few years, covering lessons learned along the way as well as technical decisions, detours, breakthroughs and reflecting on initial goals as they built out the system.

Here’s some additional links for this episode:

ZK Hack IV online is now live, sign up for the next session on Tuesday 23 Jan here. For the latest news on the event check out the zhhack.dev/zkhackIV website.

Launching 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-minimised bridge.

Follow Namada on Twitter @namada for more information and join the community on Discord discord.gg/namada.

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
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Read transcript

Predictions: ZK in 2024

Wed, 10 Jan 2024 13:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna and cohosts Guillermo, Kobi, Nico and Tarun share their predictions, hopes (and worries) for ZK in 2024. They cover emerging ideas in ZK, research predictions, dream applications, the best case for ZK in 2024, the worst case for ZK, possible ‘Black Swans’ and more.

ZK Hack IV online is coming soon, sign up for the kick-off session on 16th Jan here. For the latest news on the event check out the zhhack.dev/zkhackIV website.

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 | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
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Read transcript

ZK Rewind: A Look Back at 2023

Wed, 27 Dec 2023 18:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna catches up in person with Guillermo, Tarun and Alex Evans for a look back at 2023. They revisit their state of mind back in Jan 2023 and share how the year unfolded and evolved for each of them as well as the ZK space as a whole. They survey the themes, applications and research topics that dominated ZK throughout this year and offer retrospective takes on how the ecosystem has changed.

Hope you enjoy!

We are taking the next week off, but will return with our look forward to 2024 episode in the new year.

Here’s some additional links for this episode:

ZK Hack IV online is coming soon, sign up for the kick-off session on 16th Jan here. For the latest news on the event check out the zhhack.dev/zkhackIV website.

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 | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
Catch us on YouTube

Read transcript

Exploring FRI, LogUp and using M31 for STARKs with Ulrich Haböck

Wed, 20 Dec 2023 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, host Anna Rose and cohost Nico Mohnblatt catch up with Ulrich Haböck, an applied cryptographer at Polygon Labs. This episode revolves around Ulrich’s journey into applied zero-knowledge cryptography, transitioning from an academic environment to being a full-time practitioner. They discuss his contributions to the field, including his many write-ups and manuscripts as well as his breakthrough research on Multivariate lookups with his work logUp. They also cover his work on logarithmic derivative lookups using GKR with Shahar Papini, as well as his innovative approaches to STARKs over finite fields that are not ‘NTT-friendly’. This episode offers a deep dive into the complexities and breakthroughs in applied cryptography.

Here’s some additional links for this episode:

ZK Hack IV online is coming soon, visit zhhack.dev/zkhackIV for the latest news!

Launching 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-minimised bridge.

Follow Namada on Twitter @namada for more information and join the community on Discord discord.gg/namada.

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
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Read transcript

A Dive into Binius with Ulvetanna

Wed, 13 Dec 2023 15:00:00 +0100

In this week's episode, Anna and cohost Brendan Farmer catch up with Jim Posen and Radi Cojbasic from Ulvetanna. They cover the origin story of Ulvetanna and their work on the ZK hardware/software intersection before moving on to discuss Binius, a new proving system they developed which is optimised for hardware. Binius is built on towers of binary fields and draws on recent breakthroughs on SNARKs. This work continues the trend towards the use of smaller fields and was inspired by the development of new lookup arguments, work done on multilinear provers and sum-check as well as the use of recursive composition in SNARKs.

Here’s some additional links for this episode:

ZK Hack IV online is coming soon, watch out for updates on zkhack.dev/zkhackIV!

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 | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
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Read transcript

ZK for web2 interop with zkLogin & ZK Email

Wed, 06 Dec 2023 15:00:00 +0100

This week Anna and cohost Kobi chat with both Kostas Kryptos from Mysten Labs, discussing the zkLogin project and Aayush Gupta representing the ZK Email + Email Wallet projects. They explore the use case of web2 onboarding into web3, through the lens of these two different projects which emerged independently but share a lot of the same characteristics.

They discuss the way this use case problem was first identified, the solution that each project came up with independently, the decisions that each project took and the future use cases they would enable.

Here’s some additional links mentioned in this episode:

Further relevant links:

Check out the latest in ZK Jobs on our Jobs Board here.

Launching 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-minimised bridge.

Follow Namada on Twitter @namada for more information and join the community on Discord discord.gg/namada

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
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Read transcript

EigenLayer @ Devconnect

Wed, 29 Nov 2023 15:00:00 +0100

This week, Anna catches up with Tarun Chitra and Sreeram Kannan during a spontaneous session recorded at Devconnect 2023 in Istanbul! They cover a variety of topics seen at the event, including zk toolkits, intents and Data Availability, shedding light on how these ideas are reshaping the framework of digital interaction and governance. Their chat covers the challenges and opportunities these technologies present, highlighting their significance in the current ecosystem. Later, they explore the complexities and nuances of EigenLayer, offering detailed insights into its functionalities, applications, and potential impact on the industry.

Here’s some additional links for this episode:

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 Q4, this is an invitation to be part of a transformational ZK journey.

Dive deeper and discover more about Aleo at aleo.org

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
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Read transcript

A ZK Podcast Retrospective

Wed, 22 Nov 2023 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna takes a look back at the last 6 years of the Zero Knowledge Podcast, how it came to be and the journey the show has been on since that very first episode in 2017. Anna reviews the highs and lows of the show, touching on episodes which made a profound impact on her own journey in the ZK space, as well as episodes she wouldn’t rush to listen to again! Discover key show learnings, how the zkSummit formed and take a trip down memory lane in the 300th episode of Zero Knowledge Podcast.

To check out all the ZK Podcast episodes mentioned in this episode, visit the zeroknowledge.fm website here
Check out one of the earliest zkSummit talks on the very first event: Zero knowledge proofs intro with Str4d (Zcash)
The full zkSummit Playlist
Sign up here for ZK Hack IV Online updates

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree
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Catch up on zkSync with Alex G

Wed, 15 Nov 2023 15:00:00 +0100

In this week's episode, Anna chats with Alex Gluchowski, CEO of Matter Labs & co-creator of the zkSync network. They catch up on the zkSync project since it launched in Feb 2023. They dive into recent initiatives like the ZK Stack framework, Hyperchains, and the ZK Credo mission statement. They also explore the upcoming Boojum proof system upgrade planned for zkSync Era and discuss the future of the zkSync project as a whole.

Here’s some additional links for this episode:

Check out the latest in ZK Jobs on our Jobs Board here.

Launching 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-minimised bridge.

Follow Namada on Twitter @namada for more information and join the community on Discord discord.gg/namada

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
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Mina’s zkApps and o1js with Brandon and Steve

Wed, 08 Nov 2023 15:00:00 +0100

In this week's episode Anna Rose chats with Brandon Kase, CTO, and Steve Pack, Head of Product at O(1)Labs, focusing on the Mina Protocol. The discussion covers their journeys leading to their work on the project, developments in the Mina Protocol since the last appearance on ZK Podcast, and insights into the zkApps building environment. They delve into the technical aspects of o1js and the underlying philosophy that drives its design. The episode wraps with a forward-looking perspective on the potential applications of zero-knowledge proofs as the industry shifts from a research-centric to a builder-centric approach.

Links referenced in this episode:

Further relevant links:

Check out the ZK Jobs Board

NEAR Foundation and Polygon Labs just announced they are teaming up to build zkWASM, a zero-knowledge prover for WASM blockchains. This collaboration will create a more secure, interoperable Web3 ecosystem for an open web.

NEAR’s deep WASM runtime expertise combined with Polygon Labs’ authority in ZK scaling technology, the zkWASM prover will be market leader when it launches in 2024.

Stay up to date with the zkWASM announcement at near.org

If you like what we do:

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Quantum Cryptography Part 2 with Or Sattath

Wed, 01 Nov 2023 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna and Nico interview Or Sattath, Assistant Professor at the Ben-Gurion University in the Computer Science department. This is the 2nd episode with Or on this show, continuing the conversation around Quantum Cryptography. This time, he describes how we can transition from a pre-quantum to a post-quantum environment, looking at existing systems like Bitcoin and Ethereum. He covers why the methods used in the transition will be important, techniques on how this could be executed and the challenges in designing these techniques and the complications that can arise. Finally, they go on to discuss Quantum Money and recent works in this area.

Here’s some additional links for this episode:

Notes and recommended links by Or Sattath:

NIST post-quantum standardization for post-quantum digital signatures and public-key encryption (or, more precisely, Key Encapsulation Mechanism, KEM). These are classical schemes that, unlike almost all the existing schemes that are used in practice, are secure against quantum adversaries.
Signature Lifting (arXiv link) is discussed as a technique to migrate to post-quantum signatures, especially for those who didn't prepare in advance. Here's a recommended Twitter thread summarizing the results by Shai Wyborski, Or’s co-author.
An approach to upgrade Bitcoin to quantum money is available here. This uses a cryptographic primitive which is called quantum lightning, which was introduced here.
Some smart contacts capabilities can be supported as well. This construction is based on one-shot signatures, which isdiscussed in some detail during the interview. The bottom line of this work is that we can have the most important utility that Bitcoin provides, without the need for a blockchain, or any other consensus mechanism.
Uncloneable cryptography was discussed during the interview. Quantum encryption with certified deletion was discussed as an interesting example of a property that can be achieved only in quantum cryptography.

Applications are now open to attend zkHack Istanbul - Nov 10-12! Apply here: https://www.zkistanbul.com/

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 Q4, this is an invitation to be part of a transformational ZK journey.

Dive deeper and discover more about Aleo at aleo.org

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
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Read transcript

Zeth, Bonsai and RISC Zero with Brian and Jeremy

Wed, 25 Oct 2023 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna and Nico catch up with Brian Retford and Jeremy Bruestle from RISC Zero. They delve into the current status of the project, breaking down the components of the stack, from the RISC Zero zkVM leveraging the RISC-V instruction set architecture to the Bonsai proving service and their new zkEVM, Zeth. They also touch on their design methodology, how the system components integrate and future developments for RISC Zero.

Here’s some additional resources for this episode:

Applications are now open to attend zkHack Istanbul - Nov 10-12! Apply here: https://www.zkistanbul.com/

Launching 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-minimised bridge.

Follow Namada on Twitter @namada for more information and join the community on Discord discord.gg/namada

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
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Read transcript

Return to MPC with Nigel Smart

Wed, 18 Oct 2023 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna Rose is joined by Nigel Smart, Professor at KU Leuven and Chief Academic Officer at Zama to discuss the advancements in MPC over recent years. Nigel unpacks core components of MPC systems, including garbled circuits, secret sharing, and FHE. They discuss both systems-level applications like DKGs and Threshold Signature Schemes and actual real-world deployments. Throughout the episode, they also discuss how MPC and ZK differ, but how they can be used together to enhance each other's capabilities.

Here’s some additional links for this episode:

Relevant ZK Podcast eps

Trusted Setups & FHE

MPC

Applications are now open to attend zkHack Istanbul - Nov 10-12! Apply here: https://www.zkistanbul.com/

RISC Zero’s out-of-the-box tooling allows developers to access the magic of ZK proofs from any chain without needing to learn custom languages or build custom zk circuits.

Bonsai, RISC Zero’s most anticipated product, allows developers to prove huge programs off-chain, roll them into one succinct proof, and verify anywhere with low amounts of gas.

Visit https://r0.link/ZKpodcast to learn more and sign up today for the Bonsai waitlist.

Gnosis are searching for a VP of Technology who will provide technical leadership, foster innovation, and ensure the success of their technology.

Check out the full job here

If you like what we do:

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Succinct Proofs and Linear Algebra with Guillermo and Alex

Wed, 11 Oct 2023 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, host Anna Rose and co-host Kobi Gurkan chat with Alex Evans and Guillermo Angeris about their new research paper on Succinct Proofs in Linear Algebra. The paper introduces a framework that simplifies the construction of succinct proofs and offers a toolkit of useful techniques. Their conversation also covers the use of randomized reductions in zero-knowledge proofs, the security of the FRI protocol, and the potential applications of the framework in other systems.

Here’s some additional links for this episode:

*Papers

*Other links

Applications are now open to attend zkHack Istanbul - Nov 10-12! Apply here: https://www.zkistanbul.com/

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 Q4, this is an invitation to be part of a transformational ZK journey.

Dive deeper and discover more about Aleo at aleo.org

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
Catch us on YouTube

Read transcript

Exploring Security of ZK Systems with Nethermind’s Michał & Albert

Wed, 04 Oct 2023 15:00:00 +0100

On this week’s episode, Anna Rose interviews Michał Zając and Albert Garreta from the Nethermind team. They discuss the origin story of Nethermind and its role in the ecosystem today. They also delve into the cryptography research being done at Nethermind, including their work on proving the security of FRI-based protocols, identifying security issues with Fiat-Shamir, exploring topics like ZK malleability and aggregation, and building SNARKs over rings.

Here’s some additional links for this episode:

Other Nethermind Projects;

Applications are now open to attend zkHack Istanbul - Nov 10-12! Apply here: https://www.zkistanbul.com/

/////Polygon CDK is the go-to open source chain development kit for building and launching your own ZK-powered Ethereum L2.

Using Polygon CDK, build chains precisely to your specs, from level of decentralization to throughput to cost. It’s the raw material of Polygon 2.0, an ecosystem of interconnected chains that create a value layer for the internet.

Check out wiki.polygon.technology/docs/cdk to start experimenting with your own ZK powered L2 today.

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State of ZK – Live at zkSummit10!

Wed, 27 Sep 2023 15:00:00 +0100

In this special live episode, recorded at zkSummit10, host Anna Rose chats with regular co-hosts Tarun Chitra, Guillermo Angeris and Nico Mohnblatt about the state of ZK today.

They cover how the term ‘ZK’ has evolved, market trends that are relevant to the ZK community today and ZK ‘crossovers’ like ZKML or ZKFHE and their current status in the industry. They also discuss how the ZK space could grow in the future and share their predictions. Much of the conversation is fuelled by some great questions and comments from the live zk10 audience.

This is the first episode recorded live from a ZK Podcast event, so if you have any feedback, pls tweet us @zeroknowledgefm!

Here’s some additional links for this episode:

Applications are now open to attend zkHack Istanbul - Nov 10-12! Apply here: https://www.zkistanbul.com/

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 Q4, this is an invitation to be part of a transformational ZK journey.

Dive deeper and discover more about Aleo at aleo.org

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MEV, Mechanism Design & the Censorship Problem with Mallesh M Pai

Wed, 06 Sep 2023 15:00:00 +0100

On this week’s episode, Anna Rose and Tarun Chitra chat with Mallesh Pai, Associate Professor of Economics at Rice University. They explore mechanism design in an economic context and Mallesh’s work around MEV topics - specifically on censorship in an MEV context and within his Special Mechanism Group.

The discussion takes the team back into the topic of MEV, revisiting the proposer builder separation concept and the impact that this may have on the efficiency and censorship resistance of these systems.

Here’s some additional links for this episode:

zkSummit 10 is happening in London on September 20, 2023! Apply to attend now -> zkSummit 10 Application Form.

Bonsai, RISC Zero’s most anticipated product, allows developers to prove huge programs off-chain, roll them into one succinct proof, and verify anywhere with low amounts of gas.

Visit https://r0.link/ZKpodcast to learn more and sign up today for the Bonsai waitlist.

Anoma’s first fractal instance, Namada, is launching soon!

The MASP circuit's latest update enables shielded set rewards directly in the shielded set, a novel feature that funds privacy as a public good.

Follow Namada on twitter @namada for more information and join the community on Discord discord.gg/namada.

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree
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Exploring, Teaching and Auditing ZK with David Wong

Wed, 30 Aug 2023 15:00:00 +0100

This week, Anna and Guillermo chat with David Wong, author of the Real-World Cryptography book, and a cofounder zksecurity.xyz - an auditing firm focused on Zero Knowledge technology. They chat about what first got him interested in cryptography, his early work as a security consultant, his work on the Facebook crypto project and the Mina project, zksecurity.xyz, auditing techniques and their efficacy in a ZK context, what common bugs are found in ZK code, and much more. Here’s some additional links for this episode:

Check out the ZK Jobs Board for new job opportunities in the run up to the zkSummit 10! Aleo is a new Layer-1 blockchain that achieves the programmability of Ethereum, the privacy of Zcash, and the scalability of a rollup. For questions, join their Discord at aleo.org/discord. If you like what we do:

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Penumbra Catch Up with Finch, Erwan and Jen

Wed, 23 Aug 2023 15:00:00 +0100

This week, host Anna Rose chats with Finch, Erwan and Jen from the Penumbra team. They share an update about Penumbra and discuss how this zk-powered project works under the hood. Specifically, how Penumbra harnesses ZK to offer new paradigms for staking, voting and trading.

Here’s some additional links for this episode:

Anoma’s first fractal instance, Namada, is launching soon!

The MASP circuit's latest update enables shielded set rewards directly in the shielded set, a novel feature that funds privacy as a public good.

Follow Namada on twitter @namada for more information and join the community on Discord discord.gg/namada.

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree
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Quantum Cryptography with Or Sattath

Wed, 16 Aug 2023 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna Rose and Kobi Gurkan chat with Or Sattath, Assistant Professor at the Ben-Gurion University in the Computer Science department. They deep dive into Or’s work on Quantum Cryptography. They begin with definitions of Quantum Computing and Quantum Cryptography, covering what these will mean for existing cryptography. They also explore how new discoveries in this field can interact with existing Proof-of-work systems and how Quantum computers could affect the game theory of mining in the future.

Here’s some additional links for this episode:

More in-depth resources recommended by Or Sattath:

A recommended smbc-comics about the power of quantum computing, authored by Zack Weinersmith (the usual cartoonist) and Scott Aaronson (a quantum computing expert)
For an in-depth introduction to quantum computing, I recommend Ronald de-Wolf's lecture notes
The Bitcoin backbone protocol with a single quantum miner, by Cojocaru et al
The fingerprint of quantum mining slightly below 16 minutes by Nerem-Gaur
Some estimates regarding timelines, which we didn't discuss, are available here and here
The insecurity of quantum Bitcoin mining, and the need to change the tie-breaking rule.
The work by Lee-Ray-Santh that analyzes the equilibrium strategy for multiple quantum miners, as a simplified one-shot game.

zkSummit 10 is happening in London on September 20, 2023! Apply to attend now -> zkSummit 10 Application Form.

Polygon Labs is thrilled to announce Polygon 2.0: The Value Layer for the Internet.

Polygon 2.0 and all of our ZK tech is open-source and community-driven. Reach out to the Polygon community on Discord to learn more, contribute, or join in and build the future of Web3 together with Polygon!

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Gnosis catch-up with Stefan George

Wed, 02 Aug 2023 15:00:00 +0100

This week, Anna Rose chats with Stefan George from Gnosis. They start with an update on the projects that have spun out of Gnosis - Safe, Zodiac, CoW Swap - as well as older experiments that the team had incubated. They then cover the evolution of Gnosis Chain from its origin as xDai, discuss the new aggregate bridge architecture Hashi and explore Gnosis Pay - an on-chain p2p payments product that fulfills some of the original motivations of Bitcoin. They discuss a range of relevant topics such as intents, prediction markets, account abstraction, ZK Bridges, decentralization and more.

Here’s some additional links for this episode:

Previous Podcast Eps

Papers

Websites

zkSummit 10 is happening in London on September 20, 2023! Apply to attend now -> zkSummit 10 Application Form.

Polygon Labs is thrilled to announce Polygon 2.0: The Value Layer for the Internet.

Bonsai, RISC Zero’s most anticipated product, allows developers to prove huge programs off-chain, roll them into one succinct proof, and verify anywhere with low amounts of gas.

Visit https://r0.link/ZKpodcast to learn more and sign up today for the Bonsai waitlist.

If you like what we do:

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Paris 2023 Recap with Uma, Zaki and Tarun

Wed, 26 Jul 2023 15:00:00 +0100

This week, host Anna Rose and guests Uma Roy, Zaki Manian and Tarun Chitra recap all things EthCC Paris. This impromptu chat takes a look back at the topics, talks, parties and goings-on of the Paris week and what really caught their attention. Expect some spicy takes, offtopic rambles, inside scoops and more.

Here’s some additional links for this episode:

EthCC Links

Modular Summit Talks

Polygon Labs is thrilled to announce Polygon 2.0: The Value Layer for the Internet.

Aleo is a new Layer-1 blockchain that achieves the programmability of Ethereum, the privacy of Zcash, and the scalability of a rollup.

For questions, join their Discord at aleo.org/discord.

If you like what we do:

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Intents with Chris Goes from Anoma

Wed, 19 Jul 2023 15:00:00 +0100

This week, host Anna Rose and co-host Tarun Chitra catch up with Chris Goes from Heliax, the team behind Anoma and Namada. They start with a quick retrospective about IBC, a project he formerly worked on, and how the protocol has evolved since it launched.

They dive into the concept of 'intents', exploring their origin, evolution, and discuss the intent-based systems that exist today. As well, they chat about the architectures enabled by a generalized intent-based infrastructure, the potential impacts on user experience, and the inherent trade-offs, particularly when zero-knowledge or privacy aspects are added to the mix.

Polygon Labs is thrilled to announce Polygon 2.0: The Value Layer for the Internet.

Aleo is a new Layer-1 blockchain that achieves the programmability of Ethereum, the privacy of Zcash, and the scalability of a rollup.

For questions, join their Discord at aleo.org/discord.

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree
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Using Formal Verification on ZK Systems with Jon Stephens

Wed, 12 Jul 2023 15:00:00 +0100

This week Anna Rose chats with Jon Stephens, Computer Science Ph.D. student in the UToPiA group at UT Austin and co-founder of Veridise. Veridise is a blockchain auditing firm that audits smart contracts and ZK systems. They discuss what led Jon to work on system security, what tools are available to test the security of ZK systems and the process of performing formal verification on ZK systems. They also cover general ZK security, why this topic matters and ways we can incentivise ethical disclosures when bugs and vulnerabilities are found.

Additional reading for this week's episode;

zkSummit 10 is happening in London on September 20, 2023! Apply to attend now -> zkSummit 10 Application Form

Polygon Labs is thrilled to announce Polygon 2.0: The Value Layer for the Internet.

Anoma’s first fractal instance, Namada, is launching soon!

The MASP circuit's latest update enables shielded set rewards directly in the shielded set, a novel feature that funds privacy as a public good.

Follow Namada on twitter @namada for more information and join the community on Discord discord.gg/namada.

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
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Read transcript

BabyAGI, Agents and Cutting-edge AI with Yohei

Wed, 05 Jul 2023 15:00:00 +0100

This week, host Anna Rose and co-host Kobi Gurkan chat with Yohei Nakajima, General Partner at Untapped Capital and creator of BabyAGI. They cover a wide variety of topics from the world of AGIs and agents to building no-code software in public. They kick-off with a chat about how Yohei’s interest in NFTs led him down the AI ‘rabbit hole’ and how he started to build out experiments in public that have inspired a new group of AI tools and projects.

They wrap up with a discussion about the possible impacts of some of this AI tech, how ZK may help mediate the challenges it introduces and more.

Here’s some additional links for this episode;

Check out the Modular Summit here: https://modularsummit.dev/

zkSummit 10 is happening in London on September 20, 2023! Apply to attend now -> zkSummit 10 Application Form

Anoma’s first fractal instance, Namada, is launching soon!

Namada is a proof-of-stake L1 for interchain asset-agnostic privacy. Namada natively interoperates with fast-finality chains via IBC and with Ethereum via a trustless two-way bridge.

For privacy, Namada deploys an upgraded version of the multi-asset shielded pool (MASP) circuit that allows all assets (fungible and non-fungible) to share a common shielded set – this removes the size limits of the anonymity set and provides the best privacy guarantees possible for every user in the multichain.

The MASP circuit's latest update enables shielded set rewards directly in the shielded set, a novel feature that funds privacy as a public good.

Follow Namada on twitter @namada for more information and join the community on Discord discord.gg/namada

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
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Read transcript

Error Correcting Codes & Information Theory with Ron Rothblum

Wed, 28 Jun 2023 15:00:00 +0100

This week, host Anna Rose and Nico Mohnblatt chat with Ron Rothblum, Professor of Computer Science at Technion. They explore information theory and ZK, diving into the weeds on multiple topics including error correcting codes, FRI, FFTs, Reed-Solomon encoding, Fiat-Shamir and more.

Here’s some additional links for this episode:

zkSummit 10 is happening in London on September 20, 2023! Apply to attend now -> https://9lcje6jbgv1.typeform.com/zkSummit10

Aleo is a new Layer-1 blockchain that achieves the programmability of Ethereum, the privacy of Zcash, and the scalability of a rollup.

Interested in building private applications? Check out Aleo’s programming language called Leo that enables non-cryptographers to harness the power of ZKPs to deploy decentralized exchanges, hidden information games, regulated stablecoins, and more. Visit http://developer.aleo.org.

For questions, join their Discord at aleo.org/discord.

If you like what we do:

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Exploring Lurk: a New Language for Recursive zk-SNARKs

Wed, 21 Jun 2023 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, host Anna Rose chats with Chhi'mèd Künzang and François Garillot from Lurk Labs about all things Lurk, Lisp and zk languages.

They discuss the history of the Lurk project, from its beginnings with Protocol Labs (the team that built Filecoin), to its emergence as a Turing-complete programming language for recursive zkSNARKs.

They discuss Lurk’s relationship with Lisp, what Lisp is, and how developers familiar with that family of languages would be able to interact with Lurk. They then discuss how Lurk compares to other zkDSLs and the new innovations this Lisp-based language brings to the table.

Here’s some additional links for this episode:

Programming Languages

Lurk Links

Additional Reading/Listening

Ever feel like developing zero-knowledge proofs is a daunting task?

The team at RISC Zero is here to remind you that it doesn't have to be that way. Their out-of-the-box tooling allows developers to access the magic of ZK proofs from any chain without needing to learn custom languages or building custom zk circuits.

Bonsai, RISC Zero’s most anticipated product, is a proving marketplace that enables any protocol or application to leverage fast ZKProofs in languages like Rust, Go, C++.

Visit https://r0.link/ZKpodcast to learn more and sign up today for the Bonsai waitlist.

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree
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ProtoStar with Benedikt Bünz and Binyi Chen

Wed, 14 Jun 2023 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna Rose dives back into accumulation schemes with Benedikt Bünz and Binyi Chen from Espresso Systems. They discuss ProtoStar and how it compares to works such as Nova and HyperNova, as well as explore some definitions for commonly used terms in the accumulation literature.

Here’s some additional links for this episode:

Check out the ZK Jobs Board here: ZK Jobs. Find your next job working in ZK!

Aztec Network is building a next-generation encrypted blockchain powered by Ethereum.

The team is proud to announce Noir - the world's first universal zk-language. Noir makes it safe and intuitive to write zk circuits and encrypted smart contracts, enabling novel use-cases like encrypted DeFi, private governance, and zk gaming.

As a universal language, Noir is domain-specific, but blockchain agnostic. Build powerful zk applications compatible with multiple proving systems and verify your program on any EVM chain.

Get started with Noir today at docs.aztec.network/noir

If you like what we do:

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Bonus: zkpod.ai & Attested Audio Experiment with Daniel Kang

Tue, 13 Jun 2023 17:00:00 +0100

In this bonus episode, Anna jumps back on the mic for a quick follow-up to Episode 279: Intro to zkpod.ai. Guest Daniel Kang describes a joint project he is doing with zkpod.ai - the Attested Audio Experiment. The objective is to prove that some piece of audio originates from a "real" (non-ai-generated) recording, even if this audio has been altered through edits or modifications. The goal is to differentiate between original "real" audio and the audio generated by zkpod.ai. In the future some iteration of this architecture could be used by content creators to distinguish deepfake audio from the real thing.

Here is the write up about the Attested Audio Experiment on Daniel Kang's blog.

Here is some of his other work as well:

Follow @zkpodai on twitter for more updates!

Intro to zkpod.ai with Anna and Kobi

Wed, 07 Jun 2023 15:00:00 +0100

This week, Anna Rose and Kobi Gurkan continue their conversation with a full episode dedicated to their new side project zkpod.ai - the voice ai trained on transcripts from this show which uses both Anna and Kobi’s voices to share insights and answer questions about zk topics. They cover the origin of the project and discuss their motivations and concerns around its uses as well as how they could see the project developing and what this could mean for the field of zk. Kobi shares his thoughts on the current tooling available, where this could progress and potential limitations it holds.

Additional links mentioned in this episode:

Check out the ZK Jobs Board here: ZK Jobs. Find your next job working in ZK!

Anoma’s first fractal instance, Namada, is launching soon!

Namada is a proof-of-stake L1 for interchain asset-agnostic privacy. Namada natively interoperates with fast-finality chains via IBC and with Ethereum via a trustless two-way bridge.

The MASP circuit's latest update enables shielded set rewards directly in the shielded set, a novel feature that funds privacy as a public good.

Follow Namada on twitter @namada for more information and join the community on Discord discord.gg/namada.

Zero-knowledge is changing the world and until now, building ZK applications meant learning new, chain-specific languages and complex cryptography. But no more!

With SnarkyJS, the easiest to use zk SDK, developers can add the magic of zk to their apps using TypeScript!

Whether you're targeting Mina, the leading zk-native blockchain, or off-chain applications, [SnarkyJS](snarkyjs.o1labs.org) from O(1) Labs has you covered. With support for infinite recursion, in-browser proving, and so much more, the full power of zk is available to everyone.

Visit [snarkyjs.o1labs.org](snarkyjs.o1labs.org) to get started.

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
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Read transcript

The State of ZK with Anna and Kobi

Wed, 31 May 2023 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, host Anna Rose and Kobi Gurkan check in on the state of ZK today. They discuss recent ZK applications and tooling as well as developments from the last 6 months. They review new use cases such as ZK for off-chain computations and dive into research breakthroughs, trends, security and much more. Finally, they introduce the concept of zkpod.ai which will be covered fully in next week's episode.

Additional links mentioned in this episode:

Check out the ZK Jobs Board here: ZK Jobs. Find your next job working in ZK!

Ever feel like developing zero-knowledge proofs is a daunting task?

The team at RISC Zero is here to remind you that it doesn't have to be that way. Their out-of-the-box tooling allows developers to access the magic of ZKProofs from any chain without needing to learn custom languages or building custom ZK circuits.

Bonsai, RISC Zero’s most anticipated product, is a proving marketplace that enables any protocol or application to leverage fast ZKProofs in languages like Rust, Go, C++.

Visit https://r0.link/ZKpodcast to learn more and sign up today for the Bonsai waitlist.

Aleo is a new Layer-1 blockchain that achieves the programmability of Ethereum, the privacy of Zcash, and the scalability of a rollup.

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 newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
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Read transcript

Nova and Beyond with Srinath Setty

Wed, 24 May 2023 15:00:00 +0100

In today’s episode, Anna Rose and Nico Mohnblatt interview Srinath Setty, Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research and author of notable works such as Spartan, Nova, SuperNova, and HyperNova. This discussion covers Setty's early work and how this led to him working on SNARKs, folding schemes and sumcheck protocols, as well as his views on the future trajectory of the ZK space.

Given the current chatter around Nova-style accumulation schemes, this interview offers a chance to explore the perspective of a key contributor behind these developments.

Here’s some additional links for this episode:

Check out the ZK Jobs Board here: ZK Jobs. Find your next job working in ZK!

Zero-knowledge is changing the world and until now, building ZK applications meant learning new, chain-specific languages and complex cryptography. But no more!

With SnarkyJS, the easiest to use zk SDK, developers can add the magic of zk to their apps using TypeScript!

Whether you're targeting Mina, the leading zk-native blockchain, or off-chain applications, SnarkyJS from O(1) Labs has you covered. With support for infinite recursion, in-browser proving, and so much more, the full power of zk is available to everyone.

Visit [snarkyjs.o1labs.org](snarkyjs.o1labs.org) to get started.

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
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Read transcript

Expanding Computation on Ethereum with Axiom

Wed, 17 May 2023 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna sits down with Yi Sun, co-founder of Axiom. Yi was recently on the show to discuss ZK ML’s, however this time they take a closer look at the Axiom project and what it means to be a ZK coprocessor for Ethereum. During the interview they also explore what problems Axiom are trying to solve, how ZKPs are used to help bring historic data into smart contracts and what new use cases this architecture can support.

Here’s some additional links for this episode:

Check out the ZK Jobs Board here: ZK Jobs. Find your next job working in ZK!

Aleo is a new Layer-1 blockchain that achieves the programmability of Ethereum, the privacy of Zcash, and the scalability of a rollup.

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 newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
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Read transcript

Building in Public with Sandy & Ye from Scroll

Wed, 10 May 2023 15:00:00 +0100

In this week's episode, Anna Rose chats with Scroll co-founders Ye Zhang and Sandy Peng, delving into updates about their zkEVM L2, the progress they have made over the past year and what it really means to build in public. They discuss the challenges and rewards of founding a fully remote organization and how the team navigates the ever changing ZK landscape.

Here’s some additional links for this episode:

Check out the ZK Jobs Board here: ZK Jobs. Find your next job working in ZK!

Ever feel like developing zero-knowledge proofs is a daunting task?

Bonsai, RISC Zero’s most anticipated product, is a proving marketplace that enables any protocol or application to leverage fast ZK proofs in languages like Rust, Go, C++.

Visit https://r0.link/ZKpodcast to learn more and sign up today for the Bonsai waitlist.

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
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Read transcript

SNARKs: A Trilogy with Ariel Gabizon

Wed, 03 May 2023 15:00:00 +0100

This week, Anna and Ariel Gabizon cover the SNARK trilogy; a history of pairing-based SNARKs in 3 acts. Starting from Jens Groth’s early works on SNARKs, Ariel takes us on a journey through key moments and breakthroughs in SNARKs over the last decade. They also dive into the emerging accumulation research on folding schemes and Ariel’s latest work surrounding lookup tables! This is an episode you won’t want to miss.

Here are some additional links for this episode:

Relevant Jens Groth Papers

PLONK-Relative Papers

Lookup-Relative Papers

Additional Resources

Check out the ZK Jobs Board here: ZK Jobs.

Anoma’s first fractal instance Namada is launching soon!

Namada is a proof-of-stake L1 for interchain asset-agnostic privacy. Namada natively interoperates with fast-finality chains via IBC and with Ethereum via a trustless two-way bridge.

Follow Namada on twitter @namada for more information and join the community on Discord discord.gg/namada.

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
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Read transcript

History of Plonk, Noir, and the building of Aztec 3

Wed, 26 Apr 2023 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, host Anna Rose sits down with Zac Williamson, the CEO of Aztec. Anna and Zac dive deep into the history of Plonk, one of the most important proving systems to emerge in the last 5 years. Zac explains how the initial ideas came to be, how it was developed with co-author Ariel Gabizon, and how the system has evolved over time, branching out into many different iterations of Plonk, leading up to his recent work on Goblin Plonk.

The conversation also touches on Aztec's cutting-edge technology stack, including their Noir zkDSL and their planned private programmable L2, Aztec 3. Zac shares his insights on the state of ZK applications and folding schemes, and provides a glimpse into the future of the ZK space.

Here’s some additional links for this episode:

Check out the ZK Jobs Board here: ZK Jobs. Find your next job working in ZK!

Aleo is a new Layer-1 blockchain that achieves the programmability of Ethereum, the privacy of Zcash, and the scalability of a rollup.

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 newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
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Read transcript

The Move into Web3 with Aptos’ Avery Ching

Wed, 19 Apr 2023 15:00:00 +0100

This week, Anna Rose interviews Avery Ching, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer at Aptos Labs. They cover Avery’s working history, including his time working on Meta’s Blockchain project, what this experience meant to him and how this led to the creation of Aptos. They discuss Aptos as it stands today, Avery’s experience of building in the current market and the unique qualities of the Aptos project.

Here are some additional links for this episode:

Check out the ZK Jobs Board here: ZK Jobs.

Anoma’s first fractal instance Namada is launching soon!

Namada is a proof-of-stake L1 for interchain asset-agnostic privacy. Namada natively interoperates with fast-finality chains via IBC and with Ethereum via a trustless two-way bridge.

Follow Namada on twitter @namada for more information and join the community on Discord discord.gg/namada.

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
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Between Two ZK Events with Nico and Guillermo

Wed, 12 Apr 2023 15:00:00 +0100

This week, Anna Rose chats with ZK Podcast regular Guillermo Angeris, Head of Research at BCC and Nicolas Mohnblatt, Researcher and Cryptographer at Geometry. This was recorded on April 3rd 2023, the day between the ZK Hack Lisbon hackathon and the zkSummit9 event.

They discuss Nico's move from music to cryptography, his earlier privacy research as a Master's student, and his recent research Sangria, which is a folding scheme for Plonk. Guillermo shares some of his current work cleaning up and formalising concepts in zk. And Anna shares some brief thoughts about the recent release of zkpod.ai - the friendly ZK bot featuring Anna’s voice and containing the entirety of the ZKPodcast knowledge (built by Kobi Gurkan).

They also chat about some news, insights from ZK Hack Lisbon and some of the projects that were built there and generally check in on the state of the ecosystem.

Relevant links:

Sangria: a Folding Scheme for PLONK - Geometry Research
ZK9: Sangria is relaxed PLONK a Nova-like folding scheme for PLONK – Nicolas Mohnblatt (Geometry)
Plonk isn’t real - Zac’s tweet confession
ZK Hack Lisbon closing ceremony
ZK Hack Lisbon Winner's list Twitter post
ZK Hack Lisbon projects & website
zkSummit video playlist (including part of the zkSummit9 videos - more coming soon!)
zkpod.ai announcement tweet from Kobi Gurkan
Anna's reaction to zkpod.ai

Check out the ZK Jobs Board here: ZK Jobs. Find your next job working in ZK!

Anoma’s first fractal instance Namada is launching soon!

Namada is a proof-of-stake L1 for interchain asset-agnostic privacy. Namada natively interoperates with fast-finality chains via IBC and with Ethereum via a trustless two-way bridge.

Follow Namada on twitter @namada for more information and join the community on Discord discord.gg/namada.

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree
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FHE and ZKPs with Sunscreen’s Ravital Solomon

Wed, 05 Apr 2023 15:00:00 +0100

This week Anna Rose chats with Ravital Solomon, founder of Sunscreen. They cover her early interest in lattice-based cryptography and how this paved the way for her work on FHE, starting at NuCypher then with her startup Sunscreen. They dive into the challenges involved when building with FHE as well as exploring the power in combining ZKP and FHE. They also discuss the early emergence of lattice-based zero knowledge proofs.

Here are some additional links for this episode:

Check out the ZK Jobs Board here: ZK Jobs.

Polygon zkEVM is here. This performant, ZK-powered, open-source, EVM-equivalent rollup launched its Mainnet Beta last month. Polygon zkEVM is making scaling truly frictionless—fast finality and EVM-equivalence means devs can do everything they can do with the EVM, only cheaper.

To connect to Polygon zkEVM, go to Polygon.technology

If you like what we do:

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Auctions with Kshitij Kulkarni, Matheus V. X. Ferreira and Tarun

Wed, 22 Mar 2023 15:00:00 +0100

In this week's episode Anna Rose and Tarun Chitra explore the topic of auctions with guests Kshitij Kulkarni, PHD student at Berkeley’s EECS department and Matheus V. X. Ferreira, Postdoctoral Fellow in Computer Science at Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

They discuss the history of auctions, both in the real world and in blockchain, and go on to cover more recent blockchain uses, such as MEV and NFT auctions. They review the incentives of both auction holders and the participants as well as how this incentive design can influence the effectiveness of the auctions themselves.

Here are some additional links for this episode:

https://jumpcrypto.com/thepit/zkweek/

Find out more about zkSummit9 here: zksummit.com.

Apply for ZK Hack Lisbon here: ZK Hack application

Aleo is a new Layer-1 blockchain that achieves the programmability of Ethereum, the privacy of Zcash, and the scalability of a rollup.

Interested in building private applications? Check out Aleo’s programming language called Leo by visiting http://developer.aleo.org.

You can also participate in 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
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A Rollup-Centric Future & Sovereign Chains with Mustafa Al-Bassam

Wed, 15 Mar 2023 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode Anna Rose interviews Mustafa Al-Bassam, co-founder of Celestia. They cover where Celestia as an idea emerged from, how its rollup-centric data availability (DA) network works and what can be expected from their upcoming launch. They also chat about how Celestia aims to empower Sovereign chains - independent rollup chains that use Celestia as the DA and consensus layer - and how this Sovereign chain model compares with the Ethereum rollup architecture.

Here are some additional links for this episode:

Check out the ZK Jobs Board here: ZK Jobs.

Aleo is a new Layer-1 blockchain that achieves the programmability of Ethereum, the privacy of Zcash, and the scalability of a rollup.

Interested in building private applications? Check out Aleo’s programming language called Leo by visiting http://developer.aleo.org.

You can also participate in 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 newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
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ZK Hardware Sessions with Zprize Pt. 2

Wed, 08 Mar 2023 15:00:00 +0100

In this two-part series exploring ZK Hardware, Anna Rose interviews various participants from the ZPrize competition, alongside the creator of ZPrize and co-host of this episode Alex Pruden from Aleo. Throughout these interviews, they dig into the different types of hardware, such as GPUs and FPGAs, that can be used to accelerate ZKP computation. They also discuss the underlying mathematical techniques in ZKPs that can be optimized for and the tricks and strategies that ZPrize competitors used to achieve these optimizations.

In Part 2 of the series, Anna and Alex first interview Hamid Salehi and Swati Gupta from Xilinx AMD who contribute insights from the perspective of an FPGA manufacturer. Alex and Anna then interview competitor Niall Emmart, previously from NVIDIA. They discuss his previous work and what went into winning both the MSM for GPUs and MSM for Wasm competitions in ZPrize.

Here is some additional information for this episode:

Hardware/Board options:

Varium C1100 board (targeted at accelerating blockchain applications).
This board has been used to accelerate the following:
Poseidon hash (used in the storage sealing process for Filecoin)
NTT acceleration at ZPrize
Startups are using this to explore NTT and MSM acceleration
Other boards
The U55C in particular has been shown to provide a competitive and more power efficient alternative to GPUs for MSM acceleration in this study by Ingonyama called PipeMSM. There has been interest in U55C for NTT acceleration as well due to the high HBM capacity it provides (16GB).

Research and documents on using FPGAs for ZK related implementation:

Projects using the C1100 board (These can be a good starting point for getting familiar with the hardware and tools):

ZPrize submissions in the NTT category
Poseidon hash implementation from the Adaptive Computing 2021 challenge conducted by Hackster.io

Documentation on tools and boards:

Vitis unified software tutorial
Alveo debug guide
Alveo usage documentation
Vitis for CUDA developers

GitHub Repositories:

Check out the ZK Jobs Board here: ZK Jobs.

Ingonyama’s mission is to improve the performance of Zero-Knowledge Provers by designing hardware optimized for ZK computation. They are proud to introduce their latest project, ICICLE.

For ideas and discussion around the code, visit the ICICLE channel in the Ingonyama discord server, where team members and fellow developers await.

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree
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ZK Hardware Sessions with Zprize Pt. 1

Wed, 01 Mar 2023 15:00:00 +0100

In this 2-part series exploring ZK Hardware, Anna Rose interviews various participants from the ZPrize competition, alongside the creator of ZPrize and co-host of this episode Alex Pruden from Aleo. Through these interviews, they dig into the different types of hardware, such as GPUs and FPGAs, that can be used to accelerate ZKP computation. They also discuss the underlying mathematical techniques in ZKPs that can be optimized for and the tricks and strategies that ZPrize competitors used to achieve these optimizations.

In Part 1 of the series, Anna and Alex first interview Luke Pearson from Polychain Capital, who was an architect on the ZPrize. They then interview Ben Devlin and Rahul Yesantharao from Jane Street who were members of one of the winning teams, Hardcaml.

Here are some additional links for this episode:

Check out the ZK Jobs Board here: ZK Jobs.

Ever wish you could use existing rust libraries in ZK?

This is a friendly reminder from the team at RISC Zero that you can!

To learn more, check out the RISC Zero video tutorials from the last ZK Hack at https://www.youtube.com/@risczero.

Follow them on twitter @risczero to make sure you don’t miss their upcoming 1.0 launch and the alpha launch of the Bonsai Network.

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree
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Where ZK and ML intersect with Yi Sun and Daniel Kang

Wed, 22 Feb 2023 15:00:00 +0100

This week, Anna Rose and Tarun Chitra dive back into the topic of ZK ML with guests Yi Sun, co-founder of Axiom, and Daniel Kang, Assistant Professor of computer science at UIUC. They discuss Yi and Daniel’s previous academic work and what led them to get interested in ZK topics and specifically ZK ML. They then dive into a discussion about 2 recent papers which examine the use of ZK within Machine Learning architectures.

Here are some additional links for this episode:

Apply for ZK Hack Lisbon here: ZK Hack application

Aleo is a new Layer-1 blockchain that achieves the programmability of Ethereum, the privacy of Zcash, and the scalability of a rollup.

Interested in building private applications? Check out Aleo’s programming language called Leo by visiting http://developer.aleo.org.

You can also participate in 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 newsletter
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On-Chain Reputation & Identity Building with Sismo

Wed, 15 Feb 2023 15:00:00 +0100

In this episode, Anna chats with Hadrien Charlanes from Sismo. They discuss his early experiences in blockchain development and DeFi, and how this led him to build Sismo, a decentralized identity product with privacy preserving properties. They also cover the ZK badge concept: how they're minted and what is happening under the hood as well as interesting emerging use cases using these zk-based on-chain instruments.

Here are some additional links for this episode:

Find out more about zkSummit9 here: zksummit.com.

Apply for ZK Hack Lisbon here: ZK Hack application

Anoma’s first fractal instance, Namada, is launching soon!

Namada is a proof-of-stake L1 for interchain asset-agnostic privacy. Namada natively interoperates with fast-finality chains via IBC and with Ethereum via a trustless two-way bridge.

Visit namada.net for more information and join the community on Discord discord.gg/namada

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
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Cosmos, Sommelier and Emerging Assets with Zaki Manian

Wed, 08 Feb 2023 15:00:00 +0100

This week, Anna catches up with Zaki Manian, co-founder of Iqlusion and Sommelier. They embark on a comprehensive recap of the history of Cosmos to-date, covering all ground since their last interview 2 years ago. They also dive into topics such as the IBC launch, Osmosis, how the ecosystem grew and accelerated up until the Luna crash and how it continues to recover in its next phase.

They then chat about Sommelier and how it has evolved, as well as the concepts of emerging asset types, such as real world assets, and how ZKPs for privacy may finally find a product market fit that could build up real market adoption. You won’t want to miss this one!

Here are some additional links for this episode:

Apply for zkSummit9 here: zkSummit9 Ticket Application.

Aleo is a new Layer-1 blockchain that achieves the programmability of Ethereum, the privacy of Zcash, and the scalability of a rollup.

Interested in building private applications? Check out Aleo’s programming language called Leo by visiting http://developer.aleo.org

You can also participate in 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 newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
Catch us on Youtube
Head to the ZK Community Forum
Support our Gitcoin Grant

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Ethereum’s KZG Ceremony with Trent & Carl

Wed, 01 Feb 2023 15:00:00 +0100

In this week's episode, Anna Rose and Kobi Gurkan chat with Carl and Trent from the Ethereum Foundation, covering many topics such as their work on the KZG Ceremony and how this is different from the previous trusted setups we have covered. The group takes a deep dive into trusted setups, discussing what they are for, how they have been run and how the setup is going so far. They also discuss Proto-Danksharding and EIP-4844 - a novel way to organize data logistics for Ethereum.

Here are some additional links for this episode:

Apply for zkSummit9 here: zkSummit9 Ticket Application.

Aztec Network is building a next-generation encrypted blockchain powered by Ethereum.

Aztec is now hiring engineers and cryptographers to build an execution layer enabling scale and privacy for crypto applications.

Join the team making encrypted Ethereum a reality. Learn more by visiting: aztec.network/careers

Anoma’s first fractal instance, Namada, is launching soon!

Namada is a proof-of-stake L1 for interchain asset-agnostic privacy. Namada natively interoperates with fast-finality chains via IBC and with Ethereum via a trustless two-way bridge.

Visit namada.net for more information and join the community on Discord discord.gg/namada.

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
Catch us on Youtube
Head to the ZK Community Forum
Support our Gitcoin Grant

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Proofs, Arguments, and ZKPs with Justin Thaler

Wed, 25 Jan 2023 15:00:00 +0100

This week, Anna chats with Justin Thaler, Associate Professor at Georgetown. They cover Justin’s academic history and discuss what led him to working on interactive proofs and SNARKs. They also take a look at several other topics such as the Thaler Book Study Group, his earlier work Spartan, comparing the security of different rollups built with SNARKs and STARKs and more.

Here are some additional links for this episode:

Apply for zkSummit9 here: zkSummit9 Ticket Application.

Check out ingonyama.com to learn more about Zero Knowledge Hardware acceleration.

Aleo is a new Layer-1 blockchain that achieves the programmability of Ethereum, the privacy of Zcash, and the scalability of a rollup.

Interested in building private applications? Check out Aleo’s programming language called Leo by visiting http://developer.aleo.org.

You can also participate in 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 newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
Catch us on Youtube
Head to the ZK Community Forum
Support our Gitcoin Grant

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ZK in 2023 with Kobi, Guillermo, and Tarun

Wed, 18 Jan 2023 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna and guest co-hosts Guillermo, Tarun and Kobi share their thoughts about the state of Zero Knowledge tech today and what it might look like going in 2023. The group discusses some exciting ZK experiments and some of the emerging topics such as: ZK ID, ZK Bridges, ZK DeFi, and more.

Here are some additional links for this episode:

Apply for zkSummit9 here: zkSummit9 Ticket Application.

Ever wish you could use existing rust libraries in ZK? This is a friendly reminder from the team at RISC Zero that you can!

To learn more, check out the Risc Zero video tutorials from the last ZK Hack at www.youtube.com/@risczero.

Follow RISC Zero on Twitter @risczero to make sure you don’t miss their upcoming 1.0 launch and the alpha launch of the Bonsai Network.

Anoma’s first fractal instance, Namada, is launching soon!

Namada is a proof-of-stake L1 for interchain asset-agnostic privacy. Namada natively interoperates with fast-finality chains via IBC and with Ethereum via a trustless two-way bridge.

Visit namada.net for more information and join the community on Discord discord.gg/namada

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
Catch us on Youtube
Head to the ZK Community Forum
Support our Gitcoin Grant

Read transcript

Bonus: Apply to zkSummit 9

Thu, 12 Jan 2023 14:00:00 +0100

Apply for the zkSummit 9 ->> https://9lcje6jbgv1.typeform.com/to/FCoktPh9

Happening in Lisbon on April 4th

Keep an eye on our twitter and telegram channel for more info!

2022 End of Year Wrap with Co-Hosts

Wed, 21 Dec 2022 15:00:00 +0100

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:

For 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 newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Catch us on Youtube
Support our Gitcoin Grant

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Ultrasound Money & VRFs with Justin Drake

Wed, 14 Dec 2022 15:00:00 +0100

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:

RISC 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.

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 newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
Catch us on Youtube
Head to the ZK Community Forum
Support our Gitcoin Grant

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Proof of Solvency with Kostas Chalkias

Wed, 07 Dec 2022 15:00:00 +0100

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:

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 newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
Catch us on Youtube
Head to the ZK Community Forum
Support our Gitcoin Grant

Read transcript

New ZK Use Cases with Dan Boneh

Wed, 30 Nov 2022 15:00:00 +0100

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:

Today’s episode is sponsored by Mina Protocol

The 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 newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
Catch us on Youtube
Head to the ZK Community Forum
Support our Gitcoin Grant

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Verifying Consensus On-Chain with Succinct

Wed, 23 Nov 2022 15:00:00 +0100

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:

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 newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
Catch us on Youtube
Head to the ZK Community Forum
Support our Gitcoin Grant

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Matt Green on bringing ZK into the wild and the compliance debate

Wed, 16 Nov 2022 15:00:00 +0100

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:

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 newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
Catch us on Youtube
Head to the ZK Community Forum
Support our Gitcoin Grant

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A look into Namada and Anoma with Awa Sun Yin

Wed, 09 Nov 2022 15:00:00 +0100

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:

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 newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
Catch us on Youtube
Head to the ZK Community Forum
Support our Gitcoin Grant

Read transcript

From Wireless to Blockchains with Pramod Viswanath

Wed, 02 Nov 2022 15:00:00 +0100

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:

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 newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
Catch us on Youtube
Head to the ZK Community Forum
Support our Gitcoin Grant

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Exploring RISC Zero with Brian Retford and Jeremy Bruestle

Wed, 26 Oct 2022 15:00:00 +0100

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:

Check out the ZK Whiteboard Sessions here. Produced by ZK Hack and powered by Polygon.

Join the ZK Hack Discord
ZK 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 newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
Catch us on Youtube
Head to the ZK Community Forum
Support our Gitcoin Grant

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What’s the Deal with Hash Functions?

Wed, 19 Oct 2022 15:00:00 +0100

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:

Find 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 newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
Catch us on Youtube
Head to the ZK Community Forum
Support our Gitcoin Grant

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Impact of Tornado Cash: a Builders Perspective

Wed, 12 Oct 2022 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna and Martin Köppelmann, Co-Founder of Gnosis discuss the OFAC sanctions against Tornado Cash and the impact this has had on builders in the community. They specifically focus on how the Tornado action helped reveal centralizing forces in Ethereum as well as the need for decentralization.

Here are some additional links for this episode:

Find the Anoma Whitepaper here

ZK Jobs Board – has a fresh batch of open roles from ZK-focused projects. Find your next opportunity working in ZK!

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 newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
Catch us on Youtube
Head to the ZK Community Forum
Support our Gitcoin Grant

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Revisiting FHE with Rand Hindi from Zama

Wed, 05 Oct 2022 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna revisits the topic of FHE with Rand Hindi, CEO at Zama. FHE stands for Fully Homomorphic Encryption, a cryptosystem that allows for computation to occur on encrypted inputs.

They discuss the FHE landscape, what specific use cases it is ideal for, where the technology is at and how FHE differs from MPC and ZK. They also explore some of the nuances of the different types of approaches to FHE to achieve this cryptographic environment where one can do computation in a truly private manner.

Here are some additional links for this episode:

ZK Jobs Board – has a fresh batch of open roles from ZK-focused projects. Find your next opportunity working in ZK!

Check out the Sub0 Event from the Web3 Foundation to explore the latest in Polkadot Network and the Substrate blockchain framework.

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 newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
Catch us on Youtube
Head to the ZK Community Forum
Support our Gitcoin Grant

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Exploring Penumbra with Henry de Valence

Wed, 28 Sep 2022 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna and Guillermo catch up with Henry de Valence from Penumbra. They discuss his thoughts on requirements for adoption of privacy systems and how these led to him to develop Penumbra. They explore how Penumbra aims to use privacy features not as ‘nice to haves' within the system, but rather as essential components that offer a new paradigm for how to think about DeFi in a Multichain Ecosystem.

Here are some additional links for this episode:

Find the Anoma Whitepaper here.

ZK Jobs Board – has a fresh batch of open roles from ZK-focused projects. Find your next opportunity working in ZK!

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 newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
Catch us on Youtube
Head to the ZK Community Forum
Support our Gitcoin Grant

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Adversarial Machine Learning Research with Florian Tramèr

Wed, 21 Sep 2022 15:00:00 +0100

This week, Anna and Tarun chat with Florian Tramèr, Assistant Professor at ETH Zurich. They discuss his earlier work on side channel attacks on privacy blockchains, as well as his academic focus on Machine Learning (ML) and adversarial research. They define some key ML terms, tease out some of the nuances of ML training and models, chat zkML and other privacy environments where ML can be trained, and look at why the security around ML will be important as these models become increasingly used in production.

Here are some additional links for this episode:

ZK Whiteboard Sessions – as part of ZK Hack and powered by Polygon – a new series of educational videos that will help you get onboarded into the concepts and terms that we talk about on the ZK front.

ZK Jobs Board – has a fresh batch of open roles from ZK-focused projects. Find your next opportunity working in ZK!

Today’s episode is sponsored by Mina Protocol.

With Mina’s zero knowledge smart contracts – or zkApps – developers can create apps that offer privacy, security, and verifiability for your users.

Head to minaprotocol.com/zkpodcast to learn about their developer bootcamps and open grants.

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
Catch us on Youtube
Head to the ZK Community Forum
Support our Gitcoin Grant

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Sanctions against Tornado Cash: a Legal Perspective

Wed, 14 Sep 2022 15:00:00 +0100

In this episode, Anna explores the topic of the recent OFAC sanctions against Tornado Cash with 2 interviews: One is with TuongVy Le, Head of Regulatory and Policy at Bain Capital Crypto, who previously worked at the SEC and the other is with Michael Mosier, General Council at Espresso Systems, who used to work at the Treasury, within FinCen and at OFAC itself.

For some context: On August 8th 2022, OFAC, a US government department issued sanctions against Tornado Cash, a privacy protocol that uses zero knowledge proofs to provide on-chain privacy. It was the first time that OFAC had sanctioned a set of smart contracts and a decentralized entity for which there's no clear ownership. This is an event which has had a ripple effect throughout the zk ecosystem and will be the topic explored in a series with different members of the community.

In these two initial interviews, Anna explores what actually happened legally, what a sanction is, what kind of a tool is this, why it may have been issued and what problem arose from the way it was issued and how this might impact future understanding of zero knowledge tech through a legal lens.

_NOTE: Since our recording OFAC has released an FAQ to clarify some of the legal questions raised in our interviews: https://home.treasury.gov/taxonomy/term/1546 _

Here are some additional links for this episode:

ZK Jobs Board has a fresh batch of open roles from ZK-focused projects. Find your next opportunity working in ZK!

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 coming soon! If you’d like to learn more about Polygon zkEVM and stay updated on the latest - fill out the form here.

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
Catch us on Youtube
Head to the ZK Community Forum
Support our Gitcoin Grant

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Journey to Blockchain with David Tse

Wed, 07 Sep 2022 15:00:00 +0100

In this episode, Anna and Guillermo chat with David Tse about his career and research spanning from early Networking, Mobile Networking, P2P, all the way up to his work on formalizing Blockchain systems.

Along the way, they touch on topics like 'The Price of Anarchy', David’s Prism work, his work with the Ethereum Foundation and his new project Babylon.

Here are some links for this episode:

ZK Jobs Board – if you are looking to find a new job, or if you are a team hiring, we have a fresh batch of open roles at ZK focused projects. This is a great place to learn about relevant projects and the types of roles they are looking for.

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. Leo enables non-cryptographers to harness the power of ZKPs. 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.

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
Catch us on Youtube
Head to the ZK Community Forum
Support our Gitcoin Grant

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Dive Back into MEV with Alex Stokes and Chris Hager

Wed, 31 Aug 2022 15:00:00 +0100

In this week's episode, Anna and Tarun revisit the topic of MEV with Chris Hager from Flashbots & Alex Stokes from the Ethereum Foundation. In this episode, they tease out more of the nuances around MEV and how the field around it has evolved in the last year or so. The team explores what the MEV space could look like after the Merge, the PBS (Proposer Builder Separation) concept, what each role in the MEV landscape will do and the MEV-Boost architecture. They also chat about using cryptographic solutions to prevent some kinds of MEV and some recent work that Tarun released on the topic of MEV, as well as future ideas around MEV aim to democratize or even share the searchers rewards.

Here are some links for this episode:

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 coming soon! If you’d like to learn more about Polygon zkEVM and stay updated on the latest - fill out the form here.

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
Catch us on Youtube
Head to the ZK Community Forum
Support our Gitcoin Grant

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Halo 2 with Daira Hopwood and Str4d

Wed, 24 Aug 2022 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna explores Halo 2 with Daira Hopwood and Str4d, cryptographic engineers at Electric Coin Company. They explored what new ideas Halo introduced and how Halo 2 built on these ideas, adding optimisations such as adding Plonk-ish arithmetization to take what was a breakthrough to a production ready proving system.

This episode was recorded at Zcon3 in Vegas.

Here are some links for this episode:

Check out ZK Whiteboard Sessions, produced by ZK Hack & powered by Polygon, a weekly educational series of interviews with ZK experts on the most important concepts and building blocks in ZK.

If you are looking to jump into ZK professionally, check out the ZK Jobs Board to find job posts from some of the top teams working in ZK – like Aleo, Anoma and Mina. If you’re looking to hire, be sure to add your jobs as well! More at ZK Jobs Board.

Today’s episode is sponsored by Manta Network.

Manta is the privacy hub for web3. By leveraging zero-knowledge proofs, Manta brings on-chain privacy to any crypto asset.

Manta is looking for engineers passionate about cryptography and bringing convenient privacy protection to all of web3. Visit [https://careers.manta.network]([https://careers.manta.network) to apply.

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
Catch us on Youtube
Head to the ZK Community Forum
Support our Gitcoin Grant

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Deconstructing Bridges with Vaibhav Chellani

Wed, 17 Aug 2022 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna chats with Vaibhav Chellani, a bridge builder and the co-founder of Socket. They explore what makes up the components of a bridge, the types of bridges, and then look at their framework for analysing the security trade-offs of different bridge architectures. This is an important topic, since at present, there are more and more bridges coming online to connect all the different chains together. And with these come a number of new bugs, hacks and exploits. This episode gives us an overview on how to think about bridges.

Here are some links for this episode:

Check out ZK Whiteboard Sessions, produced by ZK Hack & powered by Polygon, a weekly educational series of interviews with ZK experts on the most important concepts and building blocks in ZK.

Also, zkSummit is happening in Berlin on September 15th! Apply to attend here.

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
Catch us on Youtube
Head to the ZK Community Forum
Support our Gitcoin Grant

Read transcript

Composable Privacy with Manta Network

Wed, 10 Aug 2022 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna and Kobi chat with Shumo Chu, co-founder of Manta Network. They discuss the origin story of the project and how they aim to bring privacy to web3. They explore the unique accessibility that Polkadot parachains enable, the work they do on building ZK tooling and libraries for the general ZK community. They then take a look at their plans for a multi-asset shielded pool and the future they have planned for Manta projects and more.

Here are some links for this episode:

Check out ZK Whiteboard Sessions, produced by ZK Hack & powered by Polygon, a weekly educational series of interviews with ZK experts on the most important concepts and building blocks in ZK.

Today’s episode is sponsored by Anoma.

Anoma is a suite 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 to learn more!

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
Catch us on Youtube
Head to the ZK Community Forum
Support our Gitcoin Grant

Read transcript

IST and Designing Stablecoins in Cosmos

Wed, 03 Aug 2022 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna catches up with Zaki Manian from Sommelier and Dean Tribble from Agoric. They check-in with the latest project news, recap about the UST collapse, and look into IST - Inter Stable Token - a project by the Agoric team that aims to become the Cosmos native multi collateral stablecoin.

Here are some links for this episode:

We're excited to announce ZK Whiteboard Sessions – a weekly educational video series focused on the building blocks of ZK. Produced by ZK Hack and powered by Polygon.

zkSummit 8 is happening in Berlin on Sept 15th during Berlin Blockchain Week!

Apply to attend: https://www.zksummit.com/

Today’s episode is sponsored by Aleo.

Aleo is a new Layer-1 blockchain – if you’re building private applications then check out Aleo’s programming language called Leo which enables non-cryptographers to harness the power of ZKPs. Visit leo-lang.org to start building.

You can also participate in Aleo’s incentivized testnet 3 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 newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
Catch us on Youtube
Head to the ZK Community Forum
Support our Gitcoin Grant

Read transcript

Bonus: Apply to zkSummit 8

Fri, 29 Jul 2022 02:00:00 +0100

No full episode this week. Just a quick message to let you know about the upcoming zkSummit 8 - happening in Berlin Sept 15 2022.

Apply here:
https://www.zksummit.com/

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Head to the ZK Community Forum
Support our Gitcoin Grant

Aurora and Near with Alex and Illia

Wed, 13 Jul 2022 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna talks with Illia from Near and Alex from Aurora about the work they did that lead them to the Near ecosystem and what the connection is between the Aurora project and Near. They also cover what’s new at Near since the last time Illia and Anna spoke, Aurora+, the Rainbow Bridge, and future plans with Near’s sharding system.

Here are some links for this episode:

Check out the Zero Knowledge Podcast Linktree to stay up-to-date on all the ZK-focused channels and events in our ecosystem.

Today’s episode is sponsored by Anoma

Anoma is a suite of protocols that enable self-sovereign coordination. Their unique architecture facilitates the simplest forms of economic coordination such as two parties transferring an asset to each other. As well as more sophisticated ones like an asset agnostic bartering system involving multiple parties without direct “coincidence of wants."

Anoma 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 to learn more!

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
Head to the ZK Community Forum
Support our Gitcoin Grant

Read transcript

Exploring ZK Research with Jens Groth

Wed, 06 Jul 2022 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna and Kobi chat with guest Jens Groth, Director of Research at DFINITY and previously a professor in the Department of Computer Science at UCL. Jens Groth is a leading ZK researcher and is behind a number of advances in the field of ZK in the last few years such as the popular proving system Groth16. The conversation covers his earlier career, the cryptographic problems he tackled in his research, how he solved these, the results of this work as well as his move from research into industry and what he works on today.

Here are some links for this episode:

Check out the Zero Knowledge Podcast linktree to stay up-to-date on all the ZK-focused channels and events in our ecosystem

Today’s episode is sponsored by Anoma

Anoma is a suite of protocols that enable self-sovereign coordination. Their unique architecture facilitates efficiently the simplest forms of economic coordination such as two parties transferring an asset to each other. As well as more sophisticated ones like an asset agnostic bartering system involving multiple parties without direct “coincidence of wants”; or even more complex ones such as “N-party” collective commitments to solve multipolar traps – where any interaction can be performed with adjustable zero-knowledge privacy.

Visit Anoma to learn more!

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter
Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm
Join us on Telegram
Catch us on Youtube
Head to the ZK Community Forum
Support our Gitcoin Grant

Read transcript

Aztec Connect and Private DeFi with Charlie and Joe

Wed, 29 Jun 2022 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna checks in with Aztec, a ZK-based privacy L2 project. She speaks with Joe Andrews and Lead Engineer, Charles Julian. They discuss some of the team’s most important ZK research and implementations such as Plonk and how bringing privacy to Ethereum could truly change the way we do DeFi. They also discuss Aztec Connect and how it relates to zk.money, the Aztec roadmap with future projects like DSL Noir and Aztec 3, as well as a quick postmortem on the halted Aztec Connect launch.

Here are some links for this episode:

If you are looking to jump into ZK professionally, check out the ZK Jobs board to find job posts from some of the top teams working in ZK – like Aleo, Anoma and Mina. If you’re looking to hire, be sure to add your jobs as well! More at ZK Jobs Board.

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 building private applications - then check out Aleo’s programming language called Leo which enables non-cryptographers to harness the power of ZKPs. Visit leo-lang.org to start building.

You can also participate in 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](aleo.org/discord)

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here!

Subscribe to our podcast newsletter

Join us on Telegram

Catch us on Youtube

Head to the ZK Community Forum

Support our Gitcoin Grant

Read transcript

Mathematical Journeys & Sake with Guillermo Angeris

Wed, 22 Jun 2022 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, we throwback to a sake-fueled conversation between Anna and returning guest Guillermo Angeris, recorded in April during DevConnect in Amsterdam. They cover Guillermo’s personal journey into math, math history in general, how to bring more people into the space and the potential opportunities and downsides of bringing some kinds of math mainstream. It is a bit of different one, but hope you enjoy!

Here are some links for this episode:

The ZK Podcast team is growing! We're looking to hire an additional content producer to join us. There's a job posting for this content producer over on the ZK jobs board.

Learn more and apply here.

Today’s episode is sponsored by Anoma

Visit Anoma to learn more!

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree

Subscribe to our podcast newsletter

Join us on Telegram

Catch us on Youtube

Head to the ZK Community Forum

Support our Gitcoin Grant

Read transcript

zkEVM with Scroll’s Ye Zhang and Haichen Shen

Wed, 15 Jun 2022 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna and Tarun chat with Ye Zhang and Haichen Shen, the founders of Scroll - a native zkEVM Layer 2 Solution for Ethereum. They cover the founding of Scroll, the problems they aim to solve with their native zkEVM layer 2 solution, why scaling Ethereum is important, the philosophy of their zkEVM, and how this differs from other proposals as well as potential use cases or products that could benefit from the system. They wrap up with an exploration of how DApps and products on top of such as zkEVM may interact with the mainchain and with other applications.

Here are some links for this episode:

The ZK Podcast team is growing! We're looking to hire an additional content producer to join us. There's a job posting for this role over on the ZK Jobs Board. Learn more and apply here.

Today’s episode is sponsored by Anoma

Visit Anoma to learn more!

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree

Subscribe to our podcast newsletter

Join us on Telegram

Catch us on Youtube

Head to the ZK Community Forum

Support our Gitcoin Grant

Read transcript

Through the Wormhole with Jump Crypto

Wed, 08 Jun 2022 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna chats with Rahul Magani, the Applied ZK Lead at Jump Crypto, and Hendrik Hofstadt, Project Lead at (Wormhole Crypto)[https://twitter.com/wormholecrypto]. They look at how Wormhole first came to be, the challenges of interoperability, the design decisions they made in balancing security, speed and functionality, the risks facing these types of solutions, including the famous Wormhole hack, what the future holds and how they aim to explore using zk in bridging.

Here are some links for this episode:

The ZK Tech side round on Gitcoin starts today and runs until June 23rd.

During this CLR matching round funds that are donated to the ZK tech side round are matched from our 100K matching pool. This initiative is led by 0xPARC and zkValidator, as well as our fantastic matching partners from the ecosystem.

Visit gitcoin.co to get your grant in and choose the tag ZK tech to be eligible to our matching pool.

Today’s episode is sponsored by Anoma

Visit Anoma to learn more.

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree

Subscribe to our podcast newsletter

Join us on Telegram

Catch us on Youtube

Head to the ZK Community Forum

Support our Gitcoin Grant

Read transcript

Cutting Edge ZK Research with Mary Maller

Wed, 01 Jun 2022 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna and co-host Kobi Gurkan chat with Mary Maller, a ZK Researcher at the Ethereum Foundation. They cover Mary’s journey into cryptography, her work on trusted setups, universal SNARKs and Plookup tables. They also discuss the work she and Kobi did on aggregatable DKGs, what working on research at the EF is like and more.

Here are some links for this episode:

Check out the @ZeroKnowledge Linktree to find our community links and stay in the loop on upcoming events & more!

If you're building something ZK and could benefit from some early funding – ZKValidator and 0xPARC bring you another ZK Tech Side Round on Gitcoin - GR14. This round has at least $100K in matching pool. The round starts on June 8th and runs for two weeks.

Matching is based on your quadratic voting score (lots of small donations are better than a few big ones). Be sure to choose the tag #zktech to be eligible!

Today's episode is sponsored by Penumbra.

Penumbra is a cross-chain shielded pool and decentralized exchange, allowing users to shield assets from any IBC connected chain and privately transact stake, swap and market make without revealing their personal information or trading strategies to the world.

Visit penumbra.zone to learn more, use the Testnet, and join their discord.

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree

Subscribe to our podcast newsletter

Join us on Telegram

Catch us on Youtube

Head to the ZK Community Forum

Support our Gitcoin Grant

Read transcript

Argent’s Smart Contract Wallet Design with Julien Niset

Wed, 25 May 2022 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna chats with Julien Niset, co-founder of Argent, about crypto wallets. They explore the history of wallet landscape, the interfaces we use for the decentralized web, the importance of account abstraction, smart contract wallets and Argent’s bet on ZK rollups.

Here are some links for this episode:

Today’s episode is sponsored by Polygon Hermez.

The Polygon Hermez zk-rollup is a layer 2 built on top of Ethereum that solves its scalability through mass transfer processing rolled into a single transaction. Zero-knowledge proofs are used to present and publicly record the validity and correctness of the rolled transfers processed on the Ethereum blockchain.

Visit polygon.technology to learn more about Polygon Hermez and other Polygon solutions.

If you like what we do:

Find all our links here!

Subscribe to our podcast newsletter

Join us on Telegram

Catch us on Youtube

Head to the ZK Community Forum

Support our Gitcoin Grant

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Designing Optimistic Interoperability with Nomad

Wed, 18 May 2022 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna catches up with Anna Caroll and James Prestwich from Nomad. Together they explore the Nomad optimistic interoperability solution, how it first was developed, what lessons it takes from previous attempts at interoperability and cross-chain bridging, how the system works and more.

Here are some links for this episode:

If you are looking to jump into ZK professionally, check out the ZK Jobs Board.

ZKValidator is looking for a Junior Researcher who is interested in exploring and writing about emerging fields of cryptography like ZKPs, Proof-of-Stake, Bridges, Rollups, MEV, and other cutting edge meta blockchain topics. Check out the ad here.

Today’s episode is sponsored by Polygon Hermez.

The Polygon Hermez zk-rollup is a layer 2 built on top of Ethereum that solves scalability issues through mass transfer processing rolled into a single transaction. ZKPs are used to present and publicly record the validity and correctness of the rolled transfers processed on the Ethereum blockchain. By storing just the proof and the compressed data of a batch of transfers, the efficiency and the throughput of the network is multiplied.

Visit polygon.technology to learn more about Polygon Hermez and other Polygon solutions.

If you like what we do:

Subscribe to our podcast newsletter

Join us on Telegram

Catch us on Youtube

Head to the ZK Community Forum

Support our Gitcoin Grant

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Going Cross-Chain with Polkadot’s XCM

Wed, 11 May 2022 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna dives back into the Polkadot world with friend and occasional co-host Rob Habermeier from Parity. They cover XCM - the Cross-Consensus Messaging format - and how XCM allows parachains to speak to one another, passing messages through the validators on the relay chain via XCMP Cross-Chain Message Passing.

Here are some links for this episode:

If you are looking to jump into ZK professionally, check out the ZK Jobs Board to find openings from some of the top teams working in ZK - like Aleo, Anoma and Mina. If you’re looking to hire, be sure to add your jobs as well! More at ZK Jobs Board

ZKValidator is looking for a Junior Researcher who is interested in exploring and writing about Zero Knowledge and other emerging fields of cryptography, Proof-of-Stake, Bridges, Rollups, MEV, and other cutting edge meta blockchain topics. If this sounds like you, check out the add here and get in touch!

Today’s episode is sponsored by Polygon Miden.

Polygon Miden is layer 2 scaling solution for Ethereum. Miden relies on ZK-STARKs to roll-up thousands of layer 2 transactions into a single Ethereum transaction, increasing throughput and reducing fees.

At the heart of Polygon Miden is Miden VM, a Turing-complete STARK-based virtual machine which provides a level of safety and support of advanced features currently not available on Ethereum.

Visit polygon.technology to learn more about Polygon Miden and other Polygon solutions.

If you like what we do:

Subscribe to our podcast newsletter

Join us on Telegram

Catch us on Youtube

Head to the ZK Community Forum

Support our Gitcoin Grant

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Catch-up at DevConnect AMS with Tarun, Guillermo and Brendan

Wed, 04 May 2022 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna catches up with Tarun, Guillermo and Brendan at DevConnect Amsterdam to cover a range of interesting and random topics like how blockchain and AI thinking differs, where it could intersect and how ZK tech could be implemented, how science could benefit from more adversarial testing, why peer review is broken, math theory, takeaways from DevConnect and more!

Here are some links for this episode:

DevConnet AMS 2022
zkSummit 7 in Amsterdam
zkSummit 7 Talk Videos | YouTube Playlist
Einstein Notation | Wikipedia
Wordcels vs. Shape Rotators, Explained
Diplomacy game
P-Value Explained
Topology
What is measure theory?

ZK Validator is hiring!

https://jobsboard.zeroknowledge.fm/job/144/junior-blockchain-researcher/

Today’s episode is sponsored by Zcash Community Grants.

Zcash Community Grants is a grants program within the Zcash ecosystem that funds projects that advance the usability, security, privacy, and adoption of Zcash. Their primary areas of focus include wallets, core and security, interoperability, Zcash apps, ongoing services, education, ecosystem, and community. Previously awarded grants have ranged in size and scope - from a $3,000 grant to a $1.2M dollar grant.

To apply for a Zcash Community Grant and contribute towards the development of the Zcash protocol, visit the Zcash Grants Hub at zcashgrants.org.

If you like what we do:

Subscribe to our podcast newsletter

Join us on Telegram

Catch us on Youtube

Head to the ZK Community Forum

Support our Gitcoin Grant

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Move & Sui with Sam Blackshear from Mysten Labs

Wed, 27 Apr 2022 15:30:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna chats with Sam Blackshear, co-founder and CTO at Mysten Labs. Sam has a background in programming language research and is one of the authors of the Move language, a language that can be used to implement custom transactions and smart contracts. They chat about Mysten’s concept of programmable objects and what properties are necessary to make this functional for a blockchain context. They also cover Sui, a smart contracts platform which is a generalized L1 with a new asset centric data model for parallel transaction commits being developed by Mysten, what's next in the roadmap and some of the collaborations to come.

Here are some links for this episode:

Today’s episode is sponsored by Polygon Miden.

Polygon Miden is layer 2 scaling solution for Ethereum. Miden relies on zk-STARKs to roll-up thousands of layer 2 transactions into a single Ethereum transaction, increasing throughput and reducing fees.

At the heart of Polygon Miden is Miden VM, a Turing-complete STARK-based virtual machine which provides a level of safety and support of advanced features currently not available on Ethereum.

Visit polygon.technology to learn more about Polygon Miden and other Polygon solutions.

If you like what we do:

Subscribe to our podcast newsletter

Join us on Telegram

Catch us on Youtube

Head to the ZK Community Forum

Support our Gitcoin Grant

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Interoperability with Sergey Gorbunov from Axelar

Wed, 20 Apr 2022 15:00:00 +0100

This week, Anna catches up with Sergey Gorbunov from Axelar and revisits the topic of bridges. They chat about what led Sergey to work on interoperability, the problems these solutions try to solve, how it compares to existing solutions, and what's next for the project. They also chat about some of the challenges of a multi bridge landscape and the fragmentation of liquidity.

Links for the episode:

If you are looking to jump into ZK professionally, check out the ZK Jobs board to find job posts from some of the top teams working in ZK - like Aleo, Anoma and Mina. If you’re looking to hire, be sure to add your jobs as well! More at ZK Jobs Board.

Today’s episode is sponsored by Polygon Zero.

Polygon Zero is a layer 2 scaling solution for Ethereum, powered by Plonky2. A groundbreaking prover system, which generates zk proofs faster than any other existing tech. Plonky2 supports efficient recursive proof generation allowing Polygon Zero to scale horizontally – meaning the throughput of the protocol is limited not by the weakest nodes on the network, but only by the total compute available.

Visit polygon.technology to learn more.

If you like what we do:

Subscribe to our podcast newsletter

Join us on Telegram

Catch us on Youtube

Head to the ZK Community Forum

Support our Gitcoin Grant

Read transcript

Dark Forest and 0xPARC with Gubsheep

Wed, 13 Apr 2022 15:00:00 +0100

This week, Anna catches up with Gubsheep from 0xPARC. They chat about Dark Forest – a decentralized zk-based RTS game, built on Ethereum. They cover how it has evolved in the past 2 years and what’s upcoming in the Dark Forest’s community, governance and experiments. They recap the recent Gitcoin GR13 ZK Tech side round, review some moonshot ideas for ZK projects of the future and discuss potential avenues of funding in the ZK space. Lastly, they dive deeper into the 0xPARC ecosystem by exploring the public goods and research projects 0xPARC has in the works from their support of application level R&D on decentralized systems to experimental applications of ZK for end-user facing apps.

Here are some links for this episode:

Today’s episode is sponsored by Polygon.

Polygon is the go-to Ethereum scaling platform for developers - it is arguably the most adopted scaling protocol with more than 130+ mn unique user wallets. In simple terms, Polygon is scaling 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.

Visit polygon.technology to learn about their solutions.

If you like what we do:

Subscribe to our podcast newsletter

Join us on Telegram

Catch us on Youtube

Head to the ZK Community Forum

Support our Gitcoin Grant

Read transcript

Bonus: Jump into ZK

Thu, 07 Apr 2022 19:00:00 +0100

No full episode this week!

ZKV presents Privacy in Cosmos - April 15 - is here: https://www.events.zkvalidator.com/
Zk Summit - April 21 - is here: https://www.zksummit.com/

_Note: Both are sold out, if you can't make it, let us know and keep an eye on our Youtube Channel, we will be streaming both events there! _

And do check out our linktree to see all the links many of our ZK Channels https://linktr.ee/zeroknowledge

Foundry with Georgios Konstantopoulous

Wed, 30 Mar 2022 15:00:00 +0100

This week, Anna & Tarun catch up with Georgios Konstantopoulos from Paradigm - a well-known OG crypto VC. They chat about his move to CTO at the firm, the team he has built and what they are working on. Then they dive into Foundry - a fast, portable, modular testing toolkit for Ethereum app dev written in Rust. They discuss the tooling landscape, why Foundry is making a bet on solidity, the different types of testing that developers are doing and other open questions in the field.

Here are some links for the episode:

Some of Georgios' collaborators mentioned:

On April 15th in Amsterdam, ZKValidator is hosting ‘Privacy in Cosmos’ - the 4th installation in a series of events funded by the Cosmos Hub. Sign up: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/privacy-in-cosmos-live-in-amsterdam-tickets-290329462237

zkSummit is back! Happening on April 21st in Amsterdam. Check out the program and details here: https://www.zksummit.com/. We have a handful of sponsorships left! Get in touch to learn more: sponsorships@zeroknowledge.fm

Today’s episode is sponsored by Electric Coin Company.

Electric Coin Company, the inventors of Zcash, are building the next generation of zero-knowledge tech. With its Network Upgrade 5 happening this April, Zcash will move to the Halo zero-knowledge proving system, removing the trusted setup and becoming shielded by default. They believe privacy is essential to delivering on the promise of a thriving and equitable Web3. With Zcash and Halo cryptography, ECC aims to usher in an era of self-sovereignty, and economic and creative freedom.

Visit electriccoin.co to learn more.

If you like what we do:

Subscribe to our podcast newsletter

Join us on Telegram

Catch us on Youtube

Head to the ZK Community Forum

Support our Gitcoin Grant

Read transcript

Connecting Cosmos and Ethereum with Gravity Bridge

Wed, 23 Mar 2022 15:00:00 +0100

This week, Anna chats with Deborah Simpier and Justin Kilpatrick, co-founders of Althea and the team working on Gravity Bridge. They start with the history of the Althea project and how they aim to build an open marketplace for independent entities to create their own ISPs, providing bandwidth to users in under-connected areas. They then dive into the larger topic of bridges and the work being done on Gravity Bridge – a bridge that links Ethereum with IBC and the Cosmos ecosystem. They touch on the larger bridge landscape in Cosmos, the new initiatives and challenges that come with a multichain architecture, the opportunities and hazards of the current wave of stakedrop airdrops in Cosmos, Gravity's roadmap and more!

Here are some links for the episode:

If you're looking to jump into ZK professionally, the ZK Jobs Board is where some of the top teams working in zero knowledge are posting jobs. Teams like: Anoma, Polygon Hermez, O(1) Labs and Ethereum Foundation have openings.

Check it out: https://jobsboard.zeroknowledge.fm/

ZKValidator is hosting a Privacy in Cosmos event in Amsterdam on April 15th. Free to sign up here.

zkSummit is back on April 21 for a one-day in-person event in Amsterdam! Must apply here to attend. Spots are limited.

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 also features a new programming language called Leo that enables non-cryptographers to harness the power of ZKPs to build private applications. Roll up your sleeves and visit leo-lang.org to start building.

Aleo will also be participating in ZPrize – a competition accelerating the future of zero-knowledge cryptography. Visit zprize.io to learn more!

If you like what we do:

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

Something Brewing with Jill Gunter and Ben Fisch from Espresso Systems

Wed, 16 Mar 2022 15:00:00 +0100

This week, Anna and Tarun chat with Jill Gunter and Ben Fisch from Espresso Systems. Espresso recently went public with their Proof-of-Stake Layer 1 blockchain, developed with flexible private applications and ZK rollups in mind. In this conversation, they explore the founding and development of the project, the Espresso chain and CAPE - a wrapped privacy smart contract application that is designed to be deployed on Espresso. They also discuss the programming model, the evolution of privacy technology, what configurable or flexible privacy means, the Espresso roadmap and more.

Here are some links for the episode:

ZKValidator and 0xPARC bring you a ZK Tech Side Round GR13 on Gitcoin from now until March 24th. Donations made during this period are matched from matching pools so your donations go a lot further. Head over to Gitcoin today!

Also check out the ZK Podcast Gitcoin while you are there! https://gitcoin.co/grants/329/zero-knowledge-podcast

ZK Jobs Board is a great place to find job openings from some of the top zk teams! https://jobsboard.zeroknowledge.fm/

Today’s episode is sponsored by Anoma.

To learn more about Anoma visit their website at anoma.network. Anoma is also hiring visit heliax.dev/jobs to learn more about their openings.

If you like what we do:

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

Funding the Next Wave of Zero Knowledge Tech

Wed, 09 Mar 2022 15:00:00 +0100

This week Anna dives into the topic of funding in the ZK space. She chats with a number of different groups who are all funding zero knowledge technology from different angles. She kicks off the conversation with her colleague from ZKValidator Susannah Evans and Gubsheep from 0xPARC about the Gitcoin side round they are leading which is focused on funding the next wave of ZK tech projects. She then chats with Arjun Karlsy, VP of Growth at Polygon about their massive commitment of 1 billion into ZK through investments, acquisitions, and grants. Following this, she catches up with Alex Pruden, CEO at Aleo to talk about their soon to launch grant program – Zprize, an industry-wide effort to accelerate zero knowledge technology. And lastly, she speaks with Alistair Stewart from the Web3 Foundation about a newly announced ZK component of the Polkadot Pioneers Prize.

Here are some links for the episode:

ZKValidator and 0xPARC bring you another ZK Tech Side Round GR13 on Gitcoin.

This ZK Tech Side Round has a matching pool of $275K, up from $100K last time. The round starts on March 9th 2022 and runs for two weeks.

Submit your project: https://gitcoin.co/grants/

Add your grant to the “zkTech” side round to be eligible for the $275,000 in the matching pool.

Full details here: https://medium.com/zero-knowledge-validator/zk-tech-gitcoin-gr13-side-round-live-on-9th-march-7e90f44ae715

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 Penumbra.

Penumbra is a cross-chain shielded pool and decentralized exchange, allowing users to shield assets from any cosmos chain, and privately transact, stake, swap, and marketmake, without revealing your personal information or trading strategies to the world.

Penumbra Labs is also building in public, visit penumbra.zone to learn more, use the testnets and join their discord.

If you like what we do:

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

The Road to Plonky2 with Brendan and Daniel from Polygon Zero

Wed, 02 Mar 2022 15:00:00 +0100

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 Plonky2
Episode 194: zkEVM with Jordi & David from Hermez
Episode 210: The Road to STARKs and Miden with Bobbin Threadbare
Episode 219: Scaling Ethereum with Polygon’s Mihailo Bjelic
Episode 179: Diving into Arbitrum’s Optimistic Rollup
Episode 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:

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

Scaling Ethereum with Polygon’s Mihailo Bjelic

Wed, 23 Feb 2022 15:00:00 +0100

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:

If 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.

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/moonmathmanual

If you like what we do:

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

Hardened JS and the Architecture of Agoric with Dean Tribble

Wed, 16 Feb 2022 15:00:00 +0100

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:

If 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.

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.

If you like what we do:

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

Information Theory & Blockchain with Sreeram Kannan

Wed, 09 Feb 2022 15:00:00 +0100

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:

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.co

If you like what we do:

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

A Dip into the Mempool & MEV with Project Blanc

Wed, 02 Feb 2022 15:00:00 +0100

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:

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's openings on the ZK Jobs Board.

If you like what we do:

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

Charting Zodiac & DAOs with Nathan Ginnever and Auryn Macmillan

Wed, 26 Jan 2022 15:00:00 +0100

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:

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.

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

Emin Gün Sirer on Avalanche and its Formation

Wed, 19 Jan 2022 15:00:00 +0100

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!

Today’s episode is sponsored by Polygon.

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.

Read transcript

zk-SNARKs meets Optimistic Rollup with Zkopru

Wed, 12 Jan 2022 15:00:00 +0100

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:

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.

Read transcript

2021 < 2022 with Co-hosts & Friends

Wed, 05 Jan 2022 15:00:00 +0100

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

Bonus ZK Hack Wrap with Kobi!

Fri, 31 Dec 2021 20:00:00 +0100

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:

It’s a wrap! ZK Hack Takeaways & What’s Next!

Wed, 22 Dec 2021 15:00:00 +0100

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 Sennovskii
Joe 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:

Join the ZK Hack Discord to check out all of the resources the community has been sharing: https://discord.com/invite/tHXyEbEqVN

And 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.

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The Road to STARKs and Miden with Bobbin Threadbare

Wed, 15 Dec 2021 15:00:00 +0100

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:

Support ZK Podcast on Gitcoin - last couple days to get donations matched!

https://gitcoin.co/grants/329/zero-knowledge-podcast-2

ZK Tech Matching Round with Gitcoin

If 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.

Try out Aztec to send funds privately on zk.money.

If you like what we do:

Join us on Telegram

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Liquid Staking with Lido and Chorus One

Wed, 08 Dec 2021 15:00:00 +0100

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:

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

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.

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Digging into Data Availability with Ismail Khoffi from Celestia

Wed, 01 Dec 2021 15:00:00 +0100

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:

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 Here

Today’s episode is sponsored by Aztec.

And catch their ZK Hack workshop HERE

Try our Aztec to send funds privately on zk.money.

If you like what we do:

Join us on Telegram

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Journey Through the Cosmos Ecosystem with Billy Rennekamp

Wed, 24 Nov 2021 15:00:00 +0100

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:

Learn ->> ZK Hack - learn - now until December 7th, attend ZK workshops & solve ZK puzzles

Build ->> 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:

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Distilling DeFi Primitives with Guillermo, Alex and Tarun

Wed, 17 Nov 2021 15:00:00 +0100

This week, Anna catches up with Guillermo Angeris, Alex Evans and Tarun. The conversation charts their research on CFMMs, AMMs and related primitives and explores the goals and methodology of this work. They also revisit the topic of private AMMs and specifically their recent work on using differential privacy to achieve a more private system.

Here are some links for the episode:

Learn ->> ZK Hack - learn - now until December 7th, attend ZK workshops & solve ZK puzzles

Build ->> ZK Jobs Board - find new opportunities in the ZK space!

Meet ->> ZK Jobs Fair - December 2nd, meet top zk projects that are hiring.

Today’s episode is sponsored by Aztec.

Join the thousands of users already sending funds privately on zk.money.

If you like what we do:

Join us on Telegram

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Read up on the r/ZKPodcast subreddit

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Curating JPEGs with JPG

Wed, 10 Nov 2021 15:00:00 +0100

This week, Anna and Tarun chat with MP, Trent and Sam from JPG about this on-chain NFT curation protocol. They walk through what the JPG team wanted out of this decentralized curation protocol and how to bring in voices that aren't always heard in the traditional art world. They also explore the idea of rethinking the mechanism of curation, indexing and permissionless access in order to bring a crypto native approach to NFT art culture. Lastly, they look at JPG's focus on on-chain records can preserve longterm value of NFTs with an eye on how to bridge the various ecosystems in the future and brainstorm around the idea of ZK NFTs.

Here are some links for the episode:

Learn ->> ZK Hack - learn - now until December 7th, attend ZK workshops & solve ZK puzzles

Build ->> ZK Jobs Board - find new opportunities in the ZK space!

Meet ->> ZK Jobs Fair - December 2nd, meet top zk projects that are hiring.

Thank you to this week’s sponsor, Anoma. Anoma is a multivariate & multivariable bartering protocol that enables bartering among N-parties of arbitrary assets, including NFTs, all with zero-knowledge privacy. Check out Awa’s twitter thread to learn more about this project: .

Be sure to stay tuned for Anoma’s first public testnet, in which you’ll be able to play with Anoma’s Proof-of-Stake, intent gossip/matchmaking layer, and custom validity predicates.

Check Anoma’s codebase on GitHub and the team building Anoma is hiring. Find their jobs HERE

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Keeping Up with the Kusama Network

Wed, 03 Nov 2021 15:00:00 +0100

This week, Anna catches up on what has been happening in the Kusama network ecosystem with Will Pankiewicz, Raul Romanutti, and Bruno Skvorc. First up, Will, the Master of Validators at Parity, takes us through the fundamentals of Kusama, how it differs from Polkadot and some future predictions for the ecosystem and its parachains. Next, Raul, Community Manager and council member, breaks down how Kusama's governance and council functions. Last but not least, we learn about RMRK founded by Bruno, an NFT project on Kusama which started as a hack to support basic NFTs without smart contracts and grew into full-blown NFT ecosystem on Kusama.

Here are some links for this episode:

ZK Hack kicked off on October 26th and goes until December 7th — a multi-round online event with workshops and puzzle solving competitions. Put together by the Zero Knowledge Podcast and the ZKValidator and supported by all of our fantastic sponsors. Even if you missed the first session you can still join the next ones, head to the website to check out the schedule of workshops and puzzles: https://www.zkhack.dev/

Thank you to this week’s sponsor. Centrifuge - A Real-world DeFi project. Centrifuge puts real-world assets on the blockchain, allowing issuers to get liquidity on their assets and investors to make a safe, stable yield in the volatile crypto world.

They are hiring positions! Head to https://centrifuge.io/careers to learn more.

If you like what we do:

Subscribe to our podcast newsletter to not miss any event!

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Support us on the ZKPatreon

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MPC and DAGs with Aleph Zero’s Adam Gagol & Matthew Niemerg

Wed, 27 Oct 2021 15:00:00 +0100

This week, Anna speaks with Adam Gągol and Matthew Niemerg about Aleph Zero - an L1 project mixing ZKPs and MPCs with a DAG consensus algorithm. The aim of their project is to enable private smart contracts. In the conversation, they explore the underlying DAG structure and their privacy solutions that leverage zero-knowledge proofs (zk-SNARKs) and Secure Multiparty Computation (sMPC).

Here are some links for this episode:

ZK Hack kicked off on October 26th and goes until December 7th — a multi-round online event with workshops and puzzle solving competitions. Put together by the Zero Knowledge podcast and the ZKValidator and supported by all of our fantastic sponsors. Even if you missed the first session you can still join the next ones, head to the website to check out the schedule of workshops and puzzles: https://www.zkhack.dev/

Thank you to this week’s sponsor DeversiFi!

DeversiFi's mission is to make the opportunities of DeFi available to everyone and their platform enables this with an impressive user experience and simple to use interface. Built with some of the cutting edge StarkWare scaling tech you've heard about on the podcast, this is a great way to start using zk tech live today. Right now on the platform you can invest, trade and send tokens and manage your portfolio all without paying gas fees.

Find out more about how you can make to most of DeFi at https://www.deversifi.com/.

If you like what we do:

Subscribe to our podcast newsletter to not miss any event!

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Stateless Ethereum & Verkle Tries with Dankrad Feist

Wed, 20 Oct 2021 15:00:00 +0100

This week, Anna speaks with Dankrad Feist, a researcher at the Ethereum Foundation. They talk about the future of the ETH client infrastructure, the merge, the difference between merkle trees and verkle tries, and more. They also explore how concepts that originated in the ZK research space have made their way into the ETH client stack.

Here are some links for this episode:

Look out for ZK Hack kicking off October 26th — a multi-round online event with workshops and puzzle solving competitions. Put together by this podcast and the ZKValidator and supported by all of our fantastic sponsors. Think Hackathon meets CTF meets Dark Forest round based competition. There will be a leaderboard and prizes. And deep dive learning sessions with the best teams in the space. Signup & Join the discord!

Thank you to this week’s sponsor Aleo! Aleo a new public Layer-1 blockchain tailor-made for building private applications.

Check out the website, or roll up your sleeves and visit leo-lang.org to start building.

Aleo also invites the community to participate in an ongoing setup ceremony for trustlessly generating the system parameters at setup.aleo.org.

If you like what we do:

Subscribe to our podcast newsletter to not miss any event!

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DeFi’s Multichain Future with Zaki Manian from Sommelier

Wed, 13 Oct 2021 15:00:00 +0100

This week, Anna catches up with Zaki Manian and his new project Sommelier. They explore how Sommelier aims to develop strategies to better serve the more complex emerging DeFi projects like Uniswap V3, and how this would allow the average user to benefit from these new powerful tools. They also discuss Zaki’s vision for multichain DeFi and how the space has evolved over the last few years.

Here are a few links for this episode:

Be sure to stay tuned for Anoma’s first public testnet, in which you’ll be able to play with Anoma’s Proof-of-Stake, intent gossip/matchmaking layer, and custom validity predicates.

Check Anoma’s codebase on GitHub and the team building Anoma is hiring. Find their jobs on the ZK Jobs Board

*If you like what we do: *

Subscribe to our podcast newsletter to not miss any event!

Join us on Telegram

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Support our Gitcoin Grant

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SNARK Research & Pedagogy with Alessandro Chiesa

Wed, 06 Oct 2021 15:00:00 +0100

200th Episode of Zero Knowledge Podcast! This week, Anna chats with Alessandro Chiesa, a professor working on cryptography, complexity and security and one of the co-founders Zcash and StarkWare. Anna and Ale dig into some of the recent SNARK research coming out of his lab and discuss how to navigate the challenges of teaching in a space that changes quickly.

Here are some links for this episode:

Look out for ZK Hack kicking off October 26th — a multi-round online event with workshops and puzzle solving competitions. Sign up at: https://www.zkhack.dev/

If you're in Lisbon in October for Lisbon Blockchain Week then join us for the official ZK Hack Kick-off Party!

They are hiring positions! Head to https://centrifuge.io/careers to learn more.

If you like what we do:

Subscribe to our podcast newsletter to not miss any event!

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Support our Gitcoin Grant

Support us on the ZKPatreon

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Snapps on Mina with Emre and Izaak

Wed, 29 Sep 2021 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna chats with Emre Tekişalp and [Izaak Meckler](twitter.com/izmeckler) about what’s new with Mina, O(1) Labs, the network launch and of course the anticipated release of Snapps to testnet later this year. We learn all about how Snapps, these SNARK-powered applications, bring data privacy and scalability to blockchain.

Here are a few links for this episode:

Latest recursive SNARKitecture with Izaak Meckler from O(1)Labs Zero Knowledge Podcast, Episode 113
Digging into recursive zkSNARKs with Coda Zero Knowledge Podcast, Episode 54
zkSessions: Izaak Meckler on SnarkyJS
What are Snapps? on the Mina Protocol blog
The mina-vrf-rs tool from ZKV

Check out the ZK Hack website, signup today & join the discord!

Thank you to this week’s sponsor cLabs. They have recently released Optics, a first-of-its-kind cross-chain communication system. It uses optimistic(ish) replication of data structures to send messages, tokens, and data between chains and rollups.

Reach out to them via github discussions.

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Support us on the ZKPatreon

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NFT Creation, Curation and Governance with Luiz from FingerprintsDAO

Wed, 22 Sep 2021 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna and Tarun dive back into the NFT space with their guest Luiz from FingerprintsDAO. FingerprintsDAO is a collector organization for artists, curators and producers. Luiz takes us through new paradigms of NFT creation, its governance and the wild world of on-chain art where it’s the smart contract that is the art and wherein the value lies.

Here are some links mentioned this episode:

Be sure to register for the next ZK Jobs Fair on September 30th if you’re looking for opportunities in crypto.

For potential hiring teams, we still have booths available, so do get in touch by emailing sponsorships@zeroknowledge.fm.

Thank you to this week’s sponsor Aleo! Aleo a new public Layer-1 blockchain tailor-made for building private applications.

Check out the website, or roll up your sleeves and visit leo-lang.org to start building.

Aleo also invites the community to participate in an ongoing setup ceremony for trustlessly generating the system parameters at setup.aleo.org.

And be sure check out the generative NFTs that you get if you participate!

If you like what we do:

Subscribe to our announcement newsletter to not miss any event!

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WalletConnect & the DApp/Wallet connection with Pedro Gomes

Wed, 15 Sep 2021 15:00:00 +0100

This week, Anna chats with Pedro Gomes, Founder of WalletConnect, about how wallets and DApps traditionally interact and the journey to WalletConnect and WalletConnect 2.0. They explore how the tech incorporates the Waku protocol, as well as the role of CAIPs (Chain Agnostic Improvement Proposals) in determining how WalletConnect evolves. Pedro shares what prompted the new WalletConnect 2.0 development decisions and his thoughts on what role the project will play in a MultiChain future.

Here are a few links for this episode:

Be sure to register for the next (ZK Jobs Fair)[https://www.eventbrite.com/e/zk-jobs-fair-4-tickets-167586621095] on September 30th if you’re looking for opportunities in crypto.

For potential hiring teams, we still have booths available, so do get in touch by emailing (mailto:sponsorships@zeroknowledge.fm).

In the meantime, you can also check out the new website and the updated jobs board.

Be sure to stay tuned for Anoma’s first public testnet, in which you’ll be able to play with Anoma’s Proof-of-Stake, intent gossip/matchmaking layer, and custom validity predicates.

Check Anoma’s codebase on GitHub and the team building Anoma is hiring. Find their jobs HERE

If you like what we do:

Subscribe to our podcast newsletter to not miss any upcoming event!

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Support our Gitcoin Grant

Support us on the ZKPatreon

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Mixnets, Activism and Privacy with Nym’s Harry Halpin

Wed, 08 Sep 2021 15:00:00 +0100

This week, Anna chats with Harry Halpin, the CEO of the Nym project, about a variety of topics related to privacy, politics and the need to build censorship-resistant systems. Harry talks about his early involvement in cryptography and his changing perspectives on capitalism as a tool for good. He shares how Nym aims to protect blockchain transactions from network-based deanonymization attacks.

Here are a few links mentioned in this episode:

Mixnets and privacy technology with Claudia Diaz from Nym, Zero Knowledge Episode 125
Harry’s talk at the ZKV event on Cosmos privacy
Nym Whitepaper

The latest Gitcoin CLR matching round is live, so be sure to check out Zero Knowledge Podcast’s page and use it to make a powerful contribution to the show! Thank you for the previous support, which directly contributed to the launch of the new zeroknowledge.fm website and community.

Thank you to our sponsor, Mina Protocol!

Mina is a layer-one protocol working to connect crypto to the real world. This means developers can leverage private, verified, real world data from any website to build decentralized apps. Mina’s decentralized apps, called Snapps, also allow users to access on-chain services without sacrificing personal data privacy.

Now that Mina’s mainnet is live, the ecosystem is growing fast. Join the community and find out more by visiting minaprotocol.com!

If you like what we do:

Subscribe to our podcast newsletter to not miss any event!

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Sushi Beyond the Fork with Joseph Delong

Wed, 01 Sep 2021 15:00:00 +0100

This week, Anna and James chat with Joseph Delong, CTO of Sushi, who talks about everything that’s happened since the initial SushiSwap genesis and the gradual transition into a large organization capable of shipping multiple products: MISO, Kashi, BentoBox and the upcoming Trident.

Joseph then dives into a few of the recent events like the MISO vulnerability, the scrapped VC raise, the Optimism deployment and the relationship with Paradigm.

Here are a few links for this episode:

A Tale of Sushi(Swap) with Tarun, Hasu and Anna – Part1, Zero Knowledge Episode 148
A Tale of SushiSwap, Part 2 on Uncommon Core
Sushiswap Bonus Chat
The Evolution of ETH 2.0 with Teku’s Ben Edgington, Zero Knowledge Episode 187

Be sure to register for the next ZK Jobs Fair on September 30 if you’re looking for opportunities in crypto. It’s a great way to hang out in a casual virtual setting, gather.town (which is surprisingly good for conversations!). For potential hiring teams, we still have booths available, so do get in touch by emailing sponsorships@zeroknowledge.fm

You can also check out the new website in the meantime, and the updated jobs board here:

https://zeroknowledge.fm

Thanks to this week’s sponsor, Centrifuge, a real-world DeFi project.

Centrifuge puts real-world assets on the blockchain, allowing issuers to get liquidity on their assets and investors to make a safe, stable yield in the volatile crypto world.

Build on Substrate, Centrifuge also bridges the Ethereum and Polkadot worlds

They are currently hiring for a number of positions, including Senior Rust Engineer, Senior Fullstack Engineer, Security and DevOps engineer and General Counsel. Head to https://centrifuge.io/careers to learn more!

Thanks again Centrifuge!

If you like what we do:

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Or directly here:

ETH: 0xC0FFEE1B5083230a5154F55f253B6b6ae8F29B1a

BTC: 1cafekGa3podM4fBxPSQc6RCEXQNTK8Zz

ZEC: t1R2bujRF3Hzte9ALHpMJvY8t5kb9ut9SpQ

DOT: 14zPzb7ihiBeaUn9jdPW9cHKGBd9qtTuJE75hhW2CvzLh6rT

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zkEVM with Jordi & David from Hermez

Wed, 25 Aug 2021 15:00:00 +0100

This week, Anna chats with Jordi Baylina and David Schwartz from Hermez about their zkEVM design that was first revealed at EthCC. Jordi and David explain the design choices such as why they push for recreating the EVM, how it’s done at a technical level and how Hermez’s approach is different from other zk teams like Matter Labs and StarkWare.

The original recording was done before the news of the merger with Polygon came out, so the trio came back together for a brief chat about what it means and how the zk space evolved in the past three years!

Here are a few links for this episode:

Circom & Hermez with Jordi Baylina, Zero Knowledge Episode 145
Jordi’s presentation of the zkEVM at EthCC
zkEVM & zkPorter with Matter Labs, Zero Knowledge Episode 175
The Polygon and Hermez merger announcement

If you’re inspired to work in ZK and contribute to the growth of the community, make sure to check out the updated zeroknowledge.fm website, now including its own community forum and a more advanced Jobs Board to find opportunities in this exciting field!

This episode is brought to you by Mina, the world’s lightest blockchain – powered by participants. Mina is a layer-one protocol working to connect crypto to the real world. This means developers can leverage private, verified, real world data from any website to build decentralized apps. Mina’s decentralized apps, called Snapps, also allow users to access on-chain services without sacrificing personal data privacy.

Mina replaces the traditional blockchain with a zero-knowledge proof, ensuring a super-light chain that stays around 22 kb and allows every participant to act as a full node.

Now that Mina’s mainnet is live, the ecosystem is growing fast. Join the community and find out more by visiting minaprotocol.com

If you like what we do:

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Or directly here:

ETH: 0xC0FFEE1B5083230a5154F55f253B6b6ae8F29B1a

BTC: 1cafekGa3podM4fBxPSQc6RCEXQNTK8Zz

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Zero Knowledge Podcast (finally) has a real website!

Wed, 18 Aug 2021 15:00:00 +0100

No full episode this week, but we just wanted to let you know about the brand new zeroknowledge.fm website!

Finally, we have a site that brings together all the different parts of the ZK Community: podcast episodes, upcoming and past events, blog, social channels and more.

We also have a new updated ZK Jobs Board featuring zk focused job opportunities, as well as a new ZK Community Forum where we can share new research!

Zeroknowledge.fm is now the spot to find out whats up in zk. In the coming months, we will also be adding additional sections to this website (Both a learning center & some ZK Math Merch is in the works!), but our first step was bringing together what we already had.

Have a look around. And let us know what you think about the site on Twitter or Telegram

If you are listening to this on a podcast app, you can find the website here: https://www.zeroknowledge.fm/

The Early Days of Cosmos, Chorus One & Epicenter with Brian Crain

Wed, 11 Aug 2021 15:00:00 +0100

This week, Anna chats with Brian Fabian Crain, a fellow podcaster from Epicenter, founder of Chorus One and an early member of the Berlin crypto community. The conversation starts from Brian’s early involvement in Bitcoin in 2013 and his role in the local Berlin community, leading him to launch the Epicenter podcast. Brian then tells his story of founding Chorus One, a validator whose history is tightly connected to that of Cosmos as a whole, finally moving into the present day of bridges, liquid staking and the future of Proof of Stake blockchains.

Here are some links for this episode:

Gnosis & Full Node with Friederike Ernst, Zero Knowledge Episode 94
Analyzing Osmosis & Preventing MEV with Sunny and Dev, Zero Knowledge Episode 188
Look into Solana, Zero Knowledge Episode 135
Staking derivatives & DeFi with Alex Evans (and Tarun!), Zero Knowledge Episode 140
Announcement about Chorus One and ZKV Partnership

Keep an eye on the Zero Knowledge Podcast website, something pretty cool is coming soon! In the meantime, if you’re looking for a job in crypto look no further than the ZK Jobs Board.

Thank you to this week’s sponsor, EY!

Smart contracts with robust privacy technologies are the future of both business and finance. At EY, they are investing in tools, like our smart contract review service to assess consistency with standards and best practices. Users can run pre-defined automated tests and simulate smart contract execution by configuring selected functions through a user interface. To find out more about our technologies and services, visit them at https://blockchain.ey.com

If you like what we do:

Subscribe to our podcast newsletter to not miss any event!

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

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The Evolution of Yearn with Tracheopteryx and Facu

Wed, 04 Aug 2021 15:00:00 +0100

This week, Anna and Tarun host Tracheopteryx and Facu, two core devs at Yearn.finance, to take an introductory dive into the past and present of Yearn.

Starting from Yearn’s spontaneous assembly in the Summer of DeFi (2020), Trach & Facu tell their personal stories of how they joined the project and where it got to since. The conversation then moves into the yDAO and its current “Constrained Delegation” model, the "nebulous" concept of Yearn products, the mergers, Andre Cronje’s role in the project and much more.

Here are some links for the episode:

A Tale of Sushi(Swap) with Tarun, Hasu and Anna, Zero Knowledge Episode 148
Flashbots with Phil Daian and Stephane Gosselin, Zero Knowledge Episode 168
Coordinape launch post
Ape Tax website
More on Woofy

If you like the podcast, you may also like the ZK Podcast community on Telegram! Make sure to join the group if you have any questions on ZK tech, or you just want to hang out with like-minded people. As a bonus, you won’t miss any updates from the podcast or our other initiatives. Here’s the link: https://t.me/joinchat/TORo7aknkYNLHmCM

Thank you to this week’s sponsor, Mina Protocol!

Mina is a layer-one protocol, creating a private gateway between the real world and crypto. The entire chain is around 22kb — even as it scales, thanks to zk-SNARKs,

This protocol replaces the traditional blockchain with a zero-knowledge proof, ensuring a super-light and constant sized chain that allows participants to quickly sync and verify the network.

And snark-powered dapps, called Snapps, allow access to verified real world data from any website for on-chain use.

The ecosystem is growing fast and the mainnet is live - visit minaprotocol.com to find out more.

If you like what we do:

Subscribe to our podcast newsletter to not miss any event!

Join us on Telegram

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Support our Gitcoin Grant

Support us on the ZKPatreon

Donate through coinbase.commerce

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ZKPs & the Dichotomy of Privacy vs Transparency with Josh & Jill

Wed, 28 Jul 2021 15:00:00 +0100

This week, Anna and Josh chat with Jill Gunter (nèe Carlson), a well-known investor and crypto advocate, to dive deep into the eternal dilemma of privacy vs. transparency and how ZKPs can finally give us the tools to be more nuanced about our society’s approach to privacy.

Starting from Jill’s background as a bond trader on Wall Street, the conversation quickly shifts into how the need for transparency in the financial system and the ability to root out bad actors clashes with the need to maintain individual privacy. This topic touches aspects such as crypto & DeFi privacy, how regulation may be applied to them, and why ZKPs and their power of selective disclosure can change the paradigm of privacy.

Here are some links for this episode:

Josh Cincinnati on Zcash, governance and leaving the Zcash Foundation, Zero Knowledge Episode 143
The Why & How of Privacy for DAOs, Zero Knowledge Episode 190
Analyzing Osmosis & Preventing MEV with Sunny and Dev, Zero Knowledge Episode 188

Make sure to subscribe to the zkMesh newsletter, a curated list of all the latest happenings in ZK land, coming out every month. The next installment is slated for the first week of August.

Thanks to this week’s sponsor, Least Authority!

Least Authority is a leader in the security of distributed systems. They provide security consulting services, develop open source products and contribute to the advancement of learning and research in the field.

They have recently published a whitepaper on Zero Knowledge Access Passes, a protocol that enables users to access services without revealing personal information.

Least Authority also reached a notable milestone this month with the completion of their 100th security audit.

To read their published audits, which include multiple projects on Ethereum, Tezos and other notable ecosystems, and to check out the ZKAPs whitepaper visit their website www.leastauthority.com.

If you like what we do:

Join us on Telegram

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Read up on the r/ZKPodcast subreddit

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The Why & How of Privacy for DAOs

Wed, 21 Jul 2021 15:00:00 +0100

This week, Anna chats with John Light and Samuel JJ Gosling, two passionate privacy advocates and DAO thinkers. This topic was brought up in a recent zkSessions focused on Privacy in NFTs and DAOs spurring a deeper dive into the subject.

John brings his past experience at Aragon, and now Sovryn, to discuss what is a DAO and what are its needs in privacy and collusion protection. Samuel brings the on the ground view from his involvement in Tornado governance and current work with MACI.

Here are some links for this episode:

MACI with Koh Wei Jie, Zero Knowledge Episode 159
MACI implementation code.
Mixers with Tornado.cash, Zero Knowledge Episode 111
CowSwap & DAO Tech with Gnosis’s Martin Köppelmann, Zero Knowledge Episode 183

Be sure to check out the upcoming ZK Jobs Fair! Happening on July 29th, we will be hosting some of the top zk projects who are looking to build their teams and hire. Most jobs will be engineering and cryptography focused, but business positions abound as well.

In the meantime, you can check out the ZK Jobs Board! For example, ZKValidator is looking to fill a Validator Reliability Engineer position, so make sure to apply if you have the necessary skills.

Thank you this week’s episode sponsor, Mina!

Mina, the world’s lightest blockchain – powered by participants. Mina is a layer-one protocol, creating a private gateway between the real world and crypto. The entire chain is around 22kb — even as it scales, thanks to zk-SNARKs,

The layer-one protocol replaces the traditional blockchain with a zero-knowledge proof, ensuring a super-light and constant sized chain that allows participants to quickly sync and verify the network.And snark-powered dapps, called Snapps, allow access to verified real world data from any website for on-chain use. Visit minaprotocol.com to find out more.

If you like what we do:

Subscribe to our podcast newsletter to not miss any event!

Join us on Telegram

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Support our Gitcoin Grant

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Donate through coinbase.commerce

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Digging into Mining with Kristy-Leigh Minehan

Wed, 14 Jul 2021 15:00:00 +0100

This week, Anna chats with Kristy-Leigh Minehan, a crypto and mining veteran primarily known for developing the ProgPow hashing algorithm. She offers a unique and in-depth perspective into the world of Proof of Work mining, starting from the early days of Bitcoin and moving into the first Bitcoin ASICs, the Ethereum GPU mining era, all the way to the present day of staking dominance.

Some of these stories come from Kristy’s direct involvement in Genesis Mining, Core Scientific, ProgPow and her connection to the Ethereum mining community, which helps shed light on what miners will do after the Merge.

Here are some links to set the stage:

The Evolution of ETH 2.0 with Teku’s Ben Edgington, Zero Knowledge Episode 187
Flashbots with Phil Daian and Stephane Gosselin, Zero Knowledge Episode 168
An overview of the ProgPow debacle based on an earlier interview with Kristy
The phone that Kristy designed with Leica
Why miners can’t so easily fork Ethereum, as explained by Deribit Insights
An intro to Symbol

The next ZK Jobs Fair is coming up on July 29th! The fair is made for people who are looking to join some of the top teams in this space, and it’s an amazing opportunity to get to know them up close and personal in a fun virtual environment.

Be sure to sign up here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/zk-jobs-fair-3-tickets-159963604447

Also, don’t forget to check out the ZK Jobs board, a curated list of job opportunities updated each month: https://www.zeroknowledge.fm/zkjobsboard

Finally, if you’re a competent Dev Ops engineer, make sure to check out the ZKV’s listing.

Thank you to this week’s sponsor, EY Blockchain!

EY is one of the founding members of the Baseline Protocol group, an industry-wide open source initiative to build privacy tools and scalability technologies that make it easy and secure for enterprises to do business with each other on the public Ethereum blockchain.

Find out more at blockchain.ey.com or visit the Baseline Protocol at baseline-protocol.org.

If you like what we do:

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Support our Gitcoin Grant

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Donate through coinbase.commerce

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Analyzing Osmosis & Preventing MEV with Sunny and Dev

Wed, 07 Jul 2021 15:00:00 +0100

This week, Anna and Tarun chat with Sunny Aggarwal and Dev Ojha about their new project Osmosis, an AMM built into the Cosmos ecosystem using the IBC interoperability protocol.

Osmosis brings some interesting innovations to the AMM table, starting from the seamless IBC integration to customizable bonding curves and per-pool governance to promote experimentation. Sunny and Dev are also very passionate about the topic of MEV, diving into the various types of value extraction, how MEV is mitigated on other networks and how it could be largely eliminated on Osmosis through threshold cryptography.

Here are some links for this episode:

Anoma’s Adrian Brink on Validity Predicates, Ferveo DKG & More, Zero Knowledge Episode 184
CowSwap & DAO Tech with Gnosis’s Martin Köppelmann, Zero Knowledge Episode 183
Arkworks SNARK libraries with Pratyush Mishra, Zero Knowledge Episode 169
Threshold Decryption for mempool privacy with Dev Ojha, the ZKV event where Dev spoke earlier.
Flashbots with Phil Daian and Stephane Gosselin, Zero Knowledge Episode 168
General intro to Osmosis.

ZK Validator now supports OSMO staking delegation, so if you’re interested in supporting the network check out the info here: https://zkvalidator.com/osmosis

Thanks to this week’s sponsor, Least Authority!

Least Authority will soon be releasing a whitepaper on ZKAPs – Zero-Knowledge Access Passes. ZKAPs is an anonymous, token-based authorization protocol that facilitates an online exchange of value while disconnecting the necessary payment data from the day-to-day usage service data of customers.

If you'd like to be notified of the ZKAPs whitepaper and the latest security research projects, sign up for their monthly newsletter at https://leastauthority.com/newsletter/

If you like what we do:

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Join us on Telegram

Catch us on Youtube

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Support our Gitcoin Grant

Support us on the ZKPatreon

Donate through coinbase.commerce

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The Evolution of ETH 2.0 with Teku’s Ben Edgington

Wed, 30 Jun 2021 15:00:00 +0100

This week James and Anna chat with Ben Edgington, Lead Product Manager for Teku, an Eth2 client developed by ConsenSys.

Ben recounts his story of the involvement with Ethereum 2.0 from the very early months of Serenity and Shasper, and how those were completely replaced by the Beacon Chain concept that resulted in Ethereum 2.0 as we know it. Ben then highlights what changed after Phase 0 launch: the simplification of Phase 1 & 2 , the rollup-centric roadmap and the upcoming Merge with Eth1.

Here are some links for this episode:

ETH2.0 Update With Danny Ryan, Zero Knowledge Episode 66
Sharding Update With Prysmatic Labs, Zero Knowledge Episode 37
Exploring Uniswap V3 and a Multi-L2 Future with Noah and Moody, Zero Knowledge Episode 185
Math competitions, crypto as alchemy & Gasper with Yan Zhang, Zero Knowledge Episode 136
Unwrapping Optimism with Ben and Mark, Zero Knowledge Episode 177
Ben’s What’s New in Eth2 Newsletter
Ben’s and Vitalik’s annotated Eth2 Specs

Don’t forget to check out the ZK Jobs Board if you’re looking to connect and work with a talented team in crypto & zk land! Updated every month, the Jobs Board includes jobs in engineering, business and cryptography from top teams in the space. Check them out here: https://www.zeroknowledge.fm/zkjobsboard

This episode is brought to you by Mina, the world’s lightest blockchain.

Mina is a layer-one crypto protocol that replaces the traditional blockchain with a zero-knowledge proof, ensuring a super-light and constant sized chain that allows participants to quickly sync and verify the network.

Mina offers users a platform to build a private gateway between the real world and crypto. Mina also has an active demo in partnership with Teller Finance for “End-to-End Data Privacy,” showing how you can use Mina to access your credit score and prove that you meet credit threshold requirements for on-chain services— without ever disclosing your actual score.

Visit minaprotocol.com to find out how you can get involved, and join the community.

If you like what we do:

Subscribe to our podcast newsletter to not miss any event!

Join us on Telegram

Catch us on Youtube

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Support our Gitcoin Grant

Support us on the ZKPatreon

Donate through coinbase.commerce

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ZKPs for Spam Protection & Decentralized Messaging with Status

Wed, 23 Jun 2021 15:00:00 +0100

This week, Anna chats with Oskar Thoren and Sanaz Taheri-Boshrooyeh from Status to learn about their work on Waku, a decentralized messaging protocol incorporating zk-SNARKs for spam protection. Waku is the successor of Whisper, a messaging protocol that turned out to be too resource-heavy and vulnerable to spamming.

Oskar and Sanaz explain how Waku V2 changes things, from ZKP-based spam protection to how its new networking system based on libp2p and Gossipsub can scale globally.

Here are some links for this episode:

Trusted Setup Ceremonies Explored, Zero Knowledge episode 133
IPFS, Libp2p & Filecoin with Juan Benet, Zero Knowledge episode 106
Status’s write-up on how Waku improves Whisper.
Rate Limiting Nullifiers, Status’s post on how the zk-based spam protection works.

Gitcoin Grants Round 10 is live! If you want to donate to the ZKPodcast Gitcoin Grant, please find the link here: https://gitcoin.co/grants/329/zero-knowledge-podcast

Thank you to this week’s sponsor, Least Authority!

Least Authority has a long history of working with privacy enhancing technologies, including Zero Knowledge Proofs.

With current projects like the MoonMath Manual – a beginner’s guide to zk-SNARKS - and the soon to be released whitepaper on ZKAPs - Zero Knowledge Access Passes, Least Authority is contributing to the advancement of learning and development in the field.

Least Authority also carries out security audits, including reviews of circuits and cryptographic code. They are committed to helping teams improve the security of their protocols and products, along with publishing their security research on these topics for the broader community to benefit from.

Be sure to check out the new Community Matters page on their website to read about how they engage with various communities, such as human rights organizations, to promote the use of secure systems and privacy-enhancing technologies.

To stay up to date, visit https://leastauthority.com and sign up for their newsletter. Be sure to follow them on Twitter using the handle @LeastAuthority.

If you like what we do:

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Exploring Uniswap V3 and a Multi-L2 Future with Noah and Moody

Wed, 16 Jun 2021 15:00:00 +0100

This week Anna and Tarun host Noah Zinsmeister and Moody Salem to learn all about Uniswap and the recent Uniswap V3 deployment.

Noah and Moody go through the history of Uniswap from its EF grant days to Unisocks, Uniswap V2 and now Uniswap V3 and its ranged liquidity model. They explain all the benefits as well as the potential drawbacks, and how the project plans to fix them in a likely indirect way. At the end the conversation shifts into a multi-L2 deployment future and how that may increase MEV, leading Tarun to make an unexpected realization.

Here are some links for this episode:

A Tale of Sushi(Swap) with Tarun, Hasu and Anna, Zero Knowledge episode 148
Aping into DeFi and NFTs with Andy Chorlian and Tarun Chitra, Zero Knowledge episode 181
CowSwap & DAO Tech with Gnosis’s Martin Köppelmann, Zero Knowledge episode 183
Diving into Arbitrum's Optimistic Rollup, Zero Knowledge episode 179
Unwrapping Optimism with Ben and Mark, Zero Knowledge episode 177
Flashbots with Phil Daian and Stephane Gosselin, Zero Knowledge episode 168
Uniswap V3 launch post
Vitalik’s Uniswap as an oracle proposal

Don’t forget to sign up to the upcoming zkSessions on June 23rd! This one will be focused on DAOs and NFTs and how they may incorporate zk or privacy. We will also be hosting an interactive community discussion about if and how the ZK community could potentially start using some of these tools as well. Sign up here: https://hopin.com/events/zksessions-daos-nfts

Thank you to this week’s sponsor, Aave

Aave is an open source, decentralised non-custodial liquidity protocol on Ethereum.

With Aave, users can participate as depositors meaning they provide liquidity to earn a passive income. Or they can also act as borrowers to borrow both overcollateralized and undercollateralized funds (think: one-block liquidity Flash Loan).

The Aave community has unanimously voted to introduce an Aave Grants DAO to grow the Aave ecosystem. If anyone's interested in building on Aave or learning more, be sure to go to https://aavegrants.org

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Anoma’s Adrian Brink on Validity Predicates, Ferveo DKG & More

Wed, 09 Jun 2021 15:00:00 +0100

This week Anna chats with Adrian Brink, co-founder of the Anoma Network and long-time crypto builder. Adrian explains all there is to know about the new privacy-centric network, diving into concepts like fractal scaling, the validity predicate-based account model, the solution against front-running in Ferveo & much more.

Here are some links for the episode:

CowSwap & DAO Tech with Gnosis’s Martin Köppelmann, Zero Knowledge episode 183
Through the Cosmos Stargate Upgrade, Zero Knowledge episode 174
Cosmos, IBC and ZKPs with Chris Goes, Zero Knowledge episode 115
Trusted Setup Ceremonies Explored, Zero Knowledge episode 133
Threshold Decryption for mempool privacy with Dev Ojha, ZKV Cosmos Privacy & ZKP showcase
The Wyvern protocol mentioned by Adrian.
The Plumo trusted setup ceremony (phase 2 happening soon) mentioned by Anna
Anoma’s Whitepaper and blog posts.

The next zkSessions is scheduled for June 23 and will focus on DAOs and NFTs, in the context of privacy and zkps. This will also be a special event where the community will discuss the potential of a ZK DAO!

Today’s episode is sponsored by EY Blockchain. EY is committed to building a better working world on the public Ethereum blockchain with robust privacy technologies, like zero-knowledge proofs. EY believes blockchain technology will be the glue that knits together a productive global business ecosystem. To learn more about EYs products and services, visit them at https://blockchain.ey.com or check out their open source contributions at https://github.com/eyblockchain.

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CowSwap & DAO Tech with Gnosis’s Martin Köppelmann

Wed, 02 Jun 2021 15:00:00 +0100

This week Anna and Tarun chat with Martin Köppelmann, CEO of Gnosis. The company was known for championing prediction markets, but Gnosis has now shifted to making key infrastructure products. Martin chats about this transition and explains Gnosis’s current products, which include a unique DEX called CowSwap and a number of products for managing DAO treasuries and governance.

Here are some links for this episode:

Gnosis & Full Node with Friederike Ernst, Zero Knowledge episode 94
SafeSnap introductory post
Gnosis Protocol V2 intro
Flashbots with Phil Daian and Stephane Gosselin, Zero Knowledge episode 168
Aping into DeFi and NFTs with Andy Chorlian and Tarun Chitra, Zero Knowledge episode 181

If you’re looking for a job in the world of blockchain and zero knowledge, don’t forget to check out our Jobs Board! Listings include engineering, applied crypto and business roles from top companies in the space.

Thanks to this week’s sponsor, Least Authority & PrivateStorage

PrivateStorage is a private, secure and end-to-end encrypted storage solution created by Least Authority, a leader in the security of distributed systems. Privacy is at the core of their work. PrivateStorage was created using privacy and security by design principles, and includes features like end-to-end encryption, zero knowledge access passes and accountless authorization, to ensure users have greater anonymity and assurance that their data is protected. PrivateStorage cannot see user data when it is stored on their grid.

Visit PrivateStorage and register to be notified once the service is launched. This is a one time notification email and not a mailing list. The addresses will be deleted after the notification email is distributed.

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The dive into ZK with Iron Fish’s Elena Nadolinski

Wed, 26 May 2021 15:00:00 +0100

This week Anna and James chat with Elena Nadolinski, founder of Iron Fish, about the new privacy network and what led her to this point.

Elena recounts her journey into crypto, starting from AirBnB and falling into the rabbit hole of Ethereum hackathons, Solidity, and NFTs, eventually leading her to exploration of zero knowledge proofs for honest computation. This deep dive into SNARKs and Sapling led to the creation of Beanstalk, later Iron Fish, which aims to be the shielded pool for all other blockchain assets.

Note: James is an investor in Iron Fish

Here are some links:

Elena’s slides about Sapling from Zcon
Iron Fish whitepaper
Halo with Sean Bowe and Daira Hopwood, Zero Knowledge Episode 123
Zexe: Zero Knowledge Computation with Pratyush Mishra, Zero Knowledge Episode 85
Ariel Gabizon on his work with zkSNARKs, Zero Knowledge Episode 86

Don’t forget to subscribe to the ZkMesh newsletter, aggregating all of the latest developments in ZK each month. The next release is due this week!

We also launched a newsletter for announcements related to what we do at ZK podcast. Subscribe to make sure you never miss a zkSessions or studyClub event!

Thanks to this episode’s sponsor, Aave

Aave is an open source, decentralised non-custodial liquidity protocol on Ethereum.

With Aave, users can participate as depositors meaning they provide liquidity to earn a passive income. or they can also act as borrowers to borrow in an overcollateralized way or undercollateralized way (think: one-block liquidity Flash Loan).

Aave has also deployed a new market on Polygon’s sidechain to let users pay much lower gas fees. Assets can be transferred from Ethereum with the Polygon Bridge and put to use on Aave’s Polygon markets.

Learn more about it in the link to the blog here:

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Aping into DeFi and NFTs with Andy Chorlian and Tarun Chitra

Wed, 19 May 2021 15:00:00 +0100

This week Anna and Tarun chat with Andy Chorlian. Andy recounts the many interesting moments through his crypto journey, including being at Maker during Black Thursday, living through DeFi Summer, and then jumping into NFTs with Top Shot and PleasrDAO.

Taking a break from his degen career, Andy is now developing Fractional, a protocol for fractionalizing NFTs. He explains how it works under the hood and how the concept could bridge the DeFi and NFT worlds.

Here are some links for this episode:

An overview of the NBA Top Shot platform to understand what it’s about.
Andy’s NBA Top Shot stats page.
The WSJ article featuring Andy’s “messy” desk.
Where Media & Music Meet NFT & Blockchain, Zero Knowledge Episode 167 featuring Andre Anjos (RAC) and Trevor McFedries (Brud).
An intro to Fractional
The Snowden NFT piece

If you’re looking for a job in the world of blockchain and zero knowledge, don’t forget to check out our Jobs Board!

Also, make sure to subscribe to our new Substack to be updated of any future zkSessions, Jobs Fair, StudyClub or another of our many initiatives.

Thanks to this week’s sponsor, O1 Labs, the creators of Mina Protocol

Mina is the world’s lightest blockchain – powered by participants. Mina is a layer-one protocol, creating a private gateway between the real world and crypto. The entire chain is around 22kb — even as it scales, thanks to zk-SNARKs.

The ecosystem is growing fast and Mina's mainnet has just gone live, offering users a platform to build a private gateway between the real world and crypto, visit minaprotocol.com to find out more.

If you like what we do:

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dYdX’s Antonio Juliano on using STARKs for scalability

Wed, 12 May 2021 15:00:00 +0100

This week, Anna and James chat with Antonio Juliano, founder of dYdX, a derivatives exchange on Ethereum that recently transitioned to a StarkEx-powered L2 infrastructure.

Antonio brings a product-centric perspective to using scalability tech. He explains the choice of going for StarkWare’s products and how it compares to other layer ones or rollups. The conversation delves into questions like dYdX’s position in the decentralization spectrum, how that is going to change in the future, and what the L2 solution enables on the product side.

Here are some links for this episode:

StarkWare’s docs on the StarkEx technology adopted by dYdX
dYdX’s FAQ on major features and decisions in the platform.
Validium with DeversiFi & Starkware Zero Knowledge episode 138
Loopring with Matt & Brecht, Zero Knowledge episode 161
Unwrapping Optimism with Ben and Mark, Zero Knowledge episode 177.

The next zkSessions focused on ZK Languages is happening on May 19 at 6 PM CET / 9AM PT!

Signup on Hopin now - https://hopin.com/events/zksessions-the-zk-languages-showdown

The second ZK Jobs Fair happens on May 19 8 PM CET / 11AM PT - Apply here if you are actively looking for a new role and only want to attend this!

And for all job listings, check out the ZK Jobs Board for open positions.

Thanks to this week’s sponsor, Least Authority

Signup for Least Authority’s newsletter to be notified on the release of the ZKAPs Whitepaper, PrivateStorage, security audit reports, job openings and more.

Visit https://leastauthority.com/newsletter to join the mailing list.

If you like what we do:

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Diving into Arbitrum’s Optimistic Rollup

Wed, 05 May 2021 15:00:00 +0100

This week, Anna and James host Ed Felten and Steven Goldfeder, co-founders of Arbitrum, an Optimistic Rollup project born before the term "Optimistic Rollup" was even coined.

Ed and Steven tell Arbitrum’s story, from its beginnings as a chain-agnostic university project in 2014 to become an Ethereum-based Optimistic L2 Rollup solution based on fraud proofs. They cover Arbitrum’s interactive fraud proofs, how they differ from other solutions like Optimism, and how Arbitrum and the Optimistic Rollup helps Ethereum scale.

Here are some links for this episode:

Inside Arbitrum, an accessible general explainer about what is the Arbitrum rollup
Unwrapping Optimism with Ben and Mark, Zero Knowledge episode 177, the latest of our impromptu Ethereum L2 series.
Zk-zk-rollup & zk.money with Zac and Joe from Aztec, Zero Knowledge episode 176
zkEVM & zkPorter with Matter Labs, Zero Knowledge episode 175
John Adler on Optimistic vs ZK Rollup and the data availability problem, Zero Knowledge episode 151
Why Sequencers are the Future - Mark Tyneway (Optimism), zkSessions from March 2021

If you're looking to work in blockchain and the zk space, check out the ZK Jobs board! You'll find great opportunities to work at the forefront of blockchain tech, divided into business, engineering and cryptography positions.

Also, we are hosting the second ZK Jobs Fair on May 19, right after our zkSessions on zk languages. Register for free here on Hopin: https://hopin.com/events/zksessions-the-zk-languages-showdown

Thanks to this episode’s sponsor, Aave

Aave is an open source, decentralised non-custodial liquidity protocol on Ethereum.

Aave recently deployed a new market on Polygon’s sidechain to let users pay much lower gas fees. Assets can be transferred from Ethereum with the Polygon Bridge and put to use on Aave’s Polygon markets.

Learn more about it here.

So thanks again, Aave!

If you like what we do:

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Catch us on Youtube

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Support our Gitcoin Grant

Support us on the ZKPatreon

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Exploring SNARKs for Sidechains with Alberto from Horizen

Wed, 28 Apr 2021 15:00:00 +0100

This week, Anna chats with Alberto Garoffolo from Horizen Labs for their upcoming Zendoo protocol and Latus sidechain proposal.

The episode centers around the world of sidechains for UTXO-based blockchains such as Horizen or Zcash. The Horizen team has developed Latus and Zendoo, a SNARK-powered mechanism for designing trustless sidechains. Alberto explains how Horizen’s Zendoo system works under the hood to connect a mainchain with a set of sidechains built for specific purposes, while Latus’s design diminishes reliance on bridge validators.

Here are some links for this episode:

Paper on Zendoo and Latus
Latus incentive scheme white paper
J. Ayo Akinyele Talks Lightning Network & Building Bolt, Zero Knowledge episode 73
An overview of Bitcoin sidechain designs with their benefits and drawbacks on Deribit Insights

Tomorrow we’re hosting the Privacy on Polkadot event as part of our ZK Validator work. This is going to be the first of many privacy-centric meetups for Polkadot and other chains, hosting privacy projects from across the Web3 space.

The event will run from 3 PM CET to 6 PM CET (9 AM-12 PM ET).

Here is the link to join: https://hopin.com/events/privacy-on-polkadot

Thanks to this week’s sponsor, EY

EY is committed to supporting integration of the world’s business ecosystems on the public Ethereum blockchain. Join their fifth annual blockchain summit and education series on May 18–21 for a deep dive into zero-knowledge privacy technologies, accounting and tax rules, as well as the future of finance.

Thanks again, EY!

If you like what we do:

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Unwrapping Optimism with Ben and Mark

Wed, 21 Apr 2021 15:00:00 +0100

This week, Anna and James chat with Ben Jones and Mark Tyneway from Optimism, the builders of Optimistic Ethereum.

The interview continues the series of L2-focused episodes we have been airing on the Zero Knowledge Podcast and comes just as Optimism gears up for launch. Anna, James, Ben and Mark discuss the inner workings of their Optimistic Rollup, diving deep into concepts like data availability, the fraud proof, the role of the sequencer and the rollup’s complex relationship with layer-one. Ben and Mark then lay out their vision for rollup-centric Ethereum and how rollup interoperability is the next major focus area for the ecosystem.

Here are some links for this episode:

Handshake Protocol with Mark Tyneway, Zero Knowledge episode 132
Rayonism, the sharded rollup proposal Mark mentioned
Zk-zk-rollup & zk.money with Zac and Joe from Aztec, Zero Knowledge episode 176
zkEVM & zkPorter with Matter Labs, Zero Knowledge episode 175
John Adler on Optimistic vs ZK Rollup and the data availability problem, Zero Knowledge episode 151
zkSessions: Why Sequencers are the Future - Mark Tyneway (Optimism), zkSessions from March 2021
The upcoming scaling Ethereum hackathon Ben mentioned.

Thanks to this week’s sponsor, Least Authority.

In addition to their security reviews of innovative projects such as Loopring, Mina, and Filecoin, this May, Least Authority will be releasing a whitepaper on ZKAPs – Zero-Knowledge Access Passes. ZKAPs is an anonymous, token-based authorization protocol that facilitates an online exchange of value while disconnecting the necessary payment data from the day-to-day usage service data of customers.

Also coming this summer is the MoonMath Manual – a beginner’s guide to zk-SNARKS, which introduces the theory and application of zk-SNARKs from various angles.

Signup for Least Authority's newsletter to stay in touch and be notified of the release of the ZKAPs Whitepaper, PrivateStorage, the MoonMath Manual, continuous security audit reports, job openings and more. Visit https://leastauthority.com/newsletter to join their mailing list.

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Zk-zk-rollup & zk.money with Zac and Joe from Aztec

Wed, 14 Apr 2021 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna chats with Zac Williamson and Joe Andrews, respectively CTO and Head of Product at Aztec.

The episode is centered on Aztec’s latest release, zk.money, the “zk-zk-rollup” that targets privacy and scalability at the same time. zk.money allows users to shield their Ethereum-based assets while achieving a higher transaction count, a result that took months of research and development of the TurboPLONK. Zac and Joe explain how it works down to the nitty-gritty of elliptic curve arithmetic, logic gates, hashes and circuits.

The conversation then shifts to topics like WebAssembly (and its limitations), Ethereum, UltraPLONK, Noir & more.

Here are some links for this episode:

Exploring Aztec with Zac Williamson, Zero Knowledge episode 75
Dive into Plonk!, Zero Knowledge episode 112
Building Private AMMs with Guillermo Angeris, Zero Knowledge episode 173
Into the deep end: making sense of PLONK - Zac Williamson (CTO, Aztec Protocol), zkSummit from October 2019
Plookup: Speeding up the PLONK prover - Zac Williamson & Ariel Gabizon, zkSummit from March 2020

Are you a passionate crypto and zk enthusiast? Think you’ve got the skills to contribute in the blockchain space? Then make sure to check out the ZK Jobs Fair on April 22.

This will be the first virtual job fair hosted by us, where leading builders in the zk community will join to connect with talented individuals who are looking to contribute to the cutting edge work on zero knowledge applications.

Check out the ZK Jobs Fair application form, if you are interested in partecipating to the event.

Thanks to this episode’s sponsor, Aave

Aave is an open source, decentralised non-custodial liquidity protocol on Ethereum.

Learn more about it here.

So thanks again, Aave!

If you like what we do:

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

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zkEVM & zkPorter with Matter Labs

Wed, 07 Apr 2021 15:00:00 +0100

In today’s episode, Anna chats with Alex Gluchowski, CEO at Matter Labs and co-creator of zkSync, to catch up on Matter Labs’s latest developments in extending Ethereum’s capabilities with zk proofs.

Alex explains the recent progress in porting Solidity to a zkRollup and how that interacts with the Zinc language and zk proof circuits. They then move on to discussing Ethereum scalability with a deep dive on rollup architecture and the upcoming zkPorter, a solution for sharded zkRollups that’s being developed by Matter Labs.

Here are some links for this episode:

zkSNARKs for Scale with Matter Labs, Zero Knowledge episode 72
Mapping the L2 Landscape - zkPorter with Alex Gluchowski (Matter Labs), zkSessions from March 2021
Zinc: porting EVM smart contracts to zkSync ZK rollup – Alex Gluchowski – Matter Labs, zkSummit from November 2020
ZK languages with Alex Ozdemir, Zero Knowledge episode 172
Intro to zkPorter
Matter Labs’ fundraising announcement for zkEVM implementation.
Curve’s testnet implementation on zkSync

Are you a passionate crypto and zk enthusiast? Think you’ve got the skills to contribute in the blockchain space? Then make sure to check out the ZK Jobs Fair on April 22!

Check out the ZK Jobs Fair application form if you are interested in participating to the event.

Thanks to this episode’s sponsor, Mina Protocol.

Mina is the world’s lightest blockchain. It is a layer-one crypto protocol that replaces the traditional blockchain with a zero-knowledge proof, ensuring a super-light and constant sized chain that allows participants to quickly sync and verify the network.

Mina's mainnet has just gone live, offering users a platform to build a private gateway between the real world and crypto. Mina also has an active demo in partnership with Teller Finance for “End-to-End Data Privacy,” showing how you can use Mina to access your credit score and prove that you meet credit threshold requirements for on-chain services— without ever disclosing your actual score.

Visit minaprotocol.com to find out how you can get involved, and join the community.

If you like what we do:

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Through the Cosmos Stargate Upgrade

Wed, 31 Mar 2021 15:00:00 +0100

In today’s episode, Anna and James chat with three representatives of the Cosmos ecosystem — Zaki Manian, Tess Rinearson and Shahan Khatchadourian — to learn all about its recent milestone upgrade, Stargate.

First up is Zaki Manian, co-founder of Iqlusion and Sommelier Finance, who sets the stage for what Stargate achieved and why the upgrade was the most comprehensive and complex yet for Cosmos.

Next is Tess Rinearson, VP of Engineering at Interchain, who recounted her deep involvement in the Stargate upgrade with an almost hour-by-hour replay.

Finally comes Shahan Khatchadourian, Cosmos Hub lead, who talks about his recent transition from the Ethereum ecosystem and how Stargate impacts the Hub, its users and its validators.

Here are some links for this episode:

Cosmos and IBC with Chris Goes, Zero Knowledge episode 115
Catch up with Zaki Manian, Zero Knowledge episode 108
Diving into Cosmos with Sunny, Zero Knowledge episode 78
An introductory article into Stargate and Cosmos.
How the Cosmos development teams collaborated to deliver Stargate.

Check out the latest Feb installment of zkMesh, a monthly newsletter overviewing every important development in zk land.

Subscribe now to receive timely updates by Anna and Mikerah at the beginning of every month.

Thanks to this episode’s sponsor, Least Authority.

Least Authority is a security consulting company known for their dedication to pushing the limits on how to build privacy-respecting solutions.

Known for audits of Eth 2.0 Specification, Protocol Lab's Gossipsub Protocol, Mina Protocol, Kolibri Smart Contracts and Stably’s Tezos Stablecoin for Tezos Foundation, Blockstack's Investor Wallet, and more.

They want to help teams improve the security of their protocol and use of cryptography, including zero knowledge proofs: from design to implementation.

With over 50 completed public audits to-date, join the growing list of audited projects, book a free consult at leastauthority.com/consult

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Building Private AMMs with Guillermo Angeris

Wed, 24 Mar 2021 15:00:00 +0100

This week, Anna & Tarun take an in-depth look into AMMs with Guillermo Angeris, a PhD student in Stanford who co-authored a number of papers on fundamental AMM properties. They chat about how his work on Optimization Theory and Inverse Design can be applied to a DeFi context, as well as his most recent paper deals with privacy in AMMs, effectively demonstrating how superficial attempts at making a private AMM are doomed.

During the conversation, Anna, Tarun and Guillermo chat about why AMMs today are so revolutionary and unique in the financial world, and why their success can be explained by optimization theory and convexity. But AMMs also have a number of shortcomings like front-running and impermanent loss, where Guillermo’s PhD work may just help find the solution.

Here are a few links for this episode:

Zero Knowledge Episode 153, Monsters in the Mempool with Dan Robinson
Zero Knowledge Episode 168, Flashbots with Phil Daian and Stephane Gosseline
Guillermo’s latest paper on the challenges of implementing private AMMs
Guillermo and Tarun’s first paper on Uniswap and Constant Function Market Makers, formalizing their practical qualities.
Other papers by Guillermo and Tarun analyzing the optimal fee and bonding curve of CFMMs.
Zero Knowledge Episode 103, Exploring VDFs with Joseph Bonneau
Guillermo’s papers on optimization problems and inverse design.

Check out the Cosmos Privacy & ZKP Showcase -> https://hopin.com/events/cosmos-privacy-zkp-showcase

And the Zero Knowledge Gitcoin Grant -> https://gitcoin.co/grants/329/zero-knowledge-podcast

Thank you to this week’s sponsor, Aave.

Aave is an open source, decentralised non-custodial liquidity protocol on Ethereum.

Aave just released an AMM Market where Uniswap and Balancer LPs can use their LP tokens as collateral. New types of collateral and AMM protocols can be added through the Aave Governance process as well.

More information on that can be found here: https://medium.com/aave/aave-amm-market-released-73ae76a7cbc0

To learn more visit aave.com to learn more

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ZK languages with Alex Ozdemir

Wed, 17 Mar 2021 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna has a one-on-one chat with Alex Ozdemir, a PhD student at Stanford researching formal methods, cryptography and distributed systems. Alex’s work is closely tied to the world of generalized computations within zero knowledge systems. He is one of the main developers of CirC, an infrastructure framework for building zero knowledge languages.

In their conversation, Alex and Anna take a bird’s eye view of the current landscape of zk languages and libraries. Alex explains the history and current state-of-the-art of circuit-building tools, touching on libraries like Libsnark, Bellman and more comprehensive tools like Arkworks; hardware description languages like Circom; and the more dev-friendly family of RAM-register languages like ZoKrates, Pequin, Cairo, Leo and many more. Here, the race is still on as a number of academic and business-oriented teams grapple with limitations to memory access & performance given by zero knowledge proving systems.

The latest Gitcoin Grants CLR matching program is live! Gitcoin is the easiest and most effective way to support Zero Knowledge and help us produce great content every week.

With CLR matching, each contributor counts. Even $1 goes a long way thanks to the quadratic funding concept. To top it all off, Gitcoin supports zero knowledge-native payment solutions like ZkSync!

Click here to reach our Gitcoin page.

Here are all the links for this episode:

An intro dive into the world of zero knowledge languages and ZoKrates
Circom and Hermez with Jordi Baylina, Zero Knowledge episode 145
zk-SNARKs for Scale with Matter Labs, Zero Knowledge episode 72
zkStudyClub about CirC
zkStudyClub on Polynomial Commitments
StarkWare’s Eli Ben-Sasson on STARKs and Cairo, Zero Knowledge episode 96
Pratyush Mishra on all things Arkworks, Zero Knowledge episode 169
Alex’s Stanford page and paper on CirC.

Thanks to this week’s sponsor, Mina Protocol.

Mina is the world’s lightest blockchain, creating a private gateway between the real world and crypto.

The entire chain is, and always will be, about 22kb — even as it scales. And SNARK-powered dApps, called Snapps, allow access to verified real world data from any website for on-chain use.

The ecosystem is growing fast ahead of Mina's upcoming mainnet launch, with validators and community members in more than 120 countries.

There are still opportunities to get involved at the ground level. Visit minaprotocol.com to find out more.

Join the community at Mina’s free virtual Illuminate Summit on March 28th, visit illuminate.minaprotocol.com to secure your spot.

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Mapping the Polkadot Ecosystem

Wed, 10 Mar 2021 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna goes on a grand tour of the Polkadot ecosystem ahead of the launch of Parachains. In this multi-interview episode, she explores the Polkadot ecosystem, how teams are interacting with the existing tech stacks, what they are looking forward to, and how these networks may evolve in the future once Parachains go live.

The first speaker is Fabian Gompf, VP at Parity, who explains what’s going on with parachain auctions, how Parity views its role in the Polkadot ecosystem, and how prospective builders can be rewarded. Then comes Derek Yoo from Moonbeam, who talks about the project’s ambitions and challenges as an “Ethereum on Polkadot” parachain. Next up is Ruitao Su from Acala, who describes his vision of Polkadot as a “United Nation.” Finally comes Lucas Vogelsang from Centrifuge, a very early Substrate adopter who has a unique view on what it means for a project to be a parachain.

Here are a few useful links:

Polkadot’s Parachain’s Explained

Episode 5 of Zero Knowledge where Fabi was first a guest on.

Gavin Wood on Zero Knowledge

Kusama, the chaotic canary network of Polkadot, on Zero Knowledge

Web3’s Alistair and Jeff on Zero Knowledge All about ZK proofs in the Polkadot ecosystem.

Common good parachains

Moonbeam’s site

Acala’s site

Acala’s Sovereign Wealth Fund concept.

Centrifuge’s site

Zero Knowledge episode on Centrifuge

This week’s intro features a mention of ZKValidator (ZKV) which is currently active on Cosmos, Near, Polkadot and Kusama and soon to be active on Mina.

The ZKV is unique in that it is a validator that aims to advocate for and encourage privacy & zk tech on emerging PoS networks. The ZKV connects the zk community with the network community by running private workshops & roundtables, putting together blog posts and reports as well as running dedicated public events focused on these issues.

Check out the recent NEAR privacy roundtable report, the Cosmos Privacy Showcase happening on March 26th and an upcoming Polkadot event in April/May. Email us events@zkvalidator.com if you are a privacy project building on these networks who wants to participate. Follow @zkvalidator on twitter to stay in the loop about all of our events.

And if you are a token holder, and want to support the effort, be sure to stake to us on! Info on how to do so on Polkadot can be found here: https://zkvalidator.com/polkadot/

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Hardware for ZKPs & VDFs with Supranational

Wed, 03 Mar 2021 16:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna and Tarun talk with Simon Peffers and Kelly Olson from Supranational, a startup focused on building specialised software and hardware for advanced cryptographic computation. Simon and Kelly talk about their recent work helping out the Ethereum Foundation with VDFs, as well as building a better SNARK algorithm for Protocol Labs’ Filecoin.

They cover how specialised chips can push the boundaries of computation in a post-Moore’s law world, how hardware specialised for zero knowledge is optimised, and the challenges of building ASIC chips today.

Here are a few links to set the stage about what they discussed:

Zero Knowledge episode 103, Exploring VDFs with Joseph Bonneau

Supranational’s website

Supranational’s Medium blog

Simon's talk on hardware acceleration approach at SBC

The 20 year old puzzle by Ron Rivest, which the Supranational folks solved just a few days late.

Nvidia’s nerf of the RTX 3060 for Ethereum mining

How more specialized chips may be the solution to the end of Moore’s law

Thank you to this week’s sponsor, Aave.

Aave is an open source, decentralised non-custodial liquidity protocol on Ethereum.

A new feature is Credit Delegation, where users can delegate their credit to another person who can borrow against it

Aave has an ecosystem grants program for anyone building anything that contributes to the Aave ecosystem. Check out the Aave developers portal to learn more: https://docs.aave.com/portal/

To learn more Visit aave.com to learn more

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Arkworks SNARK libraries with Pratyush Mishra

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna and Robert Habermeier chat with Pratyush Mishra, co-author of the Arkworks toolkit. Arkworks is a collection of Rust libraries designed to simplify development with SNARKs, both for developing high-level application circuits and building custom SNARK implementations.

Pratyush lays out what possibilities and trade-offs Arkworks offers, diving into the details of the Rust implementation and why it is the best language for developing cryptographic primitives. Anna, Rob and Pratyush then branch out into the philosophical and practical questions of open-source and blockchain development.

Here are a few links to Arkworks and the topics they discussed:

Arkworks GitHub page and Telegram group.

Pratyush’s GitHub, Twitter and Berkeley pages.

Bellman and Libsnark, some of the other libraries that are similar to Arkworks.

The Celo and Mina protocols, two major projects using Arkworks.

Here is a basic explainer of what projects like Arkworks are trying to do and why it’s useful, with a particular focus on ZoKrates, one of the languages Pratyush mentioned.

Intros to Circom, Leo and Zinc, some of the higher level languages.

An earlier episode with Robert Habermeier about the work he does on Polkadot.

Be sure to subscribe to the zkMesh Newsletter - a monthly rundown of the latest in decentralised privacy-preserving technologies, privacy protocol development and zero knowledge systems research. Put together by Anna & Mikerah (HashCloak).

Thank you to this week’s sponsor Least Authority.

Least Authority is a security consulting and product development company known for pushing the limits on how to build privacy-respecting solutions. They are a team of security researchers, open source developers, privacy advocates and cryptographers. They have developed an end-to-end encrypted cloud storage product that minimizes the collection of any data related to its users, called PrivateStorage.

PrivateStorage implements privacy and security by design, not by policy.

PrivateStorage is based on Tahoe-LAFS an open source distributed file store

PrivateStorage is launching in the second half of this year. Visit PrivateStorage.io to learn more and to sign up to be notified about its release.

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Flashbots with Phil Daian and Stephane Gosselin

Wed, 17 Feb 2021 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna and James Prestwich chat with Phil Daian and Stephane Gosselin from the Flashbots project. Flashbots is a research and development organization formed to mitigate the negative externalities and existential risks posed by miner-extractable value (MEV) to smart-contract blockchains

They talk about the Flashbots organization and mission as well as the evolving opportunities and dangers lurking in the mempool.

Miner extractable value (MEV) is a measure devised to study consensus security by modeling the profit a miner (or validator, sequencer, or other privileged protocol actor) can make through their ability to arbitrarily include, exclude, or re-order transactions from the blocks they produce.

Here are some links to previous episodes, the project & MEV:

In case you missed the announcement - zkSessions: DeFi+Privacy has been postponed until Feb 22. Grab your free spot here -> https://hopin.com/events/zksessions-defi-and-privacy

Thank you to this week’s sponsor Optimism PBC.

Optimism PBC is a Public Benefit Corporation (PBC) building the Optimistic Ethereum Network and the Optimistic Virtual Machine to keep Ethereum half-full.

They are calling all curious hackers and seasoned engineers to Come work on the cutting edge of the most interesting problems to push the limits of blockchains, VMs and compilers. No blockchain experience required!

You'll work alongside global teams that are defining completely novel businesses and games that need our software to scale. If you're a developer who loves to see your code getting used by innovators around the world, then Optimism is your gateway to paradise.

Please reach out to join@optimism.io if you're interested in becoming part of this compassionate, hard-working team! People of all backgrounds are encouraged to apply.

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Where Media & Music meet NFTs & Blockchain

Wed, 10 Feb 2021 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna & Tarun take a step further into the NFT/Art space and chat with 2 content creators/entrepreneurs Andre Anjos (RAC) and Trevor McFedries (Brud) who are both making work that intersects with NFTs, crypto & other novel blockchain concepts. They discuss their respective works, and explore the new ways in which creators & influencers can engage with Blockchain tech and NFTs. They also try to imagine what living a digital reality actually means for the creation and consumption, or ownership of content.

Here are a few of the links and projects mentioned:

Check out and sign up for the zkSessions event happening on Feb 15th! https://hopin.com/events/zksessions-defi-and-privacy

It's free and focused on DeFi & Privacy

Thanks to this week’s sponsor Aave!

Aave is an open source, decentralised non-custodial liquidity protocol on Ethereum.

Aave is decentralised and community-governed and has an ecosystem grants program for anyone building anything that contributes to Aave! DeFi-staked NFT collectibles game Aavegotchi originated as an Aave ecosystem grant.

To learn more about the grant program visit aave.com and find the link to apply for the Aave grants program here!

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Coin Center’s Peter Van Valkenburgh on regulation & crypto

Wed, 03 Feb 2021 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna & Josh Cincinnati chat with Peter Van Valkenburgh, Director of Research at Coin Center. Coin Center is a non-profit research and advocacy group focused on the public policy issues facing cryptocurrency and decentralized computing technologies. In this conversation, they cover the various branches in the US system, how these interact with the crypto/blockchain community, what the process is for making regulation and how coincenter gets involved.

Here are a few of the groups that they mention:

FinCen: Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.
SEC: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
CFTC: Commodities futures trading commission

Here are some handy links:

Thanks for this week’s sponsor Interchain Foundation or ICF

ICF is focused on the research, development, and promotion of open, decentralized, network technologies like Cosmos

One of the most recent developments in the Cosmos ecosystem is the Stargate upgrade. Stargate is the largest Cosmos upgrade yet, enabling blockchains to connect with each other using the first standardized protocol for inter-blockchain communication (IBC). Here is our episode with Chris Goes about IBC.

If you want to apply to the Interchain Foundation Grants program, here is the link: apply.interchain.io

Deadline for this round is February 14th.

Thanks again ICF!

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Aave with Stani Kulechov

Tue, 26 Jan 2021 15:00:00 +0100

This week, Anna and Tarun chat with Stani Kulechov, co-founder of Aave, about the origin and evolution of the project, the changing DeFi landscape, collateralized debt in crypto, Flash Loans, Flash Minting, Credit Delegation and the future of DeFi.

Quick recap: A Flashloan is an uncollatoralised loan which must be issued and repaid in the same transaction before the blockchain updates the user’s account balances. If it isn’t repaid in this time, the transaction will fail.

We have discussed Flashloans on the show before see this previous episode:

https://www.zeroknowledge.fm/118

Thank you to this week’s sponsor Hermez Protocol!

Hermez is a Layer 2 solution that scales token transfers on top of Ethereum and which can handle up to 2000 transactions per second. Designed for high-frequency tokens, Hermez is a zk rollup which leverages zk-SNARKs for validity proofs and with on-chain data availability.

Hermez's zero-knowledge circuits are developed using iden3’s circuit compiler language, Circom. They also introduce a novel consensus algorithm, Proof-of-Donation, that gives 40% of each transaction fee back to Ethereum community projects as a donation, thereby supporting Ethereum development.

After passing two security audits, Hermez is running a bug bounty program, offering up to 100 ETH to whoever discovers any critical vulnerabilities. We recently had Jordi Baylina, Technical Lead at Hermez, on the show for an interview - you can find that episode here. Learn more about the project and bug bounty at https://hermez.io/

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The road to Skynet & beyond with David Vorick

Wed, 20 Jan 2021 19:15:00 +0100

This week, Anna and guest co-host James Prestwich chat with David Vorick from Skynet Labs about the scope and goals of the Skynet project. They discuss the journey from earlier work on Sia & distributed data to Skynet, SkyDB, and their idea for Recursive Content Monetization - a new model to pay online creators and content owners.

They also chat about the SkyFeed project - a decentralised Twitter like project. In this part of the conversation, they explore how the decentralised community could potentially remove the harm done by the social chat algorithms, but also the potential impact - and danger - that fully decentralised systems can have.

Here are some helpful links:

Thanks to this week’s sponsor Aave.

Aave Protocol is an open source and non-custodial protocol where users can earn interest on deposits and borrow assets

Aave Protocol also features access to innovative DeFi building blocks like Flash Loans. They are now introducing a new feature is Credit Delegation, where users can delegate their credit to another person who can borrow against it

For anyone thinking of contributing to the ecosystem, check out the Grants Program - here is the link: https://docs.aave.com/portal/

Also vIsit aave.com or join the Aave Discord #developers channel https://aave.com/discord to find out more!

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Kicking off 2021 with Anna, Tarun, James & Josh

Wed, 13 Jan 2021 17:00:00 +0100

This week, Anna chats with guests Tarun Chitra (Gauntlet & Robot Ventures), James Prestwich (cLabs) and Josh Cincinnati (previously Zcash Foundation). Throughout this conversation, they touch on topics like the state of zero knowledge applications, blockchain technology, privacy and DeFi. They also explore what we can expect in the near future.

Here are a few of the papers and links we mention in the show:

If you like what we do:

Read transcript

Year end and end of an era with Anna & Fredrik

Wed, 30 Dec 2020 15:00:00 +0100

This week, Anna and Fredrik do a look back at 2020 and chat about some of their favourite ZKPodcast episodes and themes from this past year. This is also a notable episode, as it will be Fredrik's last as a regular co-host. And so they also take this time to reminisce and look back over 3 years of the Zero Knowledge Podcast and share some thoughts on how the space has developed.

Some of the 2020 episodes discussed:

Some of the projects that had previously been on the zkPodcast that launched or were announced this year:

Zk-projects:

L1s:

Thanks to our sponsor Least Authority.

Least Authority is a security consulting company known for their dedication to pushing the limits on how to build privacy-respecting solutions. They are a team of security researchers, open source developers, privacy advocates, cryptographers who specialize in security audits, design specification reviews, and security-by-design.

Join their mailing list to connect and stay informed on the latest in Least Authority security audit reports, upcoming events, open source contributions and product development initiatives. Subscribe at leastauthority.com/newsletter

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Loopring with Matt & Brecht

Wed, 23 Dec 2020 15:00:00 +0100

This week, Anna chats with Matthew Finestone and Brecht Devos from Loopring about their zkrollup protocol, DEX and wallet. We explored the evolution of Loopring, how their zkrollup works, how they are bringing AMMs to L2 and what’s next for the project.

We mention Brecht’s previous episode as well the talk by Barry Whitehat at Devcon4

Thanks to this week’s sponsor Parity Technologies

Parity is a company building the core infrastructure to power Web 3.0. They strive to write the fastest, lightest, and safest core technology in blockchain and write lots of open-source code.

Parity is currently looking to fill a number of job positions

• Berlin office: experienced, creative and enthusiastic Content Marketing Manager.

• Remote: CI/CD Engineer to help automate an ever-growing set of open source repos in GitHub.

Interested or know someone? More details at parity.io/jobs

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DAppNode & the ETH2 kick off with Eduardo Antuña Díez

Wed, 16 Dec 2020 15:00:00 +0100

This week, Anna chats with Eduardo Antuñia Díez - co-founder / project lead of DAppNode - about the importance of running your own node, the roll out of ETH2 and the role DAppNode aims to play in the future.

Here are some useful links:

STABLE Act

Jordi episode

DAppNode Discord

DAppNode Gaurdians of Ethereum DAO proposal

Zero Knowledge Gitcoin grant is eligible for Gitcoin's CLR matching - on now! Last chance to donate before the new year.

Thanks to this week’s sponsor O(1) Labs, the team incubating [Mina](minaprotocol.com) protocol.

Mina is the world’s lightest blockchain, powered by participants. And over the past 18 months, the community - alongside the core team at O(1) Labs - have been working on a rigorous testnet. And now they’re close to finding a mainnet candidate.

Signup for this adversarial testnet, Testworld. Signups open today, but is limited to the first 1000 participants. Go to minaprotocol.com/adversarial to secure your spot.

Also be sure to join their active technical community discord at bit.ly/minadiscord

If you like what we do:

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MACI with Koh Wei Jie

Wed, 09 Dec 2020 15:00:00 +0100

This week, Anna chats with Koh Wei Jie from the Ethereum Foundation about the MACI or Minimum Anti-Collusion Infrastructure. They chat about the challenges in voting digitally and in decentralised networks, how MACI uses zkps to solve this, and how it could be used in the context of quadratic voting.

They also do a step by step walkthrough of how a vote is cast and counted in MACI

Here are some helpful links:

https://www.zeroknowledge.fm/133

https://kohweijie.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKuNj_IQVYI

https://github.com/appliedzkp/maci

https://www.maxgrok.com/posts/clrfund

Check out the Zero Knowledge Podcast Gitcoin Grant here -> https://gitcoin.co/grants/329/zero-knowledge-podcast

Thanks to this week's sponsor Parity Technologies

Parity is a company building the core infrastructure to power Web 3.0. And at the heart of the company is a genuine goal of empower developers to create better products and services through decentralized web technologies.

Parity has the following job openings:

• Berlin office: looking for a passionate social media manager to maintain and grow the company’s social networks, and to activate customers and contributors. into advocates.

• Remote work: looking for a CI/CD Engineer to help automate an ever-growing set of open source repos in GitHub. Experience: Github Actions, Gitlab CI or similar, Linux, Compiler experience like Docker.

Find out more at parity.io/jobs

So thanks again Parity!

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Threshold Cryptography with Omer Shlomovits from ZenGo

Wed, 02 Dec 2020 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, we chat with Omer Shlomovits from ZenGo Wallet about MPC, threshold cryptography and how the research around this topic can be used in a blockchain context.

We reference the Zero Knowledge Podcast Episode 90 with Nigel Smart.

Here are some additional links to check out:

Thanks to this week’s sponsor Least Authority.

If you are skilled in the area of zero-knowledge protocols and other advanced cryptography for scalability and privacy enhancing tech, you should get in contact with them. They currently have an open security auditor position see more at leastauthority.com/careers

You can also find the Gitcoin grants here:

Least Authority’s Grant for the Moon Math Manual -> https://gitcoin.co/grants/543/the-moonmath-manual-to-zk-snarks

Zero Knowledge Podcast -> https://gitcoin.co/grants/329/zero-knowledge-podcast

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Illia Polosukhin on the development and launch of NEAR protocol

Wed, 25 Nov 2020 15:00:00 +0100

This week, Anna catches up with Illia Polosukhin, CTO and co-founder of NEAR, to talk about what's new in the network since last year. They go deeper on some of the topics they discussed last time - such as sharded vs non-sharded blockchains and data availability as well as discuss the long and rocky road to launching a new PoS network, building a validator community and where we might see privacy and zkp tech in Near.

Some episodes we reference in our chat.

Ep 91: Near Protocol's focus on UX
Ep 135: Look into Solana
Ep 156: Stateless Validation with Alin Tomescu

Thank you to this week’s sponsor Trail of Bits.

Trail of Bits has published this guide for building secure contracts with their Crytic offering.

Crytic is a SaaS-based GitHub application created by Trail of Bits that continuously assures your Ethereum smart contracts are safe and functional. It reports build status on every commit and runs a suite of security analyses so you get immediate security feedback.

Check out this guide - which I have added to the show notes - for tips on how to build security into your dapps from the start and how to use the Trail of Bits suite of tools for automated vulnerability detection.

Thank you once again Trail of Bits

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Stateless Validation with Alin Tomescu

Wed, 18 Nov 2020 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna and Fredrik chat with Alin Tomescu, a post-doc researcher at VMWare Research Group, about the concept of stateless systems. Specifically, they explore his work on stateless validation, why this would be desirable and what is the state of the research around this topic.

Have a look at Alin’s previous zkStudy Club episodes: zkStudyClub: Alin Tomescu on authenticated dictionaries and cross-incremental proof (dis)aggregation & zkStudyClub: Aggregatable Subvector Commitments with Alin Tomescu (VMWare Research)

This episode is packed full of info and Alin shared an amazing list of resources to help navigate this :

RMCI17e, Improving Authenticated Dynamic Dictionaries, with Applications to Cryptocurrencies, Leonid Reyzin and Dmitry Meshkov and Alexander Chepurnoy and Sasha Ivanov

CPZ18, Edrax: A Cryptocurrency with Stateless Transaction Validation, 2018, Alexander Chepurnoy and Charalampos Papamanthou and Yupeng Zhang

BBF18, Batching Techniques for Accumulators with Applications to IOPs and Stateless Blockchains, 2018, Dan Boneh and Benedikt Bünz and Ben Fisch

Tome20, How to Keep a Secret and Share a Public Key (Using Polynomial Commitments), 2020, Tomescu, Alin,

CFG+20, [Vector Commitment Techniques and Applications to Verifiable Decentralized Storage](https://eprint.iacr.org/2020/149], 2020, Matteo Campanelli and Dario Fiore and Nicola Greco and Dimitris Kolonelos and Luca Nizzardo

GRWZ20, Pointproofs: Aggregating Proofs for Multiple Vector Commitments, 2020, Sergey Gorbunov and Leonid Reyzin and Hoeteck Wee and Zhenfei Zhang

TAB+20e, Aggregatable Subvector Commitments for Stateless Cryptocurrencies, 2020, Alin Tomescu and Ittai Abraham and Vitalik Buterin and Justin Drake and Dankrad Feist and Dmitry Khovratovich

LGG+20, Aardvark: A Concurrent Authenticated Dictionary with Short Proofs, 2020, Derek Leung and Yossi Gilad and Sergey Gorbunov and Leonid Reyzin and Nickolai Zeldovich

AR20, KVaC: Key-Value Commitments for Blockchains and Beyond, 2020, Shashank Agrawal and Srinivasan Raghuraman

TXN20, Authenticated Dictionaries with Cross-Incremental Proof (Dis)aggregation, 2020, Alin Tomescu and Yu Xia and Zachary Newman

zkSummit6 is happening on Nov 23-24 2020 - grab your spot: https://www.zksummit.com/

Thanks to this week's sponsor Parity Technologies.

Check out Polkadot Decoded happening on December 3rd.

This free online event is the Polkadot community conference and the first Polkadot gathering since the multi-chain network’s launch and decentralization.

Featuring a full program of talks on all aspects of Polkadot by the teams building the network’s core technology, as well as those building ecosystem parachains, applications, and cross-network bridges Whether you’re new to Polkadot or an experienced Polkadot community member, be sure to learn the latest and future developments in the Polkadot ecosystem and connect with the Polkadot community.

Check out the full program for Polkadot Decoded and register for free at decoded.polkadot.network

Thanks again Parity Technologies!

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Testing PoW Consensus Algorithm Security with Ren Zhang from Nervos

Wed, 11 Nov 2020 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, we revisit the topic of consensus algorithms with Ren Zhang, a researchers at Nervos and previously at imec-COSIC (KU Leuven). We chat about an earlier work he did on evaluating PoW consensus protocols security and explore his more recent work on NC-Max - a consensus protocol that breaks the throughput limit and enables the full utilization of the nodes’ bandwidth in confirming transactions

Here are a few of the links we mention in the interview:

Consensus Algorithms & HotStuff with Ittai Abraham
Majority is not Enough:Bitcoin Mining is Vulnerable
FruitChains: A Fair Blockchain
RSK technology
Subchains: A Technique to Scale Bitcoin and Improve the User Experience
Lay Down the Common Metrics: Evaluating Proof-of-Work Consensus Protocols' Security by Ren Zhang & Bart Preneel
NC-Max: Breaking the Throughput Limit of Nakamoto Consensus by Ren Zhang, Dingwei Zhang, Quake Wang, Jan Xie and Bart Preneel
SquirRL - A recent paper extending the "Lay Down the Common Metrics" paper
Markov decision process on Wikipedia
- Monsters in the Mempool with Dan Robinson from Paradigm
Prism: Deconstructing the Blockchain to Approach Physical Limits
Alan Szepieniec on Hash Functions & Supersonic SNARKs

ZK for authentication with Nolan and Locke from NuID

Wed, 04 Nov 2020 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna spoke with Nolan Smith and Locke Brown, co-founders at NuID - a zero knowledge authentication solution. They explore the use-case of zk-powered password management and how this relates to Identity.

Here are a few of the articles mentioned in the episode:

-Universally Composable Direct Anonymous Attestation by Jan Camenisch , Manu Drijvers , and Anja Lehmann

-Practical UC-Secure Delegatable Credentials with Attributes and Their Application to Blockchain by Jan Camenisch , Manu Drijvers , and Anja Lehmann

-Privacy-Preserving User-Auditable Pseudonym Systems by Jan Camenisch & Anja Lehmann IBM Research – Zurich

Find out more at the NuID developer portal https://portal.nuid.io

Thanks to this week’s sponsor Aleo

Aleo is the first platform for fully private applications. It uses blockchain and zero-knowledge cryptography to deliver a web experience that is both personal and private. With Aleo, developers can write private applications, without a background in blockchains or expertise in cryptography.

Aleo has released Developer Preview I, an early peek at what the future of the web will look like. The release introduces a new programming language called Leo, a new community-driven package manager for Leo, and a new development environment or IDE called Aleo Studio.

We recently had Howard Wu, a co-founder of Aleo, on the show for an interview - you can find that episode here. Learn more about Aleo at https://aleo.org/

Thanks again Aleo!

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Monsters in the Mempool with Dan Robinson from Paradigm

Wed, 28 Oct 2020 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, we chat with Dan Robinson, a Research Partner at Paradigm. We talk about the world of crypto VC and revisit of the topic of the Ethereum mempool. We then hear Dan's story about how he and some colleagues tried to save a transaction from the monsters that lurk in the mempool as told in his blog post entitled “Ethereum is a Dark Forest”.

For some background, here are some links:

Ep 44: Blockchain 101: Transaction lifecycle & the mempool

Ethereum is a Dark Forest By Dan Robinson and Georgios Konstantopoulos

Escaping the Dark Forest by SamCZSun

Ep 141: ZK & Games: Dark Forest with Brian Gu

Thanks to our sponsor Least Authority.

Known for security audits like the Eth 2.0 Specification, Protocol Lab's Gossipsub Protocol, Atomex Library, Wallet and Smart Contracts for Tezos Foundation, Blockstack's Investor Wallet, Centrifuge Tinlake 3.0 and more, the Least Authority team is passionate about advancing the security of projects in the blockchain, cryptocurrency and DeFi space.

If you are looking to further improve the security of your protocol and its use of cryptography, email Least Authority at contactus@leastauthority.com to book a no-obligations consultation appointment.

Thanks again Least Authority

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Blockchain analytics with Alex Svanevik from Nansen

Wed, 21 Oct 2020 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, guest host Tarun Chitra and Anna chat with Alex Svanevik, CEO & cofounder of Nansen. They cover crypto analytics, DeFi analytics as well as discuss the push and pull between a need for privacy and the need for blockchain transparency and data.

Topics include: can DeFi and Privacy co-exist, how being aware of blockchain analytics could help people improve their opsec, the role of reputation in these systems, and, finally, how analytics in public blockchains may used as a novel marketing tactic (eg. when someone purposefully makes a big buy, knowing sophisticated traders are following their every move using these analytics tools and will see this as a signal to buy as well).

Thanks to this week’s sponsor Aleo

We recently had Howard Wu, a co-founder of Aleo, on the show for an interview - you can find that episode here. Learn more about Aleo at https://aleo.org/

Thanks again Aleo!

If you like what we do:

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Read up on the r/ZKPodcast subreddit -https://www.reddit.com/r/zkpodcast

Give us feedback! -https://forms.gle/iKMSrVtcAn6BByH6A

Support our Gitcoin Grant -https://gitcoin.co/grants/329/zero-knowledge-podcast-2

Support us on the ZKPatreon -https://www.patreon.com/zeroknowledge

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John Adler on Optimistic vs ZK Rollup and the data availability problem

Wed, 14 Oct 2020 15:30:00 +0100

In this episode, we chat with John Adler - co-founder of Lazy Ledger (now Celestia) and Fuel Labs. We compare Optimistic Rollups and ZK Rollups as well as discuss how Ethereum, specifically Eth1, could look over the next few years. We also talk about the data availability challenge in blockchains and how Lazy Ledger aims to solve this.

Relevant links can be found here:

James Prestwich's thread on Scalability vs Throughput myths

The LazyLedger academic paper

Security analysis of ORU from Fuel

What would a rollup-centric ethereum roadmap look like?

Video: "Scaling Ethereum in 2020 and Beyond" - Vitalik Buterin

Some additional thoughts from John on Eth1

Thanks to our sponsor Least Authority.

Known for their security reviews, including work with zero knowledge proofs as well as having implemented zero-knowledge access passes with the distributed storage system, Tahoe-LAFS.

If you are skilled in the area of zero-knowledge protocols and other advanced cryptography for scalability and privacy enhancing tech, you should get in contact with them. They’re expanding their team, so email them at jobs@leastauthority.com

Thanks again Least Authority

If you like what we do:

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NFTs & Rarible with Alex Salnikov

Wed, 07 Oct 2020 15:00:00 +0100

This week, Anna continues to dig into the topic of NFTs - That is Non-Fungible-Tokens or unique digital items - with Alex Salnikov, co-founder & chief product officer at Rarible. They talk about the project, the link between NFTs and DeFi concepts, how the NFT space is developing, novel use cases and more.

Here are some of the topics we mention:

The path to an ERC standard

CryptoKitties, Dapper Labs and Flow with Dieter Shirley

Somnium Space VR

0x Cert

Centrifuge

Thank you to this week’s sponsor Trail of Bits.

Trail of Bits has published a new guide for building secure contracts with their Crytic offering.

Thank you once again Trail of Bits

If you like what we do:

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

Or directly here:

ETH: 0xC0FFEE1B5083230a5154F55f253B6b6ae8F29B1a

BTC: 1cafekGa3podM4fBxPSQc6RCEXQNTK8Zz

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CryptoKitties, Dapper Labs and Flow with Dieter Shirley

Wed, 30 Sep 2020 15:00:00 +0100

In this week's episode, we chat with Dieter Shirley, CTO Dapper Labs, Chief Architect of Flow Blockchain, and co-creator of CryptoKitties. We go back to look at the history of CryptoKitties, the NFT standard, what pushed Dapper Labs to build their own blockchain, how Flow works and what’s next.

Here are a few useful links:

The Path to an ERC standard where we look at the path to the ERC721 standard as an example.

DapperLabs Coinlist sale

Dieter's talk on Verifier’s Dilemma at Ready Layer One - subject we touched on briefly in our talk

Thanks to this week’s sponsor Aleo

We recently had Howard Wu, a co-founder of Aleo, on the show for an interview - you can find that episode here. Learn more about Aleo at https://aleo.org/

Thanks again Aleo!

If you like what we do:

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

Or directly here:

ETH: 0xC0FFEE1B5083230a5154F55f253B6b6ae8F29B1a

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Sushiswap Bonus Chat

Thu, 24 Sep 2020 21:00:00 +0100

This is a short bonus chat to Episode 148 "Tale of the Sushi(swap)". Tarun, Hasu and Anna reconvene to wrap up the story of Governance Tokens, Sushiswap and the Uniswap token distribution.

Be sure to first listen to
"Tale of the Sushi(swap) - Part 1"
"Tale of the Sushi(swap) - Part 2" on the uncommoncore podcast

If you like what we do, be sure to check out the Zero Knowledge Podcast Gitcoin Grant - CLR matching is happening now! https://gitcoin.co/grants/329/zero-knowledge-podcast

A Tale of Sushi(Swap) with Tarun, Hasu and Anna – Part1

Thu, 24 Sep 2020 12:00:00 +0100

In this special podcast crossover episode, Tarun, Hasu and Anna cover the emergence of governance tokens in the DeFi space and then dive deep into the Sushiswap story - what protocols came before and how it performed a vampire attack on (what was at the time) a tokenless Uniswap. This story acts as a fascinating case study as well as a cautionary tale for moat-less protocols.

This episode is the 1st of 2 parts, with the 2nd part airing on Hasu's Uncommon Core podcast.

In this part, we cover the definition of governance tokens and the first half of the sushi swap story.

Tarun also mentions "impermanent loss" in this episode. However this term has been called to "divergence loss" and you can read more about what it is here.

A quick caveat: We recorded this episode just hours before the Uniswap token launch, and so we decided to produce an amendment section to tackle the aftermath of the launch and wrap up the story. You can find this here:

Sushiswap Bonus Chat

Thanks to our sponsor Least Authority.

Known for their security reviews, including work with zero knowledge proofs as well as having implemented zero-knowledge access passes with the distributed storage system, Tahoe-LAFS.

It seems fitting then that they are now working on a step by step guide to building zk-SNARKS called The MoonMath Manual which you can find and donate to on Gitcoin

As an aside, the Zero Knowledge podcast also has a grant there, so you might consider donating to both!

If you are interested in working with Least Authority on anything zero-knowledge related, reach out to them - whether you want an audit of your project, want to collaborate on security research or even just want to learn more about zk proofs, they would like to hear from you. I’ve added the email in the shownotes, contactus@leastauthority.com or visit them at LeastAuthority.com

If you like what we do:

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Read up on the r/ZKPodcast subreddit

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Support our Gitcoin Grant

Support us on the ZKPatreon

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Oasis Labs & Privacy with Vishwanath Raman

Wed, 16 Sep 2020 15:00:00 +0100

In this episode, we catch up with Vishwanath Raman, Privacy Architect at Oasis Labs where he works on privacy and confidentiality technologies for Direct to Consumer and Business to Business use cases. His interest and experience span formal methods, applied machine learning, security, and privacy. Vishwa got his PhD in Computer Science at UC Santa Cruz followed by postdoctoral work at Carnegie Mellon.

The Oasis Network is a privacy-enabled blockchain platform for responsible data use. Using a combination of secure computing and privacy technologies, the Oasis Network enables data owners to take control of their data and treat their data as a digital asset via data tokenization. They provide privacy as a service and use secure enclaves and differential privacy in order build a platform for a responsible data economy.

We dive into the way the Oasis system is architected for privacy, who the ideal customers are and what the use cases for this protocol is. We also chatted about some of the tradeoffs in using SGX as well as the recent Binance-led CryptoSafe Alliance announcement where Oasis is the primary infrastructure builder.

Here are some of the papers and links that we discuss:

Oasis Labs at zkSummit ZK0x02

Chorus: Differential Privacy via Query Rewriting

Towards Practical Differential Privacy for SQL Queries

Problems with machine learning and privacy (one of many)

Towards Practical Differentially Private Convex Optimization

One small correction: Vishwa mentions the number of Validators on Oasis as numbering in the hundreds, but upon checking, we were informed that the number of validators that will participate in the consensus committee at mainnet launch is 70-100. More details in the following blog post: https://docs.oasis.dev/oasis-network-primer/token-metrics-and-distribution

Thank you to this week’s sponsor Trail of Bits.

Trail of Bits has recently published a new guide for building secure contracts with their Crytic offering.

Check out this guide for tips on how to build security into your dapps from the start and how to use the Trail of Bits suite of tools for automated vulnerability detection.

Thank you once again Trail of Bits

Join their Slack channel (#crytic) for support, and follow Crytic on Twitter @CryticCI

If you like what we do:

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Read up on the r/ZKPodcast subreddit

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Support our Gitcoin Grant

Support us on the ZKPatreon

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Catch up with Anna & Fredrik

Wed, 09 Sep 2020 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s special episode, we flip the script and invite our friend Alexandra Heller to ask ZKPodcast co-hosts Anna & Fredrik some questions from the audience.. It’s a bit of a different format, so hope you will enjoy!

Here are a few of the episodes we mention:

-Chatting about consensus algorithms with Robert Habermeier

-Zooko talks Zcash on our 50th episode

-Sean Bowe on SNARKs, Trusted Setups & Elliptic Curve Cryptography

-A fireside chat with a couple Parity peeps

-Isogenies with Luca De Feo

-Statistical modeling of PoS systems with Tarun Chitra

-Introduction to ZKPs

And other podcasts we mention:

-Bikeshed: https://www.bikeshed.fm

-Distributed: https://distributed.blog/podcast/

-Extremities: https://anchor.fm/extremities

-Accidental Tech: https://atp.fm

-History of Rome: https://thehistoryofrome.typepad.com/

-Hardcore History: https://www.dancarlin.com/hardcore-history-series/

-Epicenter: https://epicenter.tv/

-Uncommon Core: https://uncommoncore.co/

Thanks to this week’s sponsor Aleo

We recently had Howard Wu, a co-founder of Aleo, on the show for an interview - you can find that episode here. Learn more about Aleo at https://aleo.org/

Thanks again Aleo!

If you like what we do:

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

Or directly here:

ETH: 0xC0FFEE1B5083230a5154F55f253B6b6ae8F29B1a

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Circom & Hermez with Jordi Baylina

Wed, 02 Sep 2020 15:30:00 +0100

In this week's episode, Anna and Fredrik catch up with Jordi Baylina, co-founder of Iden3, the creator of Circom & SnarkJS. They chat about his work in the ecosystem, building zk circuits and the recently announced Hermez, a new zkrollup with a novel proof-of-donation mechanism that will redistribute 40% of earnings to Ethereum-based community projects.

Jordi has an amazing story, which we got to explore in this episode, so thanks again Jordi for being on the show!

Here are some relevant links:

Jordi's talk about Circom at the zkSummit

Iden3 Website

Circom on Github

Hermez Website & Twitter

His talk on Liquid Democracy at Web3

Our previous episode about the DAO hack with Griff Green

Thank you to this week's sponsor Parity Technologies

Parity is currently looking to fill a number of job positions including many on the engineering side.

As an engineer at Parity, you would get to write Rust all day, be at the forefront of creating and shaping the decentralized web and hopefully also dig into some cool zero knowledge crypto tech! The best way to get noticed for this role is to familiarise yourself with Substrate - the platform built by Parity to make building blockchains much much easier. So go check out the substrate libraries and then head over to parity.io/jobs to find out more

Thanks again Parity for sponsoring this episode!

If you like what we do:

Join us on Telegram

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Read up on the r/ZKPodcast subreddit

Give us feedback! https://forms.gle/iKMSrVtcAn6BByH6A

Support our Gitcoin Grant

Support us on the ZKPatreon

Or directly here:

ETH: 0xC0FFEE1B5083230a5154F55f253B6b6ae8F29B1a

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Aleo with Howard Wu

Wed, 26 Aug 2020 15:00:00 +0100

In this episode, we invite Howard Wu back to the show to share more about his new project Aleo - a privacy-focused blockchain that enables fully private applications. Howard's previous ZKPodcast episode, Introduction to zkSNARKs, remains one of our most popular episodes to date!

We chat about why you need programming languages for SNARKs, what it is like to switch from VC/Academia to being a founder and the two important things missing in web services, high programmability and true user privacy. The project enables private applications with both data privacy and functional privacy - where the nature of the program running and all activity remains private. It is based on the ZEXE protocol and Proof-of-Succinct-Work, from the Proof-of-Necessary-Work originally presented Joseph Bonneau & Akis Kattis

For more info check out these additional links & episodes:

Thank you to this week’s sponsor Least Authority.

Least Authority is a security consulting company known for their dedication to privacy-respecting solutions and boundary-pushing technology. You may know them as the team behind the security audits and reviews of the Eth 2.0 Specification, Protocol Lab's Gossipsub Protocol, Zcash Sapling upgrade, Tezos Foundation's TzBTC, Blockstack's Investor Wallet, MetaMask's Lavamoat and more

If you are looking to improve the security of your protocol or verify your use of cryptography, schedule a no-obligation call to find out how Least Authority can help on your project. Visit leastauthority.com and hit the “Schedule a Call” button to book one of these calls.

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Josh Cincinnati on Zcash, governance and leaving the Zcash Foundation

Wed, 19 Aug 2020 15:00:00 +0100

In this episode we chat with Josh Cincinnati, the former executive director of Zcash Foundation. We cover Josh's career before Zcash, his work at the foundation, the important role privacy plays in crypto and the challenges of decentralised governance. We also discuss his decision to leave the foundation, Zcash Foundation's philosophy of transparency, his hopes for the future of the Zcash community, his next steps and why he thinks people in crypto may wanna take themselves a bit less serious and remember to have some fun!

Here are some additional links:

Zcash Foundation
Josh’s parting letter
Previous episodes on Zcash with Zooko, Sean Bowe, Sean and Daira and Henry de Valence
Catch this cross-over appearance with Anna on Josh's Twodcast. His show is released once per ... whenever Josh feels like

As mentioned in the intro, the ZkValidator.com is now live on 3 networks: Cosmos, Kusama and, as of this month, Polkadot.

For the origin story of the ZKValidator, check out this zkpodcast episode with the guys from Bison Trails

If you are a token holder on Cosmos, Kusama and/or Polkadot and you think privacy matters, want to see more zkps integrated throughout these networks and generally wanna support this initiative, head to our website: ZkValidator.com. There you can find instructions on how to stake your tokens to our validator.

For Cosmos visit - https://zkvalidator.com/cosmos/

For Kusama visit - https://zkvalidator.com/kusama/

For Polkadot visit - https://zkvalidator.com/polkadot/

If you like what we do:

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Hasu & Georgios on Bitcoin Security & Elastic Block Size Proposals

Wed, 12 Aug 2020 15:00:00 +0100

In this episode, Anna and guest host Georgios chat with Hasu, an independent crypto researcher focused on economics and security, about elastic block size proposals in both Bitcoin and Ethereum.

They cover how Hasu found his way into research as well as the history of the block size BIPs that shaped the ecosystem as well as Ethereum’s EIP 1559

Here are some additional links:

Research paper: A model for Bitcoin’s security and the declining block subsidy

Analysis of EIP-2593 (Escalator)

Analysis of EIP-1559

Thank you to this week’s sponsor Trail of Bits.

Trail of Bits found a bug in yVault that would have allowed an attacker to drain most (if not all) of the pool's assets. They quickly reported the bug to the yVault team and were able to secure the roughly $400K USD held in the system. This bug, which was thankfully caught, highlights the risk stemming from increased complexity caused by composition in the DeFi space. ‘

Generally - DeFi composability is hard. For example, If you integrate multiple tokens, any one token could compromise the security of your entire platform. On the other hand, if you integrate multiple platforms, your protocol could suffer from complex interactions.

If this is a relevant topic for you or the project you work on, reach out to Trail of Bits to arrange a security assessment, or sign up for their Ethereum security office hours.

Here is a link to their blog post “Accidentally stepping on a DeFi lego” https://blog.trailofbits.com/2020/08/05/accidentally-stepping-on-a-defi-lego Contact them here: https://www.trailofbits.com/contact/

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ZK & Games: Dark Forest with Brian Gu

Wed, 05 Aug 2020 15:00:00 +0100

In this week's episode, we chat with Brian Gu, a student at MIT and creator of the Dark Forest game. We chat about education, blockchain based games and what inspired his work on the Dark Forest game. We then dig into how this game creates an incomplete information game space by using zkSNARKs to create a “cryptographic fog of war” and more!

As described on their blog, Dark Forest is an MMO space-conquest game where players discover and conquer planets in an infinite, procedurally-generated, cryptographically-specified universe.

Find out more about the game here: https://zkga.me/

Least Authority is a team of security researchers, open source developers, privacy advocates, and cryptographers focused is on securing distributed systems: blockchain, peer-to-peer and other approaches to systems built with the principle of least authority. They are known for security audits and reviews like the Eth 2.0 Specification, Protocol Lab's Gossipsub Protocol, Zcash Sapling upgrade, & Tezos Foundation's TzBTC, as well as their work with zero knowledge proofs integrated into the Tahoe-LAFS (secure distributed file store) with "ZKAPs: zero knowledge access passes".

They are currently looking for a technical writer to help the Least Authority team write security research and audit reports, open source technical documentation and privacy analysis statements on technical approaches.

Find out more here: leastauthority.com/zkpodcast

If you like what we do:

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Staking derivatives & DeFi with Alex Evans (and Tarun!)

Wed, 29 Jul 2020 15:00:00 +0100

** Be sure to visit our ZKPodcast subreddit and leave us some questions for the upcoming AMA!**

In this week’s episode, Anna and guest-host / frequent guest Tarun Chitra catch up with Alex Evans, researcher at Placeholder Capital. They dive into the latest in DeFi, a topic that we don't cover too often, but has become hard to ignore. Specifically they discuss the emergence of liquidity farming, the difference between the zkresearch space and the DeFi space, some emerging concepts like AMM and Staking derivatives, and cover a recent report Tarun and Alex published together on the impact of staking derivatives on the security of PoS systems.

Here are a few of the articles and links mentioned in the episode:

What PoS and DeFi can learn from mortgage-backed securities by Tarun and Alex
Liquidity Provider Returns in Geometric Mean Markets by Alex Evans
Building Liquidity into Token Distribution
Black–Scholes model

Thank you to this week's sponsor Trail of Bits.

Upgradeable contracts are not as safe as you think. Architectures for upgradeability can be flawed, locking contracts, losing data, or sabotaging your ability to recover from an incident. Every contract upgrade must be carefully reviewed to avoid catastrophic mistakes. The GitHub App Crytic now includes a comprehensive suite of 17 upgradeability checks to help you avoid these pitfalls.

This tool allows devs to stress test their upgradeable contracts as they go, saving time and potentially catastrophic headaches down the line.

For more check out their blog post where they describe how to use this tool - https://blog.trailofbits.com/2020/06/12/upgradeable-contracts-made-safer-with-crytic/

So thanks again Trail of Bits

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Findora with Benedikt Bunz and Ben Fisch

Wed, 22 Jul 2020 15:00:00 +0100

** Check out the ZKPodcast subreddit and share some comments/questions for our upcoming AMA **

This week, we catch up with Benedikt Bunz and Ben Fisch, PhD students at Stanford, once again. In this episode, we dive deeper into Findora, a project that was co-founded by Ben (who is also the CTO) and where Benedikt works as the Head of Research. We look at what the Findora project is, discuss the "selective disclosure" concept at the heart of their constructions, explore the balance between transparency and privacy and describe what problems Findora aims to solve.

For some background on our guests, check out these previous episode with Benedikt Bunz on Bulletproofs and Ben Fisch on Accumulators

Here are some additional relevant links:

Findora's site

Alan Szepieniec on Supersonics - 11:33

Ben Fisch on Supersonics at the SF zkSummit in Oct 2019

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Validium with DeversiFi & Starkware

Wed, 15 Jul 2020 15:00:00 +0100

In this episode, we will be exploring StarkWare and DeversiFi’s collaboration - a Layer 2 STARK-powered exchange for Ethereum assets. Guests Tom Brand, product manager at Starkware, and Will Harborne, co-founder of DeversiFi, discuss the project, how it works under the hood and give us a glimpse into what they have planned for the future.

We also look at how Validium, that is Layer-2 scaling solutions in which the validity of all transactions is enforced using zero-knowledge proofs, while data availability is kept off-chain, differ from other layer 2 scaling solutions like Plasma, Optimistic Rollup and zkRollup, and discuss the axioms used to quantify these differences.

Here is some of additional material:

At the beginning of the episode, Anna and Will also discussed their joint project ZKValidator which works on Cosmos, Polkadot and Kusama.

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Trusted Setup Bonus: Tornado Cash

Wed, 08 Jul 2020 17:30:00 +0100

In this week's episode, Anna follows up on the trusted setup survey she did in her previous episode on the topic with this bonus interview with Roman Semanov & Roman Storm from Tornado Cash. Tornado Cash's trusted setup, held in May 2020, was the largest to date with over 1000 participants.

Be sure to listen to the full ZKPodcast Trusted Setup episode first

Find out more about Tornado Cash's trusted setup here

There are a number of zkPodcast related channels and groups to explore. Here they are:

Do you want to join us?

Want to connect with the ecosystem, learn more and work on zk research? If you are very organised and have worked producing either events, content or generally organising people in the past, these roles might be interesting for you.

Here are the 2 roles:

1) zkPodcast Support: Work with Anna & Fredrik on our zk-related projects (excluding the zkValidator) on a part-time basis. This would primarily involve coordinating podcast guest, scheduling and coordinating studyclub sessions, help organise events like the zkSummit, writing blog posts and managing social channels. This would be 5-8 hours per week to start, and could be a student job.

If this is interesting, please email a brief CV (a short email describing your experience is also fine) to hello@zeroknowledge.fm or tweet at Anna -> @AnnaRRose

2) Project Manager at the zkValidator. In this role, you would be working with Anna and Will Harborne to connect with members of the networks the zkValidator operates on - that is Cosmos, Kusama, Polkadot and more as we add them. The role would entail writing reports, doing research, managing network partners, scheduling workshops, working with zk engineers and cryptographers and more. This would be 15 hours per week to start, and we are looking for someone with at least 3 years of work experience. If this is interesting, please send us a summarised CV and/or LinkedIn profile to hello@zkValidator.com

If you like what we do:

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Math competitions, crypto as alchemy & Gasper with Yan Zhang

Wed, 01 Jul 2020 15:00:00 +0100

This week, Anna and guest host Tarun Chitra chat with Yan X Zhang, professor at SJSU, about math competitions, math education, how crypto is like alchemy and the Gasper paper - work Yan and his students collaborated on with the Ethereum Foundation.

“Gasper” is a proof-of-stake-based consensus protocol, which is an idealized version of the proposed Ethereum 2.0 beacon chain. The protocol combines Casper FFG, a finality tool, with LMD GHOST, a fork-choice rule.

Here are a few episodes and papers that we mention:

Consensus Algorithms & HotStuff with Ittai Abraham

Combining GHOST and Casper

Ali Rahimi - NIPS 2017 Test-of-Time Award presentation

As mentioned in the intro, we looking for some help on the organisational front with some of the zk related projects - this Zero Knowledge Podcast, zkStudyClub, zkSummit and the zkValidator.

If you are looking to connect with the ecosystem, learn more and work on zk research AND if you are very organised and have worked producing either events, content or generally organising people in the past, these roles might be interesting for you.

Here are the 2 roles:

If this is interesting, please email a brief CV (a short email describing your experience is also fine) to hello@zeroknowledge.fm or tweet at Anna -> @AnnaRRose

If you like what we do:

Join us on Telegram

Give us feedback! https://forms.gle/iKMSrVtcAn6BByH6A

Support our Gitcoin Grant

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Look into Solana

Wed, 24 Jun 2020 15:00:00 +0100

This week, Anna and guest host Georgios Konstantopoulos chat with Anatoly Yakovenko from Solana network. They learn about this system and discuss the innovations that allow them to achieve high performance without sharding.

For more on Solana check out their website - https://solana.com/

We also mention this episode on VDF's with Joseph Bonneau. Here is a further explanation of the differences.

Want to help support the show? Check out our grant on Gitcoin and please donate today!

CLR Matching is happening now! Link is here -->> https://gitcoin.co/grants/329/zero-knowledge-podcast-2

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tBTC with Matt Luongo

Wed, 17 Jun 2020 15:00:00 +0100

In this episode, we chat with Matt Luongo, CEO of Thesis, founder of Keep Network, and project lead of tBTC. We cover the need for BTC to ETH bridges, what the challenges are in building bridges with BTC, tBTC and how it is setup, what went down with the initial tBTC release - an event the team now refers to as "release candidate 0", and where we might be seeing tBTC go next.

Here are some useful links:

Want to help support the show? Check out our grant on Gitcoin and please donate today!

CLR Matching is happening now! Link is here -->> https://gitcoin.co/grants/329/zero-knowledge-podcast-2

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Trusted Setup Ceremonies Explored

Wed, 10 Jun 2020 15:00:00 +0100

In this week's episode, Anna explores the state of trusted setups with 4 of the people who have recently coordinated and run trusted setups for different SNARK systems. She interviews Koh Wei Jie from the Ethereum Foundation, Thomas Walton-Pocock from Aztec Protocol, Brecht Devos from Loopring and Kobi Gurkan from the EF and cLabs. This episode covers the new generation of trusted setups and how the teams working on these are learning from each other and at times, even sharing parts of the trusted set up itself.

As a primer, Trusted Setups are those events or ceremonies that one needs to perform to generate the parameters that can kick off SNARK based systems. It is an MPC - or multiparty computation - that involves a number of participants sequentially downloading software, running a computation that includes some randomness that they generate and re-uploading their result to be folded into the next participants computation. At the end of this process, there is a hidden parameter that is used to create the keys that are used to create proofs for private transactions, and to verify those proofs. These keys prove that a transaction is correct.

Here are some helpful links about all the various trusted setups we mention:

Zcash's Trusted Setups

https://www.zeroknowledge.fm/50 - Zooko speaks about the trusted set up at timecode 17:45

https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/ceremony

https://z.cash/technology/paramgen/

EF's Perpetual Powers of Tau

https://github.com/weijiekoh/perpetualpowersoftau

Semaphore

Semaphore blog post

Semaphore Phase 2 Multi-Party Trusted Setup Participant Guide

MACI (upcoming)

https://github.com/appliedzkp/maci

Aztec Protocol

https://www.aztecprotocol.com/ignition/

https://ignition.aztecprotocol.com/

Loopring

https://loopring.org/#/post/loopring-starts-trusted-setup-multi-party-computation-ceremony

Tornado Cash

https://medium.com/@tornado.cash/the-biggest-trusted-setup-ceremony-in-the-world-3c6ab9c8fffa

https://ceremony.tornado.cash/

cLabs (upcoming)

https://github.com/celo-org/snark-setup

Check out the Zero Knowledge Youtube Channel and be sure to subscribe to get the latest videos from the Podcast, zkSummit and zkStudyClub!

Signup for zkMesh Newsletter - a monthly newsletter focused on sharing resources about decentralised privacy-preserving technologies, privacy protocol development and zero knowledge systems research.

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Handshake Protocol with Mark Tyneway

Wed, 03 Jun 2020 15:00:00 +0100

In this episode, we chat with Mark Tyneway who is a contributor on the Handshake project - an experimental peer-to-peer root naming system. We learn about this decentralised, foundation-free project, the issues of DNS, how Handshake plans on fixing this, how it differs from ENS, their unique airdrop process, what an Urkel Trie is, and more.

Here are a few useful links:

Handshake Whitepaper
An airdrop that preserves recipient privacy - https://fc20.ifca.ai/preproceedings/54.pdf
ReadyLayerOne Presentation & Slides
Developer Protocol Summary
Messari Profile

Signup for zkMesh Newsletter - a monthly newsletter focused on sharing resources about decentralised privacy-preserving technologies, privacy protocol development and zero knowledge systems research.

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Proof of Necessary Work with Akis Kattis (NYU)

Wed, 27 May 2020 15:00:00 +0100

In this week's episode, Anna and guest host Tarun Chitra chat with Akis Kattis, a PhD student at NYU & the co-author of Proof of Necessary Work: Succinct State Verification with Fairness Guarantees - a paper he co-wrote with Joseph Bonneau. They discuss the challenge of Proof of Useful Work, the unique properties that SNARKs have, such as puzzle hardness, that allow for PoNW to overcome these challenges, PoS SNARK systems, elastic block construction, and more.

Here are a few of the articles we mention in the interview:

Proof of Necessary Work: Succinct State Verification with Fairness Guarantees

Stabilizing Congestion in Decentralized Record-Keepers

Check out the Zero Knowledge Youtube Channel and be sure to subscribe to get the latest videos from the Podcast, zkSummit and zkStudyClub!

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Exploring Tezos & their recent Sapling integration

Wed, 20 May 2020 15:30:00 +0100

In this week's episode, Anna interviews three people from the Tezos community: Jacob Arluck (co-founders TQ ), Marc Beunardeau and Marco Stronati (both from Nomadic Labs). They chat about the Tezos origin story, the development of the PoS system, the governance of Tezos, and how they are incorporating zk proofs - and specifically Sapling from Zcash - into their system.

Here is some additional info related to the interview:

Nomadic blog post about the Sapling integration

Tezos implementation of Sapling

Wired article about early Tezos issues

Transparent Polynomial Delegation and Its Applications to Zero Knowledge Proof

Thank you to this week's sponsor - Trail of Bits.

Trail of Bits has partnered with Johns Hopkins University to supply vulnerability researchers with software that can produce ZK proofs of exploitability. This is part of a larger effort funded by DARPA, called SIEVE, to push forward the state of the art in zero-knowledge proofs. For more info check out their blog!

https://blog.trailofbits.com/2020/05/21/reinventing-vulnerability-disclosure-using-zero-knowledge-proofs/.

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IPFS 0.5 with Molly Mackinlay from Protocol Labs

Wed, 13 May 2020 15:00:00 +0100

In this episode, we chat with Molly Mackinlay, Project Lead for the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) at Protocol Labs. We talk about her journey to Protocol Labs, as well as take a deeper view into IPFS, LibP2P, Bitswap, Testground, the use cases and projects working with these tools, and the specific upgrades they have made with the recent 0.5 IPFS release.

We cover:

the importance of distributed testing infra to facilitate enterprise adoption
how UX and simple tooling plays into the developer upgrade path
the path to decentralisation and the importance of building bridges to the Web2 world

In preparation for this ep, it might be useful to check out our episode last fall with Juan Benet as well.

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DP-3T & Contact Tracing with Kenny Paterson from ETH Zurich

Wed, 06 May 2020 15:00:00 +0100

In this week's episode, Anna catches up with Kenny Paterson, Professor of Computer Science and Lead of Applied Cryptography Group at ETH Zurich. The goal of the episode is to take a deeper look at DP-3T and privacy preserving contact tracing research in Europe generally. They cover his work at ETH Zurich, discuss how the DP-3T project came to be, look at risks facing contact tracing protocols generally, and discuss why putting privacy and decentralisation at the heart of these types of protocol is so important.

A few of the topics we cover:

ZKPodcast interview with Claudia Diaz
ZKPodcast interview with Henry de Valence
DP-3T site
Some early critical analysis of the protocol Here + Here
Applied Crypto group at ETH Zurich

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Consensus Algorithms & HotStuff with Ittai Abraham

Wed, 29 Apr 2020 15:00:00 +0100

In this week's episode, we go deep into Consensus Algorithms and HotStuff with Ittai Abraham from VMware Research. We chat about the evolution of consensus algorithms, BFT, and how these early ideas have become the backbone of blockchain tech. We cover PBFT, Tendermint and Ittai's research into SBFT, HotStuff, and the improvements he has been working on since HotStuff's incorporation into Facebook's Libra protocol.

The papers and references we mention:

Early zkpodcast episode on consensus with Robert Habermeier
PBFT (Castro and Liskov) (see project here)
BASE (Castro, Rodrigues, and Liskov) (the forgotten companion of PBFT that suggests a clean State Machine abstraction)
Consensus in the Presence of Partial Synchrony (Dwork, Lynch Stockmeyer)
Consensus in the Presence of Partial Synchrony (Dwork, Lynch Stockmeyer) (this paper won the 2007 Dijkstra award)
Multiple leader BFT (Katz and Koo)

Some of Ittai's work:

Ittai's group blog on cryptography and consensus: Decentralized Thoughts blog

We also mention:

Thank you to this week's sponsor Matter Labs.

Matter Labs, the creator of the first zkRollup prototype, is also the team behind zkSync: a user-centric Ethereum scaling solution, secured by zero-knowledge proofs.

zkSync testnet is live! You are welcome to try out its simple and intuitive user interface at zksync.io.

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Crypto libraries, Zcash's Zebra and contact tracing with Henry de Valence

Wed, 22 Apr 2020 15:00:00 +0100

In this week's episode, we chat with Henry de Valence from the Zcash Foundation. We discuss what makes for a strong crypto library, some of the work he has been doing at the ZF and he shares an update about the Zebra Zcash client. We also learn about the TCN Coalition, a group he is working with that aims to build and evaluate privacy-preserving contact tracing protocols - an important tool in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

Here are some useful links about things we discussed:

The Zcash Foundation's 2020 Q1 Report

Cosmos Zcash Pegzone research

Desired characteristics and assumptions of a contact tracing system

DP3T protocol

Thank you to this week's sponsor Trail of Bits

In a recent blog post, ToB announced some important updates to Echidna, their smart contract fuzzer. Echidna is one of the tools that the team at Trail of Bits uses the most in their smart contract audits - it has been used in almost 35% of their smart contract audits over the past two years. Including the audits they did for MakerDAO, 0x, and Balancer.

In this update to the fuzzer, they have streamlined integration with complex Truffle projects and the tool now support smart contracts written in Vyper. Thay have also removed the need to write Echidna-specific tests and can automatically fuzz assert statements in Solidity.

For more about all these new features check out the blog all about it here: https://blog.trailofbits.com/2020/03/30/an-echidna-for-all-seasons/

Thanks again Trail of Bits.

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Mixnets and privacy technology with Claudia Diaz from Nym

Wed, 15 Apr 2020 15:00:00 +0100

In this episode, Anna catches up with Claudia Diaz, professor at KU Leuven and the Chief Science Officer at Nym Technology to learn about mixnets, the history of privacy technology and how there may be some opportunities for new privacy tech to emerge in this post-pandemic world.

Here is the contact tracing project that Claudia highlights in the episode:

Pan-European Privacy-Preserving Proximity Tracing

Analysis of DP3T

A big thank you to this week's sponsor Aztec!

Aztec makes private transactions easy for developers via its Privacy SDK, which removes the complexities of ZK proofs and note management. With Aztec network, you can build custom private assets as well as shields for ERC-20s. The team is now developing the ZK² Rollup, upgrade for this network, which adds ID privacy and improves throughput. Here is a blog post about it. Learn more at aztecprotocol.com or email hello@aztecprotocol.com for API keys. You can also find them on Twitter or [Telegram](t.me/aztecprotocol).

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Exploring FHE with Flavio Bergamaschi from IBM Research

Wed, 08 Apr 2020 15:00:00 +0100

In this episode, we chat with Flavio Bergamaschi from IBM research about Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE). FHE allows for computation on encrypted data. First developed in 2009 at IBM, this tech has long been the considered only theoretically possible. However, as we learn in the interview, there have been strides made in the last few years and we are starting to see FHE technology being used in some real world applications.

In this interview, we discuss the origin of the technology, what it is, how it can be combined with other cryptographic techniques such as MPC and ZKPs, and applications for FHE technology being explored today.

Here are some relevant links:

IBM's Open Source Homomorphic Encryption Library (HElib) v1.0.0

Towards a Homomorphic Machine Learning Big Data Pipeline for the Financial Services Sector

Homomorphic Training of 30,000 Logistic Regression Models

Homomorphically Securing AI at the Edge

Article on IBM's FHE work with a Brazilian bank

Episode 63: Proxy re-encryption and FHE with NuCypher

Nigel Smart on Multi-Party Computation: From Theory to Practice

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Halo with Sean Bowe and Daira Hopwood from ECC

Wed, 01 Apr 2020 15:00:00 +0100

In this episode, we catch up with Sean Bowe and Daira Hopwood from the Electric Coin Company to chat about Halo, a recursive proof composition that doesn't require a trusted setup. We cover the efficiency techniques used in Halo such as "nested amortization", how the protocol was developed, what some of the key findings are, and how it fits in with the other recent SNARK-based protocols.

We touch on the following material:

Sean Bowe on SNARKs, Trusted Setups & Elliptic Curve Cryptography

https://github.com/daira/tweedle

Halo whitepaper

Endomorphism

Latest recursive SNARKitecture with Izaak Meckler from O(1)Labs

Exploring the Fractal transparent SNARK construction

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ZKPs, Audits & Security with Benjamin Perez from Trail of Bits

Wed, 25 Mar 2020 15:00:00 +0100

In this week's episode, we chat with Benjamin Perez from Trail of Bits about zero knowledge proof systems and security. We touch on the evolution of the crypto tech auditing business, the new challenges that emerge in zero knowledge proof systems regarding security, some of the recent bugs and vulnerabilities found in zkp systems and more!

Here is our previous episode on this topic with JP of Trail of Bits

Here is some background on the zkp vulnerabilities mentioned.

An Empirical Analysis of Anonymity in Zcash

Remote Side-Channel Attacks on Anonymous Transactions

If you want to join the zkSummit 5 online event, happening on Marcch 31st at 7 am PST, 10am EST, 4pm CET, please buy a ticket for the crowdcast here: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/zksummit

Hope to see you there!

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Urbit with Galen Wolf-Pauly from Tlon

Wed, 18 Mar 2020 15:00:00 +0100

In this episode, we meet with Galen Wolf-Pauly from the Tlon Corporation to discuss the project Urbit. Urbit is an encrypted peer-to-peer network comprised of a deterministic operating system (Urbit OS / Arvo) and a secure, global identity layer (Urbit ID / Azimuth). The Urbit contributors have created new stack, built from the ground up as an integrated system with a focus on user experience.

It also describes itself as a personal server built from scratch.

For some additional links about the project, have a look here:

https://urbit.org/faq/

https://urbit.org/blog/urbit-and-the-blockchain/

https://urbit.org/blog/urbit-for-normies/

If you are interested in participanting in the now ONLINE version of the zkSummit - Sign up directly here: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/zksummit

You will then receive a link to an updated ticket page shortly.

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ZKPs in Ethereum with Vitalik Buterin & Justin Drake

Wed, 11 Mar 2020 15:00:00 +0100

In this episode, we catch up with Justin Drake and Vitalik Buterin from the Ethereum Foundation to chat about how zero knowledge proof systems are being used throughout the Eth1x and Eth2.0 stacks. We look at their applications for privacy and scalability throughout layer 1, layer 1.5 and layer 2, as well as explore some other emerging applications.

Here were some of the articles and ideas discussed:

5 ways to optimise zkps:

Remove the need for FFTs
Sparseness
Recursion
Custom gates
Hardware

Jacobian groups https://eprint.iacr.org/2020/196.pdf

Trilinear maps https://arxiv.org/abs/2002.07923

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Alistair and Jeff from Web3 on ZKPs & more

Wed, 04 Mar 2020 15:30:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, we sit down with Alistair Stewart and Jeff Burges, researchers at the Web3 Foundation, to dig into what they are working on, what they are thinking about at the moment, and how zero knowledge proofs can be used throughout the Polkadot ecosystem.

Here are some links and ressources to check out:

Thank you to this week's sponsor Trail of Bits

Check out the blog post describing how Manticore could have discovered the ENS bug here: https://blog.trailofbits.com/2020/03/03/manticore-discovers-the-ens-bug/

Thanks again Trail of Bits.

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Tarun and James talk Flash Loans & more

Wed, 26 Feb 2020 20:00:00 +0100

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/99

https://www.zeroknowledge.fm/61

https://www.zeroknowledge.fm/34

The tweet that Anna quotes in the episode is here -> https://twitter.com/bneiluj/status/1228757175595438080

If you want to join the zkSummit, happening on March 31st, Berlin, do get your application in here: https://forms.gle/WDhUCmowAEk2ymYa7

Thanks 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=21693548

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Isogenies with Luca De Feo

Wed, 19 Feb 2020 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, we take the podcast in a slightly different direction and dive into Isogenies - a topic at the cutting edge of cryptography. We look at how they are related to VDFs and randomness generation. Our guest, Luca de Feo, one of the co-inventor of SIDH, helps us get an understanding for what Isogenies - or morphisms of algebraic groups - really are.

Here are some useful links to check out:

https://sike.org/

https://isogeny.org/

https://vdfresearch.org/

Some visualizations:

https://isogenies.enricflorit.com/

Some blog posts:

https://blog.intothesymmetry.com/2019/07/on-isogenies-verifiable-delay-functions.html

https://www.esat.kuleuven.be/cosic/asiacrypt19-verifiable-delay-functions-from-supersingular-isogenies-and-pairings/

https://www.esat.kuleuven.be/cosic/elliptic-curves-are-quantum-dead-long-live-elliptic-curves/

https://www.esat.kuleuven.be/cosic/csidh-post-quantum-key-exchange-using-isogeny-based-group-actions/

https://www.esat.kuleuven.be/cosic/csi-fish-a-new-record-class-group-computation-and-fast-isogeny-based-signatures/

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zkSync and Redshift: Matter Labs update

Wed, 12 Feb 2020 15:00:00 +0100

In this week's episode of the podcast, we catch up with Alex Glukowski of Matter Labs to hear about zkSync, the latest iteration of their zkRollup implementation built to be a scaling and privacy engine for Ethereum. We also touch on the Redshift protocol, a new transparent zkSNARK system that emerged as a result of work on this system.

Here are a few links that we mention:

Previous episode on Matter Labs

ZkSync and Redshift

REDSHIFT: Transparent SNARKs from List Polynomial Commitment IOPs

Hotstuff paper

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Cosmos, IBC and ZKPs with Chris Goes

Wed, 05 Feb 2020 15:00:00 +0100

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 Celo

Diving into Cosmos with Sunny

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Exploring the Fractal transparent SNARK construction

Wed, 29 Jan 2020 15:00:00 +0100

This week, we explore the Fractal transparent SNARK construction with its authors Dev Ojha and Nick Spooner - both students of Alessandro Chiesa at UC Berkeley. We explore how Fractal works, how it improves on some of the earlier work on Sonic and Marlin, how it borrows from but differentiates itself from STARKs, as well as what they discovered while working on this paper about recursive SNARKs and what makes that property possible.

Here is some of the material we touch on:

Fractal Paper

Ariel Gabizon's episode

Eli Ben-sasson's episode

Marlin Paper

Digging into recursive snarks

Latest recursive SNARKitecture with Izaak Meckler from O(1)Labs

Thank you to this week's sponsor Trail of Bits

Just recently, a critical vulnerability was found in the certificate validation functionality on Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016/2019 This bug allows attackers to break the validation of trust in a wide variety of contexts, such as HTTPS and code signing - Trail of Bits has developed a PoC exploit and put up a website Whose Curve is it Anyway that let's users test whether or not they are vulnerable.

To learn more about this vulnerability and the Trail of Bits exploit, please check out this recent blog post entitled: Exploiting the Windows CryptoAPI Vulnerability. Also keep an eye on the ToB blog for security news and explanation pieces like this one.

Thanks again Trail of Bits

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Latest recursive SNARKitecture with Izaak Meckler from O(1)Labs

Wed, 22 Jan 2020 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, we catch up with Izaak Meckler from 0(1) Labs to talk about launching a recursive snark based incentivised test net, a recap of recursive SNARKs, updates on the working SNARKitecture, and a look at what's next for the project. We also touch on some new use-cases and ideas for how zkps may be a component in making computer programmes potentially more accountable to their users.

Please listen to our earlier episode with Izaak and Evan to get a full picture of 0(1)Labs and the Coda project

Here are a few of the other projects we mentioned!

ZEXE

Marlin

Fractal

Notes from the SNARKoconomicon at the zkSummit

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Dive into Plonk!

Wed, 15 Jan 2020 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, we learn more about Plonk with Ariel Gabizon and Zac Williamson from Aztec. PLONK is a recent highly efficient, universal SNARK construction. We explore what distinguishes Plonk from some other other new constructions including their focus on Lagrange-bases to deconstruct complex problem statements into simple polynomial identities.

This episode goes very deep and so we do recommend you check out a few of previous episodes to help you follow along! All mentioned can be found here along with the other deep zk-topic episodes: https://www.zeroknowledge.fm/zkseries

Here is Justin Drake Polynomial commitment schemes study club video, as well as videos from the zkSummit on Marlin and Supersonics

Ariel also mentions the [Bayer groth permutation argument](www0.cs.ucl.ac.uk/staff/J.Groth/MinimalShuffle.pdf) which influenced their work.

Thanks to this week's sponsor Nucypher!

On January 20th, NuCypher's incentivized testnet is launching on Coinlist. This incentivised testnet has the motto "Come and Stake It”!

If you are interested, be sure to pre-register now. Keep an eye on their blog for launch date, structure, and prize details. All winners will need to complete KYC/AML. Please go to [nucypher.com](nucypher.com) to sign up.

Thanks again Nucypher for sponsoring our show!

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Mixers with Tornado.cash

Wed, 08 Jan 2020 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, we chat with Roman Storm and Roman Semanov from Tornado.cash all about mixers. We explore what they are used for and how they work, how Zero Knowledge can be incorporated to provide more privacy, what the challenges are and what the future holds for the Tornado.Cash project.

Here are some episodes or resources we mention:

https://tornado.cash/

https://medium.com/@tornado.cash/tornado-cash-version-2-has-been-released-8c739d3706df

https://github.com/tornadocash

https://www.zeroknowledge.fm/50 (Episode with Zooko)

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So long 2019! What's next?

Wed, 01 Jan 2020 16:00:00 +0100

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/zkseries

Give 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!

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Exploring use-cases for zkps and zk standards with QEDIT

Wed, 25 Dec 2019 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna sits down with Daniel Benarroch and Aviv Zohar from QEDIT - a privacy software startup focused on bringing Zero Knowledge to enterprise customers. We chat about the power of zero knowledge proof systems, some of the emerging use cases using zk systems and The Zero Knowledge Standardization Effort.

Here are some links we mention:

Aviv's website

Hilbert's problems - twenty-three unsolved problems in mathematics presented in 1900

Give 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!

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Catch up with Zaki Manian from Tendermint

Wed, 18 Dec 2019 15:00:00 +0100

This week we catch up with Zaki Manian, Director at Tendermint, the company building Cosmos architecture, and co-founder of Iqlusion Validator. We chat about the blockchain in Silicon Valley, why SF loves DeFi, the challenge of balancing pragmatism and regulation with a decentralised ideology, the nuances of PoS systems, the wins of 2019 and what is on the horizon.

Here are links to a few things we discuss:

-Tarun Chitra's paper on how the existance of derivatives can undermine the security of a PoS system

-Blog post summarizing Tarun's paper here

-ZKValidator

Give 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!

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Centrifuge and zkSNARKs in action with Lucas Vogelsang

Wed, 11 Dec 2019 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, we catch-up our friend Lucas Vogelsang from Centrifuge. Centrifuge is an open, decentralized platform to connect the global financial supply chain. We chat about the journey Lucas took to co-founding this company, how privacy plays a role in his thinking and we discover what it means to be a project building with zkSNARKs today.

We touch on a few previous episodes including:

Thanks to this week's sponsor Nucypher!

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IPFS, Libp2p & Filecoin with Juan Benet

Wed, 04 Dec 2019 15:00:00 +0100

In this week's episode, we chat with Juan Benet, founder of Protocol Labs, about IPFS, Libp2p, and the much anticipated incentivised decentralised storage protocol Filecoin. We dig into the history of the Filecoin project, the gap in the “market” they are trying to fill, the challenges they have found in the development of the Filecoin protocol and the latest tech they are exploring.

Here are some helpful links:

https://protocol.ai/projects/#IPFS

Decentralised storage pt 1

Orient

Decentralised storage pt 2

Arweave Decentralised Storage episode

You can see some of the constraints and parameters for filecoin here:

Give 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/LtQQyKJV6r7LrSND7

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Alan Szepieniec on Hash Functions & Supersonic SNARKs

Wed, 27 Nov 2019 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, we catchup with Alan Szepieniec, a researchers at Nervos and co-author of the Supersonics paper & the Marvellous family of Hash Functions (which specify the Vision/Rescue cyphers). We chat about his past work in cryptography, how the Supersonics paper came to be, and dive into the new generation of hash functions emerging, including the Marvelous universe.

For more info, please have a look at these resources and past episodes!

Design of Symmetric-Key Primitives for Advanced Cryptographic Protocols (the Marvellous (Vision/Rescue) paper)
Transparent SNARKs from DARK Compilers (Supersonic paper)
On a Generalization of Substitution-Permutation Networks: The HADES Design Strategy - Competing designs for arithmetization-friendly hash functions
Starkad and Poseidon: New Hash Functions for Zero Knowledge Proof Systems
MiMC https://eprint.iacr.org/2016/492.pdf and attack https://eprint.iacr.org/2019/951.pdf
Jarvis and Friday, the first members of the Marvellous universe (may they rest in peace) https://eprint.iacr.org/2018/1098.pdf
... and the Groebner basis attack that killed them: https://eprint.iacr.org/2019/419.pdf

And here are some of the previous ZKP episodes that we mention:

If you like what we do:

Join us on Telegram

Support our Gitcoin Grant

Support us on the ZKPatreon

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Exploring Kusama, the Canary Chaos Network

Wed, 20 Nov 2019 16:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna chats with Fredrik and Nicole Zhu, Developer at Parity Technologies, about the experimental Polkadot Canary Network they call Kusama. We cover how Kusama was developed, the goals of this format and what launching a Chaos Canary Network is all about.

Here is a few more links:

https://twitter.com/kusamanetwork

https://kusama.network/

Zero Knowledge Podcast is also looking for some feedback!

Whether you are a long-time listener of the Zero Knowledge Podcast, or new to the show, we would love to hear from you!

Please share your feedback with us here: https://forms.gle/LtQQyKJV6r7LrSND7

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Exploring VDFs with Joseph Bonneau

Wed, 13 Nov 2019 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, we sit down with Joseph Bonneau, Assistant Professor at NYU and co-author on the Verifiable Delay Functions (VDFs) paper. We discuss VDFs, what they are, how they were developed and what they can be used for.

Here are a few links that we reference:

Blockchain 101: Randomness episode with Justin Drake

Verifiable Delay Functions by Dan Boneh, Joseph Bonneau, Benedikt Bünz, and Ben Fisch

vdfresearch.org

Numbers Game

A Programmer Solved a 20-Year-Old, Forgotten Crypto Puzzle

Bitcoin Book

Thank you to this week's sponsor Trail of Bits

Trail of bit recently released a blog post that might be interesting for our listeners who are concerned about privacy. The post is about the concept of 'Safe browsing'. Safe browsing claims to protect users by providing them with something called k-anonymity.

Recent security news suggests that the k-anonymity has failed at protecting user privacy in certain circumstances. This is the topic that Trail of Bits explores in the blog post. Find out more about how k-anonymity works and why it is insufficient here: https://blog.trailofbits.com/2019/10/30/how-safe-browsing-fails-to-protect-user-privacy/

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Mapping the Web3 stack with The Graph

Wed, 06 Nov 2019 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, we chat with Brandon Ramirez, Research Lead and co-founder of The Graph, about the problem the project is trying to solve, the fast evolving Layer1-Layer2 paradigm, the emerging group of Service Protocols, and how these projects interact with other elements of the Web3 stack.

Introduction of GraphQL

The Graph protocol design

Talk on trust-minimized services

More on Service Protocols from Arjun (NuCypher)

More on Service Protocols from Yondon (LivePeer)

Give us feedback!!

Whether you are a long-time listener of the Zero Knowledge Podcast, or new to the show, we would love to hear from you!

Please share your feedback with us here: https://forms.gle/LtQQyKJV6r7LrSND7

If you like what we do:

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TEEs with Yan Michalevsky from Anjuna

Wed, 30 Oct 2019 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, we chat with Yan Michalevsky, CTO & Co-founder, Anjuna Security about their work with TEEs, a continuation of topic we covered in episode 82 of this podcast. In this episode, we go deeper and cover Intel SGX vs AMD memory, the risk profiles, tooling for TEEs, how zk techniques can be used alongside TEEs, applications of enclaves and how these techniques are being optimized for.

Here are some of the ideas we covered:

A Comparison Study of Intel SGX and AMD Memory Encryption Technology".

CoSMIX: A Compiler-based System for Secure Memory Instrumentation and Execution in Enclaves

Talk on CoSMIX

Thank you to this week's sponsor O(1)Labs.

O(1)Labs is the company behind the Coda Protocol, the world’s first succinct blockchain, using recursive zero knowledge proofs to make cryptocurrency decentralized at scale.

If you aren’t yet clear on recursive zkps, have a listen to an episode we did on the topic of recursive snarks with the co-founders of o1labs last year - https://www.zeroknowledge.fm/54

The Coda Testnet is live in Beta and has been consistently one of the most active testnets in crypto today. You can join their community of engineers, cryptographers, researchers and builders by visiting codaprotocol.com. Sign up for their newsletter to receive updates on Testnet progress, Mainnet launch and their forthcoming developer sdk.

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Dan Boneh on the past, present & future of cryptography

Wed, 23 Oct 2019 15:00:00 +0100

In this, our special 100th episode of the Zero Knowledge Podcast, we caught up with Dan Boneh, professor and researcher in applied cryptography and computer security at Stanford. In this far-reaching conversation, we talk about Dan's background in the field of cryptography, how the field has evolved over the years, his work on cryptography & blockchain education, where zero knowledge research and SNARKs in particular fits into the field, some exciting new research coming out of the Applied Cryptography Group at Stanford, what cryptographic and engineering problems he thinks we should be focused on solving, and more.

This episode covered a lot of ground and even though we went overtime, there is still so much more to talk about. We hope to have Dan back on the show sometime soon!

In the meantime, here are some resources that might help you explore some of the topics covered:

If you like what we do:

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Post-Devcon5 catch-up with Tarun, James & Georgios

Wed, 16 Oct 2019 15:00:00 +0100

In this week's episode, Anna catches up with Tarun Chitra (Gauntlet Networks), James Prestwich (Summa) and Georgios Konstantopoulos on the last day of Devcon5 in Osaka. In this special 99th episode, we cover a broad range of topics from their Devcon take-aways, emerging ideas in the ecosystem, the latest in PoS systems, Roll-up and DeFi, to the explosion in zero knowledge research, and more.

We mention the following episodes, presentations and articles in our talk:

Thank you to this week's sponsor Trail of Bits

Trail of Bits shared their review of this year's IACR Crypto Conference on the Trail of Bits blog. They highlighted some of the major themes of the conference, including the importance of getting basic cryptographic primitives right and the ascendance of cryptographic tools for privacy-preserving computation such as Zero-knowledge proofs, secure multiparty computation, and secure messaging systems.

For more on their thoughts from the conference and what they see on the horizon in their industry, check out the blog post here: https://blog.trailofbits.com/2019/09/11/crypto-2019-takeaways/

Our very own Zero Knowledge Summit is happening on Oct 26th. Spend the day with some of the best researchers and thinkers working on Zero Knowledge topics. Get your application in to attend here: https://forms.gle/ZouC15vhTguZ5azq9

If you like what we do:

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MimbleWimble pt 2: Beam Protocol

Wed, 09 Oct 2019 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna sits down with with Alexander Zaidelson and Alex Romanov from BEAM - a Mimblewimble based privacy coin. We discuss how this implementation of the MimbleWimble protocol differs from Grin, how the two groups work together, funding protocol development, how the Beam business model works, and the future of the protocol.

Here is our previous episode about Grin

Here are a few links of topics we discuss:

MimbleWimble Whitepaper

Beam Position Paper

Thank you to our sponsor this week Streamr.

Streamr has just launched their global pub/sub network for machine data. Unlike a cloud based data pipeline, the Streamr Network runs peer-to peer, in a system that offers a smart balance between high privacy and low latency as well as MQTT support.

If you want to start using it today, just visit streamr.network.

For more on the Streamr offering, have a listen to the episode we did last year with their co-founder Henri Pihkala

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MimbleWimble pt 1: Grin with Daniel Lehnberg

Wed, 02 Oct 2019 19:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, we chat with Daniel Lehnberg about Grin - an implementation of the MimbleWimble privacy protocol. We cover the story behind MimbleWimble, how Grin first came to be, and how this technology works. We also look back at how this protocol came to be as well as were Daniel sees it going.

Here are a few links of topics we discuss:

MimbleWimble Whitepaper

Grin Tech

Step by step walkthrough of Grin transactions

What’s inside a Grin transaction file

Grin’s monetary model

Slides and talks from grincon0 in Berlin, including Cuckoo Cycle Proof of Work

Thank you to our sponsor this week Aragon One.

If you love working with talented designers building smart user interfaces, or if you are simply excited about working on making DAOs easy and accessible to create & manage, then you should check out Aragon One’s available jobs. For more about the Head of Support role, or available jobs in general, check out https://aragon.one/jobs

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Eli Ben-Sasson on the latest from StarkWare and the origin of mathematical ideas

Wed, 25 Sep 2019 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna catches up with Eli Ben Sasson to talk about the latest from StarkWare, the explosion of new research within the zero knowledge space and the origin of new mathematical ideas.

Recorded right after the StarkWare Sessions in tel aviv, and during a period of incredible development in new cryptographic zk techniques and protocol proposals.

Here are some of the papers and ideas we cover:

STARK-friendly hash competition
Succinct Arguments in the Quantum Random Oracle Model
More resources about StarkWare and STARK technology
Henri Pointcaré - Science and Hypothesis
The chapter mentioned is "On the Nature of Mathematical Reasoning"

As mentioned in the intro, the Zero Knowledge Summit is happening on Oct 26th in San Francisco

If you are a dev, researcher or founder working on these topics and want to attend, please submit your application here: https://forms.gle/bZvaywbvCe2dnBkD7

Here are some impressions from the last one!

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zkVM with Oleg Andreev

Wed, 18 Sep 2019 15:00:00 +0100

In this episode, we chat with the Oleg Andreev, a protocol architect from Stellar, about zkVM, the zero-knowledge virtual machine.

In this episode, we learn a little bit about the history of Stellar, Chain and the zkVM project. We touch on the general concepts of VMs as well as compare zkVM with some other zero knowledge protocols like ZCash and ZEXE.

Some other episodes you may want to check out before listening to this episode:

Thank you to this week's sponsor Apograf!

Apograf has built an extensive collection of open access research papers on cryptography, distributed computer systems and blockchain

If you are interested in finding out more, check out welcome.apograf.io or this link to a curated list of cryptocurrency course materials: https://apograf.io/c/cryptocurrency_class

If you like what we do:

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Gnosis & Full Node with Friederike Ernst

Wed, 11 Sep 2019 15:00:00 +0100

In this episode, Anna chats with Friederike Ernst from Gnosis about their work on prediction markets, wallet security, exchanges, and the co-working space Full Node in Berlin - a hub for the blockchain community that Friederike spearheaded.

Some links that were mentioned:

sight.pm

Phil Daian's front-running article

slow.trade

Full Node Berlin

Thank you to this week's sponsor [Trail of Bits](trailofbits.com)

Trail of Bits recently releases their smart contract audit executive summary. They aggregated the work of 23 smart contract audits and found that 78% of high impact, easily exploitable findings are discoverable with automated analysis tools, 50% of all findings will never be found with automated tools, and Unit testing has no impact on security

For more on this audit, have a look at their latest blog post

https://blog.trailofbits.com/2019/08/08/246-findings-from-our-smart-contract-audits-an-executive-summary/

If you like what we do:

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Light clients & ZKPs with Celo

Wed, 04 Sep 2019 15:00:00 +0100

In this episode, we chat with the Marek Olszewski & Kobi Gurkan from Celo about their proof-of-stake protocol, their work on making a mobile-ready light client, how zero knowledge proofs can help to make a light client “lighter”, why this would be desirable and what potential such a construction could unlock.

Some ideas and episodes:

BLS signatures

Coda Episode

Zexe Episode

Bridges and xDai with Igor

Thank you to our sponsor this week Aragon One.

If you love working with talented designers building smart user interfaces, or if you are simply excited about working on making DAOs easy and accessible to create & manage, then you should check out Aragon One’s available jobs. For more about the Frontend Engineer role, or available jobs in general, check out https://aragon.one/jobs

If you like what we do:

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Jorge Izquierdo talks Aragon and DAOs

Wed, 28 Aug 2019 15:00:00 +0100

In this episode, Anna catches up with Jorge Izquierdo from Aragon One to talk about the beginning of the Aragon project, the history of DAOs, as well as the challenges and potential in these new organisational entities.

Here are some links we mentioned:

What is a DAO

The ZK ep with Griff Green on The DAO

Vermont Legal DAO Framework on Open Law

Thank you to this week's sponsor Apograf!

Apograf has built an extensive collection of open access research papers on cryptography, distributed computer systems and blockchain

If you are interested in finding out more, check out welcome.apograf.io or this link to a curated list of cryptocurrency course materials: https://apograf.io/c/cryptocurrency_class

If you like what we do:

Join us on Telegram - https://t.me/joinchat/B_81tQ57-ThZg8yOSx5gjA

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Near Protocol's focus on UX

Wed, 21 Aug 2019 15:00:00 +0100

In this episode, we sit down with Alexander Skidanov and Illia Polosukhin from Near Protocol to find out about their work. We discuss what brought them to develop Near Protocol, how they used their whiteboard sessions to learn from the best people in the space, the challenge of blockchain UX, and what has motivated them to become one of the fastest moving projects around.

Links:

Near for developers: https://studio.nearprotocol.com/

Whiteboard session: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9tzQn_TEuFWweVbfTbaedFdwVrvaYPq4

Thank you to this week's sponsor [Trail of Bits](trailofbits.com)

For more on this audit, have a look at their latest blog post

https://blog.trailofbits.com/2019/08/08/246-findings-from-our-smart-contract-audits-an-executive-summary/

If you like what we do:

Join us on Telegram

Support our Gitcoin Grant

Support us on the ZKPatreon

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MPC systems with Nigel Smart

Wed, 14 Aug 2019 15:00:00 +0100

In this week's episode, we chat with Nigel Smart, Professor of Cryptology at KU Leuven and the co-founder of Unbound Tech, about his background in cryptology, the history of MPC systems, MPC systems in the real world, and how MPC stacks up versus other related cryptography and privacy techniques.

He helps us better understand where MPC comes from, the power of this technology and shares some emerging MPC research topics that he is excited about.

Here are some of the papers or concepts mentioned in this episode:

Our MPC episode

GarbledCircuit

Yao's Millionaire Problem

First FHE paper

Spdz protocol

MPC in the head

NIST Post-Quantum Cryptography Initiative

Thank you to our sponsor this week StarkWare

StarkWare will be presenting the StarkWare Sessions - on Sept 16th in Tel Aviv. The event will bring together some of the brightest minds in zero knowledge research from both the academic and application spheres. Topics that will be discussed are self-custodial trading, STARKs for Layer 1, STARK-friendly hash functions and other cool things you can do with STARK proofs.

Use the code Zkpodcast for 20% off the tickets - https://starkware.co/starkware-sessions/

If you like what we do:

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Eth2.0 update and a look at Libra with Raul Jordan

Wed, 07 Aug 2019 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, we invite Raul Jordan from Prysmatic Labs back to our show. He shares an update about Prysmatic Labs and ETH2.0 development. We cover some of the latest innovations, some existing challenges, timelines, implementation challenges and more.

We also touch on an article that Raul published about the Libra protocol, and talk about how it compares to the public blockchains we all know and love. You can find this here: https://www.tokendaily.co/blog/a-close-look-at-libra-s-source-code

For some more info, please check out the following:

Thank you to our sponsor this week Aragon One.

If you love working with talented designers building smart user interfaces, or if you are simply excited about working on making DAOs easy and accessible to create & manage, then you should check out Aragon One’s available jobs. For more about the Frontend Engineer role, or available jobs in general, check out aragon.one/jobs.

If you like what we do:

Join us on Telegram - https://t.me/joinchat/B_81tQ57-ThZg8yOSx5gjA

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Support us on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/zeroknowledge

Accumulators with Ben Fisch

Wed, 31 Jul 2019 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, we chat with Ben Fisch, Stanford PhD student working in Dan Boneh's applied cryptography group. In our conversation, we dig into accumulators, Merkle trees & vector commitments.

We also learn a bit about the RSA Accumulator Paper - entitled Batching Techniques for Accumulators with Applications to IOPs and Stateless Blockchains - that he co-authored with Benedikt Bünz and touch on some of the ways these RSA accumulators could potentially be used in a blockchain context.

Here are a few previous episodes that might help you prep for this interview:

Merkle Trees https://www.zeroknowledge.fm/57

MPCs https://www.zeroknowledge.fm/60

Here are a few concepts and links we mention:

Thank you to our sponsor this week StarkWare

Use the code Zkpodcast for 20% off the tickets - > https://starkware.co/starkware-sessions/

If you like what we do:

Join us on Telegram

Support our Gitcoin Grant

Support us on the ZKPatreon

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The road to DEXs with Will Harborne

Wed, 24 Jul 2019 15:30:00 +0100

This week, we chat with Will Harborne, co-founder of Ethfinex and previously at Bitfinex, about the path from traditional exchanges, to centralised crypto exchanges and more recently DEXs. We explore what the role of the DEXs really is and what we could imagine seeing in the future of the space.

Some links and articles mentioned:

If you like what we do:

Join us on Telegram

Support our Gitcoin Grant

Support us on the ZKPatreon

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Ariel Gabizon on his work with zkSNARKs and the beauty of math

Wed, 17 Jul 2019 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, we welcome Ariel Gabizon, previously a Electric Coin Company (Zcash) engineer and now a cryptographer working on zero knowledge constructions for Filecoin.

Ariel has worked closely with some of the most exciting projects and researchers pushing the boundaries on zero knowledge research. He is also the person who discovered the Zcash bug (along with Sean Bowe and Zooko). In this episode, we explore his journey into the space, what inspires him, and what exciting new paradigms he is exploring today!

Here are some of the articles and topics he mentions:

Thank you to our sponsor this week StarkWare

Use the code Zkpodcast for 20% off the tickets - > https://starkware.co/starkware-sessions/

If you like what we do:

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Zexe: Decentralized Private Computation with Pratyush Mishra

Wed, 10 Jul 2019 15:00:00 +0100

In this episode, we sit down with Pratyush Mishra, CS PhD Student at UC Berkeley and one of the co-authors on the Zexe project, to discuss the Zexe protocol. We cover how this paper came to be, what it aims to solve, how it works, and how it could be used. Recorded at ZCon1 in Split

For more on the protocol, check out:

Zexe: Enabling Decentralized Private Computation Paper https://eprint.iacr.org/2018/962.pdf
Zexe Library - https://github.com/scipr-lab/zexe
This talk by Pratyush at SBC '19: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jr4Es9s1Iog

Our ZK Study Club session on Zexe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RItcNRChrzI&t=4s

Thank you to our sponsor this week Aragon One.

If you love working with talented designers building smart user interfaces, or if you are simply excited about working on making DAOs easy and accessible to create & manage, then you should check out Aragon One’s available jobs. For more about the Frontend Engineer role, or available jobs in general, check out aragon.one/jobs.

If you like what we do:

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Zcash community & more with Amber Baldet

Wed, 03 Jul 2019 15:00:00 +0100

In this episode, we sit down at the Zcon1 Conference in Croatia with Amber Baldet, CEO and co-founder of Clovyr, former JPMorgan Blockchain Program Lead, and board member of the Zcash Foundation. We chat about about her road to the blockchain space, the problems she aims to solve with her work on Clovyr, some updates about the Zcash community & foundation, the state of zero knowledge research and the potential and challenges around the implementation of zero knowledge systems in the real world.

Thanks again to this week's sponsor Neufund. If you’re interested in how Neufund's open-source technical environment is enabling tokenization of real-world assets or the QA position, check their GitHub profile at github.com/neufund or the Neufund job offers at neufund.org/careers

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From Warp Sync to SPREE with Polkadot's Rob Habermeier

Wed, 26 Jun 2019 15:00:00 +0100

In this episode, Anna chats with Robert Habermeier, one of the co-founders of Polkadot and an engineer at Parity Technology, about his early experience with Rust and cryptography, as well as the work he did at Parity on Warp Sync and Lightclients. We then discuss how this helped inspire some of the concepts and design of the Polkadot protocol. We also chat about some of the exciting concepts that he is discovering along the way - such as new architectures to promote interchain security, Trust Wormholes and more!

For more about what we discussed, check out these links:

Polkadot: https://polkadot.network/about/

Warp sync: https://wiki.parity.io/Warp-Sync

Lightclient https://www.parity.io/what-is-a-light-client/

Special thanks to this week's sponsor: Trail of Bits

Trail of Bits is offering a service for young technology companies who could use expert security support, but aren't quite at a stage to hire their own team. The service includes staffing a #security channel to answer questions, review high risk PRs, and integrate the latest in continuous testing into your build pipeline. Visit https://crytic.io/ or www.trailofbits.com for help securing your product.

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TEEs, SGX and the Graphene project

Wed, 19 Jun 2019 15:15:00 +0100

In this week's episode we chat with two of the people behind the Graphene project, Chia-Che Tsai of Texas A&M University and Golem developer Lukasz Glen, about TEEs, Intel® Software Guard Extensions (Intel® SGX), and the way the Graphene project aims to make it easier for devs to interact with these hardware enclaves.

Graphene started as a research project at Stony Brook University, led by Chia-Che Tsai and Don Porter, about emerging hardware platforms. In 2015, Intel Labs recognized the potential for Graphene to be an open-source compatibility layer for Intel® SGX, and has contributed to Graphene development since. With Golem and Invisible Things Lab (ITL), the Graphene project has also been now used within a decentralised blockchain context.

The security around TEEs is a hotly debated topic (at least in our community) and we delve into the questions around these with our guests. That said, we do see this as the first of a series of episodes where we explore the challenges and advantages of using TEEs.

https://grapheneproject.io/

Thank you to this week's sponsor Apograf! Apograf has built an extensive collection of open access research papers on cryptography, distributed computer systems and blockchain

If you are interested in finding out more, check out welcome.apograf.io or this link to a curated list of cryptocurrency course materials: https://apograf.io/c/cryptocurrency_class

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P2P Messaging & Scuttlebutt with Dominic Tarr

Wed, 12 Jun 2019 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, we meet with Dominic Tarr, a protocol designer and security auditor at Least Authority who works on Scuttlebutt - a decentralized secure gossip platform. We discuss P2P messaging and the challenges of sending messages within a p2p network in a truly decentralised manner.

Here are some links we mention:

https://github.com/ssbc/ssb-server

https://www.allthingsdistributed.com/files/amazon-dynamo-sosp2007.pdf

For more on Scuttlebutt, please have a look at these resources.

https://www.scuttlebutt.nz/

For more on Dominic, check out this article in the Atlantic - https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/05/meet-the-counterantidisintermediationists/527553/

If you like what we do:

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On the Frontiers of Validation with Bison Trails

Wed, 05 Jun 2019 15:00:00 +0100

In this week's episode, Anna sits down with Joe Lallouz and Aaron Henshaw from Bison Trails - a validator infrastructure company based in NYC. Recorded during the NYC blockchain week, we chatted about the latest PoS systems to launch, what it means to be a validator, how the incentive structures can impact the ecosystem development and potential futures for this uncharted validator landscape.

Thank you to this week's sponsor - Event Horizon

Event Horizon is a Energy Blockchain event happening in Berlin on June 19-20 . The event is packed with everything you need to learn about how Blockchain tech can impact the Energy sector, it features the people making this happen, both from the engineers building the Ethereum based Energy Web Chain and the energy sector innovators looking to bring this tech into their industry.

If you are interested in finding out more, you can use our special ZeroKnowledge discount at www.eventhorizonsummit.com/ZeroKnowledge.

We are also giving away two free tickets - just ping us on twitter or in our telegram channel with the hashtag #EventHorizon #EH19 for your chance to win these!

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Privacy & P4 with Liz and Chris from Least Authority

Wed, 29 May 2019 18:00:00 +0100

In this week's episode, we sit down with Liz Steininger and Chris Wood from Least Authority to discuss the state of privacy today, the case for private crypto subscription payments and their P4 proposal. The Private Periodic Payment Protocol, P4, uses the shielded account feature of Zcash to provide a fully decentralised method for recurring end-to-end private cryptocurrency payments.

Links mentioned:

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Diving into Cosmos with Sunny

Wed, 22 May 2019 15:00:00 +0100

In this week's episode, Anna sits down with Sunny Aggarwal to talk about his journey into blockchain, the beginnings of Blockchain at Berkeley, how he discovered Cosmos, his role as a validator and as a podcast co-host.

We discuss:

Coursera course that Sunny mentions https://www.coursera.org/learn/money-banking
Blockchain at Berkeley https://blockchain.berkeley.edu/
Cosmos https://cosmos.network/
Sikka https://www.sikka.tech/
Epicenter Podcast https://epicenter.tv/

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Funding Blockchain Development with Kevin Owocki

Wed, 15 May 2019 15:00:00 +0100

In this week, we sit down with Kevin Owocki, co-founder of gitcoin, to have a look at how open source blockchain development is funded. We cover the different methods for funding open source work, what has worked in the past, what hasn’t, how funding blockchain projects can be quite different and what people are experimenting with today.

We discuss:

EIP1337
Roads and Bridges: The Unseen Labor Behind Our Digital Infrastructure
A handy guide to financial support for open source
Funding through foundations
Grants programs
Crowdfunding
Token payments
Founder rewards/block rewards

Thank you to this week's sponsor Apograf! Apograf has built an extensive collection of open access research papers on cryptography, distributed computer systems and blockchain

If you are interested in finding out more, check out apograf.io or this link to a curated list of cryptocurrency course materials: https://apograf.io/c/cryptocurrency_class

If you like what we do:

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Support us on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/zeroknowledge

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Sean Bowe on SNARKs, Trusted Setups & Elliptic Curve Cryptography

Wed, 08 May 2019 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, we welcome special guest Sean Bowe. Sean is an engineer at the Electric Coin Company and the author of the Sprout and Sapling Zcash trusted set ups and much of the underlying cryptography of the protocol. We had a chance to chat about his history, what got him into the topic, some of the joys & challenges to working with SNARKs, and what ideas are inspiring him.

We also covered the story of Zcash and the Powers of Tau trusted set up, MPCs, the story of the bug, SONICs, ZEXE, the BLS12-381 Elliptic Curve Construction

Early on in the episode, we mention the Radiolab episode about the zcash trusted setup: https://archive.org/details/radiolab_podcast17crypto_zcash_ceremony

Questions from the audience: https://twitter.com/AnnaRRose/status/1122818062061797376

We also mention some of our previous ZK centric episodes that can be found here: https://www.zeroknowledge.fm/zkseries

Special thanks to this week's sponsor: Trail of Bits

Trail of Bits is offering a service for young technology companies who could use expert security support, but aren't quite at a stage to hire their own team. The service includes staffing a #security channel to answer questions, review high risk PRs, and integrate the latest in continuous testing into your build pipeline. Visit www.trailofbits.com for help securing your product.

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Exploring Aztec with Zac Williamson

Wed, 01 May 2019 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, we sit down with Zac Williamson of the Aztec Protocol to discuss zero knowledge tools, range proofs, the Aztec Protocol, the different approaches to bringing privacy to ethereum, and how standards in the space are emerging.

Check out Zac's talk at the ZK Summit for more: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIg2aJQqNNc&feature=youtu.be

Here was our episode with Benedikt Bunz talking about Bulletproofs

As well as Zokrates and Matter Labs

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Blockchain 101: Randomness and Random Beacons with Justin Drake

Wed, 24 Apr 2019 15:00:00 +0100

In this week's episode, we sit down with Justin Drake, researcher at the Ethereum Foundation, to discuss randomness in blockchain, how it can be created and what adversarial models exist. We also discuss the random beacon and how that concept has evolved in the development of ETH2.0

Our initial definition of randomness in cryptography comes largely from this article by cloudflare: https://blog.cloudflare.com/randomness-101-lavarand-in-production/

Check out Justin Drake's DevCon 4 talk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqL_cMlPjOI with the slides https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1VKBMcEMaY6PQjDJK4yAFtxn0vD41eYXW05YA3vdTBsI/edit.

Explore vdfresearch.org for more on the topic of VDF

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J. Ayo Akinyele Talks Lightning Network & Building Bolt

Wed, 17 Apr 2019 15:15:00 +0100

In this week's episode, we invite J. Ayo Akinyele to the podcast. Ayo is a co-Founder of Bolt Labs which will be focused on developing the Bolt Protocol, a privacy preserving layer 2 approach for anonymous micropayments, which is similar to Lightning Network.

Bolt, which stands for Blind, Offchain, Lightweight, Transactions, could be used for both scaling zcash or providing a scalable privacy solution for other chains.

Here are some additional resources:

Original Bolt Paper by Matthew Green and Ian Meiers: https://eprint.iacr.org/2016/701.pdf
Bolt description the Electric Coin Company's blog: https://z.cash/blog/bolt-private-payment-channels/
Ayo was on the podcast before in our Zcon0 episode: https://www.zeroknowledge.fm/32 (he features around the 17 minute mark)

Here is some additional information about the Lightning Network and the projects Casa Nodes and Bitrefill which are mentioned in the episode.

Special thanks to this week's sponsor: Trail of Bits

Trail of Bits is offering a service for young technology companies who could use expert security support, but aren't quite at a stage to hire their own team. The service includes staffing a #security channel to answer questions, review high risk PRs, and integrate the latest in continuous testing into your build pipeline. Visit www.trailofbits.com for help securing your product.

If you like what we do:

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zkSNARKs for Scale with Matter Labs

Wed, 10 Apr 2019 15:00:00 +0100

In this week's episode, we sit down with the Alex Vlasov and Alex Gluchowski from Matter Labs to discuss their approach to using zkSNARKs for scaling the transaction processing capacity of Ethereum. We chat about the inspiration for the Roll-up project, the Matter Labs implementation, their proposed Franklin network and more.

To learn about the project check out: https://matter-labs.io/ and their github

If you want to find out more about the Roll-up project mentioned, it can be found here: https://github.com/barryWhiteHat/roll_up

If you like what we do:

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Getting Radicle with Julian Arni

Wed, 03 Apr 2019 16:30:00 +0100

In this week's episode, we speak with Julian Arni about Radicle, a decentralized alternative to Github built on IPFS. Radicle is both a programming language and a set of tools to enable decentralised open source software development. We go deep into this project, it's hope to impact open source development and also touch on the societal questions that inspired it.

Here is a short tweet that summarizes it well.

The project can be found on twitter and website

If you like what we do:

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Digging into DAI with Rune Christensen from Maker

Wed, 27 Mar 2019 16:00:00 +0100

In this interview, we chat with Rune Christensen from MakerDAO about stablecoins, MakerDAO’s take on this concept, the peg and how this is maintained, security, oracles and more.

Here are a few of the terms that we discuss in the episode:

DAI: a crypto asset-backed token pegged to the USD — it is designed to maintain a stable value.
MKR: Valuebearing, tradeable token. As a governance token, MKR holders have the responsibility of making risk based decisions that will influence the future health of the system.
CDP: The MakerDAO Collateralized Debt Position (CDP) is a smart contract which runs on the Ethereum blockchain. It is a core component of the Dai Stablecoin System whose purpose is to create Dai in exchange for collateral which it then holds in escrow until the borrowed Dai is returned.

The best resource we found to explain the CDP is here: https://medium.com/cryptolinks/maker-for-dummies-a-plain-english-explanation-of-the-dai-stablecoin-e4481d79b90

Thanks again to this week's sponsor Neufund. If you’re interested in how Neufund's open-source technical environment is enabling tokenization of real-world assets or the VP of Engineering position, check their GitHub profile at github.com/neufund or the Neufund job offer at neufund.org/careers

If you like what we do:

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Decentralised Storage with Arweave

Wed, 20 Mar 2019 17:00:00 +0100

In this week's episode, we sit down with Sam Williams of Arweave to chat about their novel approach to decentralised storage. We discuss incentivising data storage, the concept of the permaweb, and how to properly decentralise the internet archives.

If you like what we do:

Join us on Telegram - https://t.me/joinchat/B_81tQ57-ThZg8yOSx5gjA

Support our Gitcoin Grant - https://gitcoin.co/grants/38/zero-knowledge-podcast

Support us on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/zeroknowledge

Or directly here:

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Conversations at EthCC

Wed, 13 Mar 2019 16:15:00 +0100

In this week's special episode, Anna pops over to EthCC - the Ethereum Community Conference - to find out what's on people's minds. Speaking with Boris Mann, Maria Paula Fernandez, Hudson Jameson, Sunny Aggarwal, Yalda Mousavinia, and Peter Mauric, these conversations centre around decision making in the decentralised space, the role of transparency, the different organisations and groups that have formed in Ethereum to help make decisions, how compensation can play a role, the code of conduct, the importance of signaling and much more.

Here are some of the groups or initiatives or talks mentioned in the podcast:

If you are looking for some further context for this episode, you may want to check out some previous episodes about governance related topics:

Special thanks to this week's sponsor: Trail of Bits

Trail of Bits is looking for companies writing Ethereum smart contracts that could use their security help! If you would like to test out their continuous assurance system, fill out the signup form on crytic.io

If you like what we do:

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Formal Verification with Martin Lundfall

Wed, 06 Mar 2019 15:00:00 +0100

In this week's episode, we sit down with Martin Lundfall from Dapphub & MakerDAO to discuss formal verification - a topic request that comes directly from the Zero Knowledge audience.

We cover what formal verification is, where it makes sense, where it doesn't, the k-framework, how different this approach is to the "move fast and break things" approach, and much more.

Here are some of articles and videos we mention:

Thanks to Web3Foundation for being our sponsor on this week's episode. For more about the Web3Foundation grants, check out their blog: https://medium.com/web3foundation/introducing-web3-foundation-grants-442f6753926a and grants.web3.foundation

If you like what we do:

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ETH2.0 Update With Danny Ryan

Wed, 27 Feb 2019 15:00:00 +0100

In this week's episode, Anna and Fredrik chat with Danny Ryan from the Ethereum Foundation about the ETH2.0 project. We cover how ETH2.0 came to be, how it works, the new roadmap, and where the project is headed.

Useful resources:

Our last episode on ETH2.0 with Prysmatic Labs
ETH2.0 Specs
Ethresearch Forum
Barry Whitehat's Rollup Project
Cosmos' Game of Stakes

Our event, the Zero Knowledge Summit is happening on March 22 - if you are a dev, researcher or founder working on these topics and want to attend, please submit your application here: https://goo.gl/forms/e0DpeHO6kyPVMlIg2

If you like what we do:

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Support our Gitcoin Grant - https://gitcoin.co/grants/38/zero-knowledge-podcast

Support us on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/zeroknowledge

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Bridges, xDai and Burner Wallets with Igor & Austin

Wed, 20 Feb 2019 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, we sit down with Igor Barinov from POA Network and Austin Griffith from Gitcoin Labs to discuss bridges, xDai - the new side-chain where DAI is the native token - and Austin's super simple Burner Wallet.

Bridges are a wide topic and with this conversation we try to give some insight into what they are and how they work. We look at xDai as one concrete example of such a bridged side-chain and Austin talks about his burner wallet that can provide a super snappy nice UX thanks to running on this faster side-chain.

A few resources to check out:

Burner Wallet website and Github Repo
xDai Website

As mentioned in the intro, the Zero Knowledge Summit is happening on March 22 - if you are a dev, researcher or founder working on these topics and want to attend, please submit your application here: https://goo.gl/forms/e0DpeHO6kyPVMlIg2)

If you like what we do:

Join us on Telegram - https://t.me/joinchat/B_81tQ57-ThZg8yOSx5gjA

Support our Gitcoin Grant - https://gitcoin.co/grants/38/zero-knowledge-podcast

Support us on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/zeroknowledge

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Unleashing Melon into the wild with Jenna Zenk

Wed, 13 Feb 2019 15:00:00 +0100

In this week’s episode, Anna sits down with Jenna Zenk, the CTO of Melonport, to discuss her background, the path to the melon protocol, the challenges of building sophisticated smart contracts and what it means to release a decentralised protocol into the wild. This was recorded soon after the M1 conference in Zug.

A few resources to check out:

Thanks again to this week's sponsor Neufund. If you’re interested in how Neufund has linked legal documents with smart contracts, check their GitHub profile at github.com/neufund or join Neufund on their Telegram channel.

If you like what we do:

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Support our Gitcoin Grant - https://gitcoin.co/grants/38/zero-knowledge-podcast

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Proxy re-encryption and FHE with NuCypher

Wed, 06 Feb 2019 15:00:00 +0100

In this episode, we sit down with Bogdan Opanchuk and John "Tux" Pacific from NuCypher to chat about their threshold proxy-encryption technology, how the project aims to provide privacy infrastructure, dig into their nuFHE scheme and explore far along FHE research, the cryptographic "holy grail", really is.

Here are some papers we mention in the podcast:

If you are interested in applying for the Zero Knowledge Summit, you can do so here: https://goo.gl/forms/QDuvwivUOzAH5P6h1

Just keep in mind, the event has limited spots and we are expecting a highly technical audience.

If you like what we do:

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Support our Gitcoin Grant - https://gitcoin.co/grants/38/zero-knowledge-podcast

Support us on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/zeroknowledge

Or directly here:

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The path to an ERC standard

Wed, 30 Jan 2019 16:15:00 +0100

In this episode, we discuss tokens, token standards and the sometimes confusing ERC process. We cover some of the most popular token standards and discuss what it takes to design a standard and get this accepted by the community. We also have a chat with Matt Lockyer about his experience submitting ERC998

To see the full list of ERCs in draft and final state, check out https://eips.ethereum.org/erc

Catch up with Matt Lockyer on Twitter or Medium

Thank you to our sponsor Least Authority.

If you would be interested in using P4 - the Private Periodic Payment Protocol - for subscription payments with your token or blockchain GDPR-compliant, reach out to Least Authority P4@leastauthority.com.

A more detailed specification can be found here —> P4 paper

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Statistical modeling of PoS systems with Tarun Chitra

Wed, 23 Jan 2019 15:00:00 +0100

In this episode, we chat with Tarun Chitra about a broad range on topics, from his work on early non-blockchain ASICs, to making models in high frequency trading, and the nuances of statistical modeling of PoS systems in blockchain.

Tarun's new company Gauntlet is building a simulation platform for crypto networks to help developers understand how decisions about security, governance and consensus mechanisms are likely to affect network activity and asset value.

Here are a few of the articles that we discuss:

We also mention a previous episode with Axel Ericsson from Vest that you can find here --> https://www.zeroknowledge.fm/49

For a bit more about Tarun, follow him on Twitter, or check out this Vice Article about his past work at D.E. Shaw Research creating simulation models of glass molecules.

Special thanks to this week's sponsor: Trail of Bits.

If you want to find out more about JP Smith's extreme security challenge we mentioned at the beginning of this episode, you can find his write-up on the Trail of Bits blog here --> What do La Croix, octonions, and Second Life have in common?

If you like what we do:

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Cryptography 101: Multi-Party Computations

Wed, 16 Jan 2019 16:00:00 +0100

In this week's episode, Anna and Fredrik give a general introduction to MPCs, go over a few examples of MPCs in action, compare them with other cryptographic concepts, try to pronounce "fully homomorphic encryption" properly, and more!

Here are some of the material that we reference:

Thanks again to this week's sponsor Aragon.

To find out more about Aracon, the first Aragon community conference happening on January 29-30th in Berlin visit aracon.one

To the listeners of Zero Knowledge Podcast, if you like what we do:

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STARKs & StarkWare with Eli and Alessandro

Wed, 09 Jan 2019 19:15:00 +0100

In this week's episode, we catch up with Eli Ben-Sasson and Alessandro Chiesa from StarkWare Industries. We talk about their longstanding academic work in theoretic & applied cryptography, how StarkWare came to be, the emergence of zkSNARKs and zkSTARKs, some of the differences between these different zero knowledge systems, dive into the specific features of STARKs (!) and what's coming next in the space.

For some background on the topics we cover in this episode, please check out the other episodes in our ZK Series

Here are a few papers we mentioned in the talk:

Zero coin: http://zerocoin.org/media/pdf/ZerocoinOakland.pdf

Zero cash: http://zerocash-project.org/paper

Follow Eli on Twitter: https://twitter.com/elibensasson?lang=en

To find out about our ZK Study Club, join the Zero Knowledge telegram group: https://t.me/joinchat/B_81tQ57-ThZg8yOSx5gjA

Special thanks to POA Network for being our sponsor on this episode. To learn more about threshold cryptography and how to use it, check out the latest POA Network Medium post :

https://medium.com/poa-network/tagged/hbbft

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Kicking off 2019 with Jutta Steiner

Wed, 02 Jan 2019 15:00:00 +0100

In this week's episode, we sit down with Jutta Steiner, our friend and Fredrik's CEO at Parity Technologies, to talk about her history in the space, the origin of Parity, the last year in blockchain, and what we see coming in 2019!

Here is the cryptography conference Fredrik mentioned:

https://cyber.stanford.edu/sbc19

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Merklize this! Merkle Trees & Patricia Tries

Wed, 26 Dec 2018 15:00:00 +0100

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In this week's episode, Anna and Fredrik dig into the topic of Merkle trees. We discuss the history of the concept, explore different kinds of Merkle trees, and touch on Radix trees & Patricia Merkle tries. We also look a bit at their usage in both Bitcoin and Ethereum.

The topic was a challenging one to explain without diagrams or visuals, so below we are sharing some resources we used in preperation for this episode. We will also be posting this on Github, please feel free to push additional links that might be relevant.

Let us know what you think about this episode, we would love to hear from you.

Get to know a Core Dev: Martin Holst Swende

Wed, 19 Dec 2018 15:00:00 +0100

In this episode, Fredrik sits down Martin, who is a Core Dev working on the Geth client and head of security for the Ethereum foundation. They chat about what got him into the space, his interest in security, his entry into blockchain development and, together, they offer some advice for devs wanting to get into this space.

Special thanks to POA Network for being our sponsor on this episode.

To find out more about their open source Verifiable Delay Function, or VDF, please check them out here: https://github.com/poanetwork/vdf

Follow Zero Knowledge on Twitter - @zeroknowledgefm

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ETHSingapore in review

Wed, 12 Dec 2018 19:00:00 +0100

In this week's episode, Anna interviews a number of participants at the ETHSingapore hackathon as part of the ETHGlobal series and tries to get a sense for how these hackers are approaching the space.

In this showcase (which was recorded on the Saturday, right in the middle of the hackathon), we asked: What got you into this space? What's your take on singapore? What are you building? and What do you make of the state of Ethereum?

To see our previous ETHGlobal Hackthon podcast - check out the ETHBuenosAires Ep

The projects we interviewed:

https://devpost.com/software/ethsingapore

https://devpost.com/software/daico-hedge-grtcou

https://devpost.com/software/showmewhatyougot-8bni16

https://devpost.com/software/ethereumjs-orbitdb

https://devpost.com/software/hashedge

https://devpost.com/software/quantstamp-ui

https://devpost.com/software/ethereumjs-orbitdb

https://devpost.com/software/dai-ly

Also thanks to @Evan_Van_Ness - happy you were finally allowed back on twitter :P

Follow ETHGlobal - https://twitter.com/ETHGlobal

And check out the upcoming events - Denver & CapeTown

Follow Zero Knowledge on Twitter - @zeroknowledgefm

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Digging into recursive zkSNARKs with Coda

Wed, 05 Dec 2018 15:00:00 +0100

In this week's episode, we sit down with Izaak Meckler & Evan Shapiro from O(1) Labs to discuss Coda, a blockchain using recursive composition of zkSNARKs to eliminate history. We discuss recursive zkSNARKs generally, what a recursive zkSNARK construction blockchain would look like, and the challenges in implementing this sophisticated scaling solution.

To find out more about the project and some of the resources mentioned in the episode, please have a look at the links below:

Coda on Twitter: https://twitter.com/codaprotocol?lang=en
Coda on Github: https://github.com/o1-labs
Scalable Zero Knowledge via Cycles of Elliptic Curves https://eprint.iacr.org/2014/595
Incrementally Verifiable Computation or Knowledge Implies Time/Space Efficiency https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/4074/97eeb99a9341714e9db05b57f500270139d7.pdf

Thank you to our sponsor POA Network - for more information about their ERC20 to ERC20 TokenBridge, check out the POA Network repo: github.com/poanetwork/token-bridge

Follow Zero Knowledge on Twitter - @zeroknowledgefm

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Get to know a Core Dev: Péter Szilágyi

Wed, 28 Nov 2018 15:00:00 +0100

In this episode Fredrik sits down with Péter Szilágyi, lead developer of go-ethereum to talk about his background, what it means to be a Core Dev and some of the struggles of maintaining an open source project.

Special thanks to the sponsor of this episode Trail of Bits. If you're interested in hardware wallet security, check out their article 10 Rules for the Secure Use of Cryptocurrency Hardware Wallets.

Vlad and Gav go head-to-head on blockchain governance

Wed, 21 Nov 2018 15:00:00 +0100

In this week's episode, we are joined by a couple greats in the space, Gavin Wood and Vlad Zamfir, to debate the merits of on-chain vs off-chain governance.

If you want more, catch their governance panel at Web3Summit (which happened right before our interview).

Thanks to our sponsor Trail of Bits - find out more about their upcoming event on their blog:

https://blog.trailofbits.com/

And support Zero Knowledge on Patreon - https://patreon.com/zeroknowledge

Exploring Spacemesh with Julian Loss

Wed, 14 Nov 2018 15:00:00 +0100

In this episode, we sit down with Julian Loss, a researcher at Spacemesh, to explore DAGs, the Proof-of-Spacetime idea and the Spacemesh project.

Links:

Thanks to our Sponsor POA Network!

Check out their blog to find out more about their new blockchain consensus protocol, HoneyBadger BFT

Zooko talks Zcash on our 50th episode

Wed, 07 Nov 2018 15:00:00 +0100

In this special 50th episode, we invite our friend Zooko to the podcast to chat about his background and explore the history of Zerocoin and Zcash. We dig into the inner workings of Zcash, the trusted setup, the sapling upgrade, and what the future of the project might look like!

The Sapling upgrade promises to reduce the proving times of the zk-SNARKs from 37 seconds to 2.3 seconds by replacing the SHA256 hash function with an improved performance Pedersen hash function called Bowe-Hopwood Pedersen, introducing an updated eliptic curve (Groth16/BLS12-381), moving from Libsnark to Bellman, and using a new split circuit design.

We dig deep on this and into what the UTXO model actually is to help us better understand the changes being introduced with Sapling. Hope you enjoy coming on this journey with us!

Links:

Blockchain 101: Cryptoeconomic Primitives and Staking

Wed, 31 Oct 2018 15:00:00 +0100

In this Blockchain 101 episode, we sit down with Axel Ericsson of Vest (previously 1Protocol) to talk about Cryptoeconomic Primitives, incentive models, designing smart equilibria, and staking.

Links:

Talking UX with Taylor Monahan of MyCrypto

Tue, 23 Oct 2018 15:00:00 +0100

In this episode, we sit down with Taylor Monahan of MyCrypto, to discuss how the project got started and share some customer support horror stories. We also reflect on the challenge of building UX that works for people while maintaining the spirit of decentralization, and finally, where she sees the space developing.

Links:

You can also find the Slither blog post from this week's sponsor Trail of Bits HERE

Chat with Richard Craib from Numerai

Wed, 17 Oct 2018 20:00:00 +0100

In this episode, we sit down with Richard Craib from Numerai to talk about crowdsourcing the role of a quant, how Numerai developed and where it is going, Dapp adoption in Ethereum and what it's like to build a hedge fund fulled by a crypto token. He also shares the new project Erasure - a decentralized data marketplace for financial predictions.

Follow Richard on Twitter

Learn more about Numerai

Gavin Wood on Polkadot, Sharding and Substrate

Wed, 10 Oct 2018 15:00:00 +0100

We finally sit down with Gavin to go through a bit of what Parity has been working on with Polkadot and Substrate. We talk about Polkadot early history and who was involved and where the idea spawned, up to coding practices and where Substrate became a thing.

If you want to know more, links below.

P2P messaging with Henri from Streamr

Wed, 03 Oct 2018 15:00:00 +0100

In this week's episode, we sit down with Henri Pihkala from Streamr to talk p2p messaging and what it means. We cover topics like pubsub, compare it to whisper, talk about the needs of different messaging systems as well as dig into why one would want to decentralize something like this. Finally we take a look at the data marketplace idea that streamr is trying out and what potential use-cases that could have.

Blockchain 101: Transaction lifecycle & the mempool

Wed, 26 Sep 2018 17:00:00 +0100

In this episode, we are joined by Tomasz Drwięga, a Core Developer at Parity Technologies, to discuss the lifecycle of a transaction on the Ethereum network and how the mempool works.

We will be covering the following topics:

What a mempool/transaction queue/transaction pool is.
How a transaction reaches a mempool and what the mempool does with it.
Looking at what causes the CPU increase and delays in the network.
What happens when a transaction gets stuck.
Gossip.
The security properties of the mempool.
What a network attack could look like.

Here are some additional links and ressources if you want to dig deeper.

Hudson Jameson talks EIPs and Ethereum core decision-making

Wed, 19 Sep 2018 15:00:00 +0100

In this episode, we chat with Hudson Jameson of the Ethereum Foundation about how he got involved in the space, the EIP process, and the challenges of decision making in the decentralised space.

In decentralised communities, decision making and information gathering can be a uniquely difficult endeavor. Using some of the ideas from other open source communities as well as some new concepts emerging specifically for decentralised spaces, the Ethereum core devs are developing new tools to make these decisions more effectively.

Follow Hudson on Twitter -> @hudsonjameson

Here was the giant Core Dev Call -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CZ1uO_WxVk

ETHPrize & Open Source Block Explorers

Wed, 12 Sep 2018 15:00:00 +0100

In this episode, we sit down with Mitch Kosowski, director of product at ETHPrize and Andrew Cravenho, project leader at POA Network. We cover ETHPrize's inception and activity, the way that pain points in the community are identified, and the open source block explorer project that POA Network is building with an ETHPrize bounty.

ETHPrize developed out of a series of interviews with devs in the community. Unlike traditional grants, ETHPrize aims to use bounties, sub-communities and working groups to tackle specific problems emerging in the ecosystem.

ETHPrize is funded by 0x, Status, ECF, CoinbaseWallet and Ethereum Foundation and initialised by Robbie Bent and inspired by the findings in the ETHReport

Read more about the open source block explorer - https://medium.com/poa-network/introducing-blockscout-the-ethereum-explorer-86b4ddd9e8a4

Here are some additional links:

ETHPrize website
Mitch's Twitter contact
Andrew's Twitter contact
POA Network website

Zokrates with Jacob Eberhardt

Wed, 05 Sep 2018 15:00:00 +0100

In this episode, we had a chance to speak with Jacob Eberhardt about his work on Zokrates and the Zero Knowledge Proof Toolkit. Zokrates is a programming language & toolbox for zkSNARKS on Ethereum

Note: this is a relatively advanced episode as part of our Zero Knowledge Series.

For more on the Zokrates project, please explore the following material:

Zokrates Github - https://github.com/JacobEberhardt/ZoKrates
Devcon Presentation - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSlrywb5J_0
Berlin Ethereum Meetup slides https://github.com/JacobEberhardt/documents/blob/master/talks/ZoKrates-EthereumMeetupBerlin.pdf
zkSNARKs: Driver's Ed. - A practical beginner's guide to creating, proving, and verifying zkSNARKs in your contracts - https://github.com/jstoxrocky/zksnarks_example

Benedikt Bünz on Bulletproofs and Verifiable Delay Functions

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 15:00:00 +0100

In this episode, we speak to Benedikt Bünz, the author of Bulletproofs, about this novel zero knowledge proof system as well as about Verifiable Delay Functions.

This is part of our Zero Knowledge Series, where we explore some of the new research in the space of Zero Knowledge research and the emerging concepts.

Follow Bulletproof development & Benedikt on twitter

Read transcript

Matthew Di Ferrante on the security of blockchain clients

Wed, 22 Aug 2018 16:00:00 +0100

In this episode, we speak with Matthew Di Ferrante of the smart contract auditing firm Zero Knowledge Labs about security in the blockchain. Specifically we discuss how he first got interested in security and blockchain technology, some of the cases that have happened in the last few years and how the Ethereum security team responds to a security event.

If you want to learn more from Matt you can follow him here

This week's episode went long, so we are including this link to a bonus piece on governance

Intro to zkSNARKs with Howard Wu

Wed, 15 Aug 2018 15:00:00 +0100

In this episode, we sit down with Howard Wu to explore zkSNARKs, the challenges in the application of this awesome technology, the new ideas emerging for how to scale them and his latest work on DIZK.

This is the 2nd in our ongoing series about Zero Knowledge technologies. To get a good sense of Zero Knowledge Proofs, please listen to our introduction to the topic in Episode 21.

Howard Wu is an early member of Blockchain at Berkeley, the co-author of Libsnark, and a managing partner of Dekrypt Capital.

Links:

libsnark - https://github.com/scipr-lab/libsnark
libsnark-tutorial - https://github.com/howardwu/libsnark-tutorial
DIZK paper - https://eprint.iacr.org/2018/691
DIZK library - https://github.com/scipr-lab/dizk

Read transcript

Sharding Update With Prysmatic Labs

Wed, 08 Aug 2018 15:00:00 +0100

In this episode, we sit down with Raul & Preston from Prysmatic Labs to discuss sharding, the evolution of the spec, Ethereum 2.0, what happens to a side chain during a hard fork, and whats coming up for this important scaling solution.

Prysmatic Labs is building a sharding solution in Go and the Ethereum 2.0 side chain that is set to combine PoS + Sharding.

Links:

Eric Tang of Livepeer talks off-chain computation

Wed, 01 Aug 2018 15:00:00 +0100

In this episode, we speak with Eric Tang from Livepeer about the need for off-chain computation, what scenarios make sense for off-chain and which can work on-chain, how Livepeer sees its role in the ecosystem and how they aim to help more people livestream in a decentralised way.

Testnets with Ethan from Tendermint

Wed, 25 Jul 2018 15:00:00 +0100

In this episode, we sit down with Ethan (Bucky) Buchman, co-founder & CTO of Tendermint, to talk about testnets. We look into what they are, what purpose they serve and cover examples from Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cosmos and Polkadot.

Links

Blockchain 101: What are smart contracts?

Wed, 18 Jul 2018 16:00:00 +0100

In this episode, we dig into what the term smart contract means with our guest James Prestwich. First introduced in 1994 by Nick Szabo, smart contracts have inspired whole ecosystems of companies and projects to start thinking about blockchain in much bigger terms.

We explore what the term 'smart contract' means, where it comes from, some use cases and some of the new challenges that come along with it.

Follow James on twitter @_prestwich

Open Source Incentivization and Sustainability with OSCoin

Wed, 11 Jul 2018 15:00:00 +0100

In this episode we sit down with Ele and Alexis from OSCoin to talk about what they are building and the general problem of open source incentivization. We dig into the incentivization and governance models they imagine for the Open Source world as well as some technical aspects of the platform they intend to build.

Links:

Zero Knowledge at Zcon0!

Wed, 04 Jul 2018 18:00:00 +0100

In this week's episode, we cover the Zcon0 conference in Montreal. In our interviews with some of the participants, we explore the zcash community, projects actually implementing zero knowledge proofs, and some of the most exciting ideas to be generated at the event!

See the talks here

Links:

Blockchain 101: Blocks & Block Headers

Wed, 27 Jun 2018 15:00:00 +0100

In this introductory episode, we discuss what makes up blocks and block headers. We also cover a bit about state vs history, what exactly makes up a transaction and do a quick intro to a Merkle Tree.

For more, please check out these resources:

Open Organizations & Governance with Colony

Wed, 20 Jun 2018 19:00:00 +0100

In this episode, we speak with Jack du Rose and Aron Fischer from Colony about governance and open organizations.

Colony is building an infrastructure based on the Ethereum blockchain that aims to revamp the way projects and organizations collaborate, promising to make HR and project management more open, fair and efficient.

We discuss different ways in which the ideas around colony could be used to created shared and open organisations, how reputation is built as well as discuss their thougths around the general ideas of governance and some of the biggest challenges this creates.

For more about Colony - have a look at their site or follow them on twitter!

The DAO, the white hat hacker group & Giveth with Griff

Wed, 13 Jun 2018 12:00:00 +0100

In this episode, Griff Green shares his experience of working through The DAO hack, the white hat hacker group & Giveth.

Through his telling of this story, we are given a front row seat to one of the most exciting events in ethereum and general blockchain history. These events also set the stage for a lot of the decisions, attitudes, rifts and relationships that have since taken hold - from the emergence of the white hat hacker group, the currency split, to the attitude towards governance and immutibility and the community's attitude towards the very concept of a DAO. The story leads us to Griff's latest project Giveth, an ethereum-based project that aims to bring back some of the most inspiring ideas from the era of the DAO, and applies them towards charitable giving.

To get involved with Giveth check out their Riot Channel

To hear a bit more about Griff's work check out this video

or follow him on twitter HERE

ETHBuenosAires in review

Wed, 06 Jun 2018 09:00:00 +0100

In this week's episode, we share our interviews from ETHBuenosAires, the 3rd instalment of the ETHGlobal Hackathon series. Through these conversations with the participants, sponsors and organizers, we found out more about the Buenos Aires Blockchain scene, captured the spirit of the ETHGlobal series and learned about some amazing new ideas and hackathon projects

This was recorded during the event, but you can watch the winners presenting HERE

Other projects that were mentioned:

http://www.thegraph.com/
All Submissions can be seen here

Follow the peeps we interviewed on twitter:

https://twitter.com/cryptowanderer

https://twitter.com/ethstatus

https://twitter.com/licuende

https://twitter.com/AragonProject

https://twitter.com/MakerDAO

https://twitter.com/komodoman

https://twitter.com/liamihorne

https://twitter.com/nanexcool

https://twitter.com/gomox_ar

https://twitter.com/crypt0glitter

https://twitter.com/pfletcherhill

https://twitter.com/eordano

Zeppelin and a chat about upgradability

Wed, 30 May 2018 16:00:00 +0100

Coming to you from Buenos Aires, we sit down with Demi and Facu from Zeppelin Solutions to talk developer experience, upgradability and how they aim to make running software on blockchains simple, fast and error free.

We discuss their products - OpenZeppelin, a framework of reusable smart contracts, and ZeppelinOS, an operating system designed specifically for smart contracts - and how these projects have emerged from their work as auditors on some of the most important projects in the space. They introduce their proposal for upgradability, a method for making some alterations to existing smart contracts without impeding immutability.

Here are a few links to find out more:

https://zeppelin.solutions/

https://openzeppelin.org/

https://zeppelinos.org/

https://ethernaut.zeppelin.solutions/

What and why of eWasm with Lane and Alex

Wed, 23 May 2018 16:00:00 +0100

In this episode, we sit down with Lane Rettig and Alex Beregszaszi from the eWasm team at the Ethereum Foundation to talk about WebAssembly (Wasm).

We explore why Wasm was chosen as the instruction set of the future for Ethereum, what it means to switch instructions sets and why you would want to go with one over another. We also dig into Wasm specifics and tooling.

If you want to learn more about Wasm, check out some of the links below:

Official Wasm website
eWasm design repo where there are documents discussing the different VMs as well as goals, motivations and design specs of eWasm.
K Framework description

Storage rent with Phil Daian

Wed, 16 May 2018 16:15:00 +0100

In this episode, we catch up with Phil Daian once again to dig deeper into the idea of cryptocommodities and storage rent. Cryptocommodities are defined as the resources used for blockchain transactions - for example blockchain memory or computation (such as Ethereum's gas) - and storage rent is the idea of issuing a payment for use of these resources per unit of time instead of as a one-time fee.

We discuss how the storage rent idea is becoming increasingly relevant as blockchain technology becomes more widely adopted, and the challenges in implementing this into existing systems.

Phil is a researcher with IC3 and PhD student at Cornell Tech as well as the creator of GasToken and member of Project Chicago.

Some links:

Blockchain UX and the UXUnConf

Fri, 11 May 2018 03:00:00 +0100

In this special episode, we share a number of short interviews we did with the participants of the Web3 UX Unconference which followed Edcon last week in Toronto. Featuring Dan Finlay from Metamask, Alex van de Sande from the Ethereum Foundation, Ric Burton from Balance, Philippe Castonguay, Jonny Howle from Uport, Dan Tsui and Bryant Eisenbach, we explore the topic of UX in the blockchain space.

Thanks to guest co-host Maciej Hirsz!

Find & follow the guests on Twitter:

Thanks to @derek_sys & @sdtsui for organising!

Blockchain 101: get your full node running!

Thu, 03 May 2018 14:00:00 +0100

In this episode, we share an introduction to full nodes. Speaking with the Parity community support lead, Thibaut Sardan, we walk through what it means to set up the Parity Ethereum client, explore what the difference is between this and a light client, help define some of the commonly used language and answer some frequently asked questions.

Big thank you to 1kx for inviting us to the Full Node co-working space to record this episode!

Links:

Developer Education in Blockchain

Thu, 26 Apr 2018 16:00:00 +0100

In this weeks episode, Fredrik and Anna speak with Elias Haase and Rob Hitchens from B9Lab about how a curriculum can be developed to introduce developers to the concepts and languages in the blockchain space.

We discuss some of their process, the unique qualities of teaching in this space and how important it is that the people building core infrastructure consider the impact of their decisions on society in the future.

Links:

Be sure to follow us on twitter @zeroknowedgefm

Introduction to Zero Knowledge Proofs

Thu, 19 Apr 2018 14:00:00 +0100

In this episode, we kick off the Zero Knowledge Proof series with our very own 'Intro to Zero Knowledge' in which we go through a couple examples that describe the underlying concept of this important field of research.

Basically, the Zero Knowledge hosts are talking about Zero Knowledge Proofs on the Zero Knowledge Podcast. It promises to get meta.

Links:

Read transcript

Ecosystem development with Jon Choi of Ethereum Foundation

Thu, 12 Apr 2018 12:00:00 +0100

In this episode, Fredrik sits down with Jon Choi from the Ethereum Foundation to discuss the latest scalability grants and what the plans are for the Ethereum Foundation grants in general.

We also delve into what a business model for core infrastructure could mean and how to avoid the tragedy of the commons where no one is willing to invest in vital infrastructure because of the lack of immediate incentive.

Finally, we discuss the general ecosystem, how we can learn from each other, how and what to build and what's needed before Ethereum can really become a platform suitable for mass adoption.

ZK Summit, sharding, testnets and ASIC resistance

Thu, 05 Apr 2018 12:00:00 +0100

We welcome Jack back to the show to discuss what's been going on in our world for the past month. We share a little review of our recent event - the Zero Knowledge Summit - and an update from the Taiwan Sharding Workshop. We also discuss the role of testnets and explore the purpose and practice of ASIC resistance.

Links to things talked about in the episode:

Discussing Plasma and Storage Rent with Karl Floersch and Phil Daian

Thu, 22 Mar 2018 16:00:00 +0100

Plasma is a new type of scaling solution that Karl is helping to develop, and Phil tries to tear it apart. Phil also introduces the topic of storage rent, which is an uncomfortable truth we'll have to face sooner rather than later.

We sit down and try to dig through and define what Plasma is, what the pro's and con's are and what potential use-cases the technology has.

Unfortunately, the second half of the storage rent conversation was lost, but what's there is still valuable enough to share. Hopefully we can get another episode with Phil to dig deeper into the topic.

Karl Floersch

Phil Daian

Plasma

Talking security with JP Smith from Trail of Bits

Thu, 15 Mar 2018 12:00:00 +0100

This week we sit down with JP Smith from the software security firm Trail of Bits. Trail of Bits started as a traditional infosec company doing audits and R&D. Over the past year, the company has been getting into doing audits and building tools for the blockchain space.

We talk about what audits are and how to think about them, how you should work to secure your smart contracts using Trail of Bits tools along the way and share some stories and conversations from the world of security.

Links to some of the tools talked about in this episode:

Chatting about consensus algorithms with Robert Habermeier

Thu, 08 Mar 2018 11:00:00 +0100

Fredrik has a chat about consensus algorithms with Parity Technologies in-house consensus expert Robert Habermeier. We cover what a consensus algorithm is and how they work. We try to explain some common terms like safety and liveness, what a fork choice rule is and how real-world constraints like networking play a role in your algorithm design.

Robert Habermeier

Diving deep into DFINITY

Thu, 01 Mar 2018 17:00:00 +0100

In this episode, we do a deep dive into the DFINITY protocol project and their recently released whitepaper. Using a randomness beacon, DFINITY aims to achieve an efficient and fair PoS system with strong safety and liveness guarantees. We speak with Robert Lauko, a Research Associate working on the project, about the ongoing development of this new blockchain, the Blockchain Nervous System and DFINITY's approach to on-chain governance.

DFINITY Website: https://dfinity.org/

DFINITY Github: https://github.com/dfinity

Bloom filters, PoA and what's up with ERP?

Thu, 22 Feb 2018 17:00:00 +0100

The gang catches up on what's been going on in the blockchain world for the past month, sharing some nuggets of learning around bloom filters, Proof of Authority, upcoming events, the Dfinity paper and some comments on what all the fuzz around this ERP is.

How to become a blockchain developer? We ask Gavin Wood

Thu, 15 Feb 2018 16:00:00 +0100

In this episode, we talk about what it takes to be a blockchain developer. Fredrik shares some of his insights and interviews Gavin Wood, co-founder of Parity and Ethereum, about how he got into this space as well. We also dig into what properties a good blockchain developer should have.

Pragma's new tools and staying agile in blockchain

Thu, 08 Feb 2018 15:00:00 +0100

In this episode, we sit down with John Palmer and Marcus Molchany to discuss their new project Pragma, a tool designed to make deploying smart contracts much easier for developers who are new to the space.

We also delve into programming languages and the role of testnets and talk about the challenges of staying agile and testing assumptions when you're dealing with immutable technology.

Check out withpragma.com

Blockchain, Open-Source & Security

Thu, 01 Feb 2018 16:00:00 +0100

In this episode, we will be talking with Liz Steininger, the CEO and MD of Least Authority - a Berlin based company focused on building an affordable, ethical, usable, and lasting data storage solution. They are dedicated to Free and Open Source software, end-to-end cryptography, user-friendly interfaces, and a sustainable economic model.

We sat down to discuss her experience with decentralised communities, the challenges of open source technology and how the blockchain dev community will likely develop over the next few years.

Bootnodes, Databases and News

Thu, 25 Jan 2018 16:00:00 +0100

In this episode, we invite André, a Parity dev, to join us in a review of the latest activity in Parity and the general blockchain space. We cover bootnode infrastructure, database issues, the updated yellowpaper and more.

Decentralized Storage Part 2: Solutions

Thu, 18 Jan 2018 12:00:00 +0100

Part 2 in our series on decentralized storage: Solutions. In this episode, we look at the problems decentralised storage are trying to solve, interesting projects trying to tackle these problems and some of the implications. We also have a look at what properties you should keep an eye out for when looking at decentralized storage solutions and what you may want to consider before jumping into mining.

Links to some of the things we talk about in this episode:

Decentralized Storage Part 1: Looking back

Wed, 10 Jan 2018 08:00:00 +0100

Part 1 in our series on decentralized storage: Looking back. Fredrik and Anna talk about some history and memories of peer-to-peer technology, file sharing and decentralized storage.

We dig into our own history and involvement with p2p technology, file sharing, how it rose to fame and then disappeared into the cold P2P winter.

s/2017/2018: our New Year's Podcast

Tue, 02 Jan 2018 15:00:00 +0100

In this episode, Anna and Fredrik have a look back at 2017 and the changing blockchain ecosystem with ex-Ethereum Foundation and current-Parity core dev, Marek Kotewicz. We also share our predictions about what we can expect to see next year in crypto land.

FYI: opinions are our own, and we definitely won't be giving financial advice :P

Blocksize research: https://www.bitcoinunlimited.info/resources/1txn.pdf
ParityDB: https://github.com/paritytech/paritydb

A fireside chat with a couple Parity peeps

Mon, 18 Dec 2017 15:00:00 +0100

In this episode, Anna and Fredrik are joined by 3 fellow Parity employees to talk about what first got them interested in blockchain and the whole decentralised scene, how the greater community has evolved over the last few years, and what we can expect for the coming year.

Our guests:

Afri, Community Manager, Support and all around contributor
Maciej, Core Developer
Fabian, Business Development

Dapps and Kitties

Tue, 12 Dec 2017 17:00:00 +0100

We talk about what we've been working on for the past week and what's been going on in the community and our lives.

Hard Forks

Fri, 20 Oct 2017 19:00:00 +0100

We go over what Hard Forks are, what they mean and what this particular one, Byzantium, brought to Ethereum.

PoW, what is it and why do we want PoS

Mon, 09 Oct 2017 09:00:00 +0100

Wherein we talk about Proof of Work, what it is and how it has developed and why we want or might not want Proof of Stake instead.

RustFest 2017 in Review

Wed, 04 Oct 2017 17:00:00 +0100

Jack, Anna and Fredrik talk about their experience at RustFest 2017 in Zürich.

Parity Technologies was one of the main sponsors and so we went there with a crew and had a booth. Many interesting conversations were had, along with great talks.