A quick update from the Zero Knowledge Podcast: The show is set to resume at the beginning of February, with exciting episodes and topics we can't wait to share with you!

In the meantime, the team is hiring for two roles—a Community Marketing Manager to amplify the podcast's reach authentically and a Strategic Growth Lead to strengthen the business side of operations. If you are a potential candidate, please do apply over on the ZK Jobs Board!

As 2025 approaches, the podcast aims to further explore zero-knowledge technology's potential to shape the future and invites the community to join in the journey.

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!

Further Reading:

• ZK12: Welcome to zkSummit & Sponsor Intro - Anna Rose
• Circle STARKs by Haböck, Levit and Papini
• StarkWare Unveils New 'Stwo' Cryptographic Prover That's 'Blazingly Fast'
• ZK12: WHIR: Reed-Solomon Proximity Testing with Super-Fast Verification by Eylon Yogev
• Episode 290: Exploring, Teaching and Auditing ZK with David Wong
• Episode 345: Latest ZK Research with Dan Boneh
• LatticeFold: A Lattice-based Folding Scheme and its Applications to Succinct Proof Systems by Dan Boneh and Binyi Chen
• LaBRADOR: Compact Proofs for R1CS from Module-SIS? by Ward Beullens and Gregor Seiler
• Quantum Algorithms for Lattice Problems by Yilei Chen
• Episode 325: Web Proofs with Tracy from Pluto
• ZODA: Zero-Overhead Data Availability by Evans, Mohnblatt and Angeris

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

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

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:

• Episode 256: New ZK Use Cases with Dan Boneh
• Episode 100: Dan Boneh on the past, present & future of cryptography
• Episode 341: coSNARKs with Ais and Lukas from TACEO
• LaBRADOR: Compact Proofs for R1CS from Module-SIS? Ward Beullens and Gregor Seiler
• Bulletproofs: Short Proofs for Confidential Transactions and More by Bünz, Bootle, Boneh, Poelstra, Wuille, and Maxwell
• Greyhound: Fast Polynomial Commitments from Lattices by Nguyen and Seiler
• LatticeFold: A Lattice-based Folding Scheme and its Applications to Succinct Proof Systems Dan Boneh and Binyi Chen
• Protostar: Generic Efficient Accumulation/Folding for Special-sound Protocols by Bünz and Chen
• BaseFold: Efficient Field-Agnostic Polynomial Commitment Schemes from Foldable Codes by Zeilberger, Chen and Fisch
• Blaze: Fast SNARKs from Interleaved RAA Codes by Brehm, Chen, Fisch, Resch, Rothblum and Zeilberger
• Episode 277: Nova and Beyond with Srinath Setty
• Verifiable FHE via Lattice-based SNARKs by Atapoor, Baghery, Pereira and Spiessens
• ARC: Accumulation for Reed–Solomon Codes by Bünz, Mishra, Nguyen and Wang
• VerITAS: Verifying Image Transformations at Scale by Datta, Chen and Boneh
• ZK Whiteboard Sessions - Module One: What is a SNARK? by Dan Boneh

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

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!

• ZK HACK IV - ZK Jargon Decoder
• Episode 309 - ZK Jargon Decoder with Nico Mohnblatt
• ZK Hack Montréal
• Under The Hood of zkID: - Nicolas Mohnblatt - Web3 Summit 2024 Berlin
• Panel Discussion w/ Anna Rose, Jim Posen, Nicolas Mohnblatt - Web3 Summit 2024 Berlin
• zkSummit Website
• zkSummit11 Playlist
• zkSummit12 Live Link
• Episode 338: On Trust Infrastructure with Arnaud Schenk
• Panel: ZK Applications
• ZK Whiteboard Sessions - S2M1: What is Zero-Knowledge (like, actually)? with David Wong

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

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

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:

• ZK Mesh
• @badcryptobitch Twitter
• Episode 40: Benedikt Bünz on Bulletproofs and Verifiable Delay Functions
• Ethereum Founder Vitalik talk 2017- What is Cryptoeconomics?
• “I will quite literally drop out if we got $100k in ETH” Tweet by Mikerah
• “I am being told I should brag more about co-inventing rollups” Tweet by Mikerah
• Building Scalable Decentralized Payment Systems by Adlerand Quintyne-Collins

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

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

Just sharing 2 updates:

1) the ZK Whiteboard sessions are BACK with a second season! These videos will be released every 2 weeks for the next 3 months on ZK Hack channels -

• See Season 1 videos here: https://zkhack.dev/whiteboard/
• See Season 2 Module 1 here: https://zkhack.dev/whiteboard/s2m1/

2) The Zero Knowledge Podcast (aka this show!) will take a pause on the weekly cadence of the show starting Oct 16th until the end of 2024.

• Expect last 2 episodes on Oct 9 and Oct 16
• There may be some additional episodes released this year (but no plans yet)
• Keep an eye on our website and twitter for updates about the show (and soon an updated website!)

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:

• Episode 273: History of Plonk, Noir, and the building of Aztec 3
• Episode 274: SNARKs: A Trilogy with Ariel Gabizon
• zkSummit: plookup: Speeding up the PLONK prover - Zac Williamson & Ariel Gabizon
• ProtoGalaxy: Efficient ProtoStar-style folding of multiple instances by Liam Eagen and Ariel Gabizon
• HyperNova: Recursive arguments for customizable constraint systems by Kothapalli and Setty
• ProtoStar: Generic Efficient Accumulation/Folding for Special Sound Protocols by Bünz and Chen
• cq: Cached quotients for fast lookups by Eagen, Fiore and Gabizon
• Delegating Computation: Interactive Proofs for Muggles by Goldwasser, Kalai and Rothblum
• Unlocking the lookup singularity with Lasso by Setty, Thaler and Wahby
• Stackproofs: Private proofs of stack and contract execution using Protogalaxy by Eagen, Gabizon, Sefranek, Towa and Williamson
• Accumulation without Homomorphism by Bünz, Mishra, Nguyen and Wang
• Aztec.network

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!

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

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:

• TACEO
• TACEO Docs
• TACEO GitHub
• Hashing it out: coSNARKs at TACEO
• Experimenting with Collaborative zk-SNARKs: Zero-Knowledge Proofs for Distributed Secrets by Ozdemir and Boneh
• Privately Connecting Mobility to Infectious Diseases via Applied Cryptography Bampoulidis, Bruni, Helminger, Kales, Rechberger, and Walch
• Large-Scale MPC: Scaling Private Iris Code Uniqueness Checks to Millions of Users by Bloemen, Kales, Sippl and Walch
• Collaborative SNARKs by Roman Walch
• Notes on Collaborative zkSNARKs
• MPC Primer - coCircom
• ZK Podcast clip about Collaborative Zero-Knowledge Proofs from Episode 256: New ZK Use Cases with Dan Boneh
• coSNARKs - coCircom
• Exploring Collaborative Zero-Knowledge Proofs
• ZK11: MPC-Enabled Proof Markets - Daniel Kales
• coCircom Repo
• coSNARKs Demo: Max Pick Challenge
• MPC Uniqueness Check GitHub
• coSNARKs Telegram Channel

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!

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

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:

• Episode 286: Paris 2023 Recap with Uma, Zaki and Tarun
• Episode 263: Cosmos, Sommelier and Emerging Assets with Zaki Manian
• Episode 337: Restaking Research with Naveen & Tarun
• Cosmos SDK GitHub
• Cosmos Website
• Cosmos SDK Documentation
• Privacy in Cosmos Live: Zaki Manian (Sommelier)- The Unbearable Weight of Sovereign Multichain UX

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!

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