ZKP News - 2024-05

Note: The following content was translated into English by AI.

2024.5.29

[Papers]

• Sahu et al. from zkfi tech propose SeDe, a selective de-anonymization framework that balances blockchain privacy with regulatory compliance via threshold encryption and ZKP in “SeDe: Balancing Blockchain Privacy and Regulatory Compliance by Selective De-Anonymization.” Note: Think of it as a regulator-friendly evolution of Tornado Cash. Paper

• South (MIT) and Camuto (EZKL) present “Verifiable evaluations of machine learning models using zkSNARKs,” enabling zkSNARK-based verification of ML models. Note: Experimental results include a 2,800s proving time for nanoGPT inference. Paper

• Mehmet Sabir Kiraz and the nChain team address GDPR-like “right to be forgotten” needs in “How to Redact the Bitcoin Backbone Protocol,” providing a trustless way to erase historical data without hard forks, using ZKPs. Paper

• Chiang et al. introduce self-incriminating proofs to spot rogue decryptions in threshold encryption via “Detecting Rogue Decryption in (Threshold) Encryption via Self-Incriminating Proofs,” requiring decryptors to produce ZKPs tied to each decryption to build an audit trail. Paper

• Alexandru et al. propose “Sublinear-Round Broadcast without Trusted Setup,” a trustless broadcast protocol with sublinear rounds that relies on ZKP to establish weak consensus. Paper

• Stronati et al. from Matter Labs present Clap, a Rust-based eDSL with a semantics-preserving optimizing compiler for Plonkish proof systems, formally specified via Agda in “Clap: a Rust eDSL for PlonKish Proof Systems with a Semantics-preserving Optimizing Compiler.” Paper

• Firsov et al. (Matter Labs) revisit recursive proofs—especially those destined for on-chain verification—in “The Ouroboros of ZK: Why Verifying the Verifier Unlocks Longer-Term ZK Innovation.” Note: Useful as a technical reference for how major chains implement recursive ZKPs. Note 2: “Ouroboros” translates to the tail-eating serpent. Paper

[Open Source]

• Ingonyama open-sourced the core building blocks of their hardware implementation of Binius. Code

[Info]

• Antalpha Labs published a May 26 zk-related summary.

• RISC Zero kicked off its mainnet verifier rollout, with apparent support for Ethereum and Base. 𝕏

[Learning]

• Antalpha Labs organized a Plonk course. Course info | Course materials

2024.5.22

[Papers]

• Jens Groth (of Groth16 fame) and co-authors present “Fast Batched Asynchronous Distributed Key Generation,” introducing asynchronous secret sharing and super-invertible matrix techniques to improve communication and computation for threshold Schnorr signatures in asynchronous networks. Note: Threshold signatures (MPC signatures) are widely used to secure blockchain systems. Paper

• Sora Suegami (author of zkEmail) proposes the first pairing-based witness encryption (WE) scheme in “Extractable Witness Encryption for Signed Vector Digests from Pairings and Trust-Scalable One-Time Programs.” Note: It enables connecting on-chain contracts with multi-factor authentication. The main contribution is keeping the signer’s compute and communication fixed per time interval, regardless of ciphertext count. Paper

• Fan et al. (IoTeX) speed up multi-scalar multiplications for pairing-based zkSNARKs in “Speeding Up Multi-Scalar Multiplications for Pairing-Based zkSNARKs,” showing significant theoretical and empirical gains with optimized bucket constructions. Paper

• Choudhuri et al. tackle DeFi MEV and privacy issues in “Mempool Privacy via Batched Threshold Encryption: Attacks and Defenses,” employing polynomial commitments and batched threshold encryption to boost transaction encryption/decryption efficiency under constrained blockchain resources. Paper

• Commey et al. address identity security in blockchain-based IoT systems through physical unclonable functions and ZKPs in “Securing Blockchain-based IoT Systems with Physical Unclonable Functions and Zero-Knowledge Proofs.” Paper

• Fuchsbauer et al. develop a concurrently secure blind Schnorr signature compatible with 256-bit Schnorr in “Concurrently Secure Blind Schnorr Signatures,” resisting DoS attacks and supporting predicate logic for conditional blind signatures, applicable to Bitcoin transactions. Note: Blind signatures hide signer information and are useful for anonymous voting. Paper

• Srinath Setty and Justin Thaler’s Lasso and Jolt were formally published at EUROCRYPT 2024. Note: Lasso is a lookup-only proof system built on sumcheck; Jolt is a VM constructed atop Lasso.

• Eagen et al. unveil “Bulletproofs++: Next Generation Confidential Transactions via Reciprocal Set Membership Arguments,” a smaller, faster ZKP for confidential transactions that can drop-in replace Bulletproofs while preserving core guarantees. Recursive set membership and permutation ideas improve proving, aggregation, and verification speed. Note: Bulletproofs power anonymous transactions in Monero. Paper

[Open Source]

• zkSecurity released “noname,” a zkApp development language reminiscent of Rust/Go that targets the Kimchi (Mina) proving system. Code

[Info]

• yingtong.eth shared notes and takeaways from the ReCAP cryptography and privacy conference. 𝕏

• The Callisto Vault project is noteworthy for using ZKP to match survivors of violence.

• ZKProof 6 in Berlin was livestreamed over three days.

• Antalpha Labs published a May 19 zk-related summary.

2024.5.15

[Papers]

• Kuznetsov et al. propose an OR-based aggregation technique in “Efficient and Universal Merkle Tree Inclusion Proofs via OR Aggregation,” improving efficiency and scalability of ZKP systems in blockchain contexts. Paper

• Lerner et al. describe BitVMX, a new VM design for universal computation on Bitcoin, in “BitVMX: A CPU for Universal Computation on Bitcoin.” It uses hash-chained program traces, memory-mapped registers, and a novel challenge/response protocol to verify a general-purpose CPU. Note: Costs depend on memory writes; efficiency over existing BitVM implementations remains to be demonstrated, but the approach warrants study. Paper

• Benoît Libert et al. deliver a simulation-extractable KZG polynomial commitment tailored for HyperPlonk in “Simulation-Extractable KZG Polynomial Commitments and Applications to HyperPlonk,” advancing security for multivariate polynomial IOPs. Paper

• Baldi et al. analyze the Restricted Syndrome Decoding Problem (R-SDP) for zero-knowledge protocols in “Zero Knowledge Protocols and Signatures from the Restricted Syndrome Decoding Problem,” highlighting communication cost reductions and introducing the R-SDP(G) variant for competitive ZK designs. Paper

• Dutta et al. propose a new inner-product argument for compressed Sigma protocols in updatable SRS settings via “Succinct Verification of Compressed Sigma Protocols in the Updatable SRS Setting.” Paper

• Zhang et al. introduce “Efficient KZG-Based Univariate Sum-Check and Lookup Argument,” presenting Locq, a highly efficient sum-check and lookup argument with prover cost of k-sized MSMs and verifier cost of one pairing plus one scalar multiplication, significantly lowering prior computational requirements. Paper

• Campanelli et al. expand lookup arguments in “Lookup Arguments: Improvements, Extensions and Applications to Zero-Knowledge Decision Trees,” covering non-arithmetic operations (range checks, XOR, AND) and applying them to zero-knowledge decision trees that keep data structures private while proving statistics. Paper

[Open Source]

• The zkWasm prover is now open source. Code

• A geography-guessing ZKP mini-game built with Noir. Code

• Succinct Labs announced a breakthrough for the SP1 zkVM, integrating Groth16 on-chain verification. 𝕏

[Info]

• Ingonyama launched ZaKi, a ZKP managed service built on the ICICLE library. Hardware optimizations unlock cost-effective ZK compute across high-core CPUs and advanced NVIDIA GPUs, with potential to reshape cloud proving. Link

• Antalpha Labs published a May 12 zk-related summary.

【学习】

• Alessandro Chiesa （Marlin作者）和 Eylon Yogev 关于ZKP的新书，从密码学角度逐步从SP/IP/PCP/IOP讲过来，适合从密码学角度理解ZKP。 书籍主页， pdf下载。

• 在BIU 2023年2月举办的第13届密码学冬季课程，主题在区块链技术，包括区块链共识、ZKP和DeFi等在内。 查看视频， 课程官网。

2024.5.8

[Papers]

• Wee et al. debut a pairing-based functional commitment scheme from the bilinear k-Lin assumption in “Succinct Functional Commitments for Circuits from k-Lin,” achieving constant-size commitments and openings. Note: k-Lin is a stronger discrete-log-derived assumption; stronger assumptions can sometimes yield better efficiency while maintaining security. Paper

• Novakovic et al. enhance pairing verification efficiency in “On Proving Pairings” by replacing the final exponentiation with a cheaper residue check embedded in the Miller loop. Note: This can make verifying ZKPs on BitVM more practical. Paper

• Gur et al. leverage GKR foundations in “On the Power of Interactive Proofs for Learning” to design more efficient proofs for machine learning scenarios. Paper

[Blogs]

• Vitalik explains Binius, sharing sample code. Note: Binius is widely touted as a next-gen ZKP primitive that aligns proof computations with binary hardware. Blog | Code | Slides

[Open Source]

• Keelung is a Haskell-based ZKP DSL backed by Aurora. Docs | Code

[Info]

• zkHack published an April 2024 zk recap.

• ZK Summit 11 concluded; watch videos and read a16z’s notes.

• Antalpha Labs published a May 4 zk summary.

[News]

• Polyhedra open-sourced Expander, its GKR-based ZKP system, achieving 4,500 Keccak-f permutations per second on an Apple M3 Max. Note: Polyhedra previously built distributed GKR provers in the zkBridge paper. Link | Source