ZKP News - 2024-09

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

2024.9.25

[Videos]

• Protocol Labs’ Kothapalli spoke at an a16z event on “HyperNova: Toward practical zero-knowledge virtual machines,” unpacking the design details. Video

• Mysten Labs’ Baldimtsi introduced “A novel approach to proof-of-replication via polynomial evaluation,” showcasing a polynomial-evaluation-based PoRep. Video

• Carnegie Mellon’s Quang Dao surveyed advanced SNARK security research in “Advanced security for SNARKs: A survey.” Video

• Reclaim uploaded demos of zkTLS-style applications built on its framework. Playlist

• zkMonk published a theory-heavy ZK introduction course series. Playlist

[Blogs]

• A modest refinement to the Nova scheme—nicknamed “Ova”—aimed at shrinking recursive circuit size was shared. Blog

• zkSecurity’s Giorgio posted “A challenge on the Jolt zkVM,” detailing how he proved incorrect RISC-V execution on Jolt using a modified library for the MOCA CTF challenge “2+2=5.” Blog

• Argument discussed the strengths and weaknesses of RISC-V zkVMs. Blog

[Open Source]

• The Semaphore team released V4 with LeanIMT, EdDSA identity support, 30–80% lower gas costs, and improved message signing and verification performance. Code

[Info]

• Antalpha Labs posted a September 22 zk roundup. Link

• Aleo’s mainnet officially launched on September 18, 2024. News

• STARKWARE and ZKM will co-host the virtual House of ZK conference on October 15, 2024 at 21:30 UTC+8. Link

• ZKsync’s new Prover API lets anyone generate proofs and verify correctness. Link

2024.9.18

[Papers]

• Jang et al. propose “Lego-DLC: batching module for commit-carrying SNARK under Pedersen Engines,” a batching module that speeds up handling multiple commitments, cutting verification to 0.064 seconds—30× faster than LegoSNARK. Paper

[Videos]

• RariMe showcased its zkPassport solution. 𝕏

[Blogs]

• Succinct and Optimism launched OP Succinct, combining OP Stack with the SP1 zkVM to elevate any OP Stack chain into a zkEVM, promising rapid finality and $0.005–$0.01 transaction costs. Blog

• Ingonyama introduced zkDL++, covering watermarking and verification for generative AI images; the GPU-based approach runs in seconds. Blog | 𝕏

[Open Source]

• Reclaim Protocol open-sourced core components. Announcement | Code

• Eternum released guides and code for its StarkNet on-chain game inspired by @lootproject and @darkforest_eth. 𝕏 | Code

[Info]

• Antalpha Labs shared a September 15 zk roundup. Link

• Noir awarded its first grants: Z-Imburse (zkEmail-powered instant invoice reimbursement) and Safe Wallet (zkEmail-managed multisig wallet). 𝕏

• PSE announced sweeping changes—Barry’s departure, layoffs, project sunsets, and reflections on ZK’s future. Blog

  Projects being sunset: Details

  • AnonKlub: zk-ECDSA group membership proofs stalled amid technical hurdles and slow progress.
  • Chiquito: a new ZK DSL couldn’t compete amid a crowded tooling landscape.
  • Community Link: high complexity, dependencies, leadership turnover, and mission drift reduced success odds.
  • Elliptic Curves Lectures: low engagement and limited alignment prompted a shift to applied research.
  • IOU: legal hurdles, team mismatch, and unclear goals hampered adoption despite an interesting problem space.
  • Pollen Labs: social-impact collaborations misaligned with PSE’s structure and lacked concrete outcomes.
  • Summa: reserve-proof work was promising but fell short due to skill gaps and unclear targets.
  • Trusted Setup: mission accomplished—project moves into maintenance and the team disbands.
  • WAX: account abstraction and BLS aggregation advances paused after blob support reduced urgency.

• zkSync began leveraging TEEs for proving. 𝕏

  • RISC0 explored similar ideas earlier. Link

• Fermah unveiled a proof-generation marketplace, promising cheaper, faster, and reliable proving via economies of scale. 𝕏

2024.9.11

[Papers]

• Zheng et al. present “IDEA-DAC: Integrity-Driven Editing for Accountable Decentralized Anonymous Credentials via ZK-JSON,” an integrity-driven editing method using ZK-JSON with gnark-based circuits. Paper | Code | Demo

• Mukherjee et al. study “Cache Timing Leakages in Zero-Knowledge Protocols,” demonstrating cache-based side-channel risks and low-overhead defenses. Paper

• Masson et al. introduce “Bandersnatch: a fast elliptic curve built over the BLS12-381 scalar field,” delivering 42% faster scalar multiplication, 21% smaller R1CS circuits, and 10% smaller Plonk circuits—outperforming Jubjub for ZK use cases. Paper

[Videos]

• Verifiable Summit 2024 (zkWarsaw) recordings are live. Video | Agenda

[Blogs]

• OpenPassport launched a playground for building sample apps and issuing privacy-preserving passport proofs. Playground | Blog

• OpenPassport also ran a verifiable Democratic primary, allowing anonymous voting via passports. Results | Blog

• zkP2P announced plans for an on-chain secondary ticket marketplace, sharing design videos and rationale. 𝕏

• Zellic disclosed two pre-0.11.0 gnark vulnerabilities affecting Groth16 soundness and zero-knowledge. 𝕏 | Blog

• RISC0 explored proof-system design trade-offs—folding schemes, JOLT, Binius, Circle STARKs—in “Designing high-performance zkVMs.” Blog

• Vitalik discussed coprocessor architectures in “Glue and coprocessor architectures.” Blog

• Reclaim compiled zkTLS resources in “zkTLS Canon.” Blog

• Ethresearch user yelhousni described a “Fake GLV” scalar multiplication trick for SNARK circuits to speed up ECDSA. Post

[Open Source]

• Fabian Gruber open-sourced riscMPC, a well-structured RISC-V-based MPC framework ideal for studying OT, secret sharing, and other primitives. Code

• Reclaim released zkFetch.js, enabling HTTPS resource retrieval with verifiable execution proofs (zkTLS in action). Code | Demo

[Info]

• Antalpha Labs posted a September 8 zk roundup. Link

• Justin Drake estimated that proving all Ethereum L1 EVM blocks could cost just $1M annually—fueling optimism about the pace of ZKP adoption. 𝕏

• Ingonyama launched ICICLE v3 with expanded multi-platform support. Link

• Polygon Labs committed $5M to servers powered by Fabric’s Verifiable Processing Units (VPUs) to accelerate ZK workloads. Link

2024.9.4

[Papers]

• Ingonyama shared “Mersenne 31 Polynomial Arithmetic,” detailing optimizations for using M31 in Circle STARK. Notes

[Videos]

• At ZK Hack Montréal, Polygon introduced eSTARK and demoed Plonky3. Video

• Reclaim posted “ZK Con 2024: ZK For Consumer Use” sessions featuring zkP2P, noname, Nebra UPA, and more. Playlist

[Blogs]

• zkintro launched a beginner-friendly CIRCOM ZKP tutorial. Blog | 𝕏

• ZK Hack recapped the Montréal hackathon—the winners: Blog

  • Hacker’s Choice – Pictionary Proof: a multiplayer drawing game secured by zkML for fair scoring and privacy.
  • Glass-Chewing Award – sparta(0): implemented the SuperSpartan polynomial IOP for complex recursive proofs.
  • Glass-Chewing Award – Plonky3Sum: aggregates public keys via twisted Edwards coordinates to cut verification costs.
  • Third Prize – Zalileo: leverages Galileo’s OS-NMA to attest to GPS authenticity and prevent spoofing.
  • Second Prize – DrinKZ: pairs Apple services with a zkVM to ensure IoT data authenticity and attribution.
  • First Prize – Lemma: decentralized theorem proving with ZK-backed proof verification.

• Shady El Damaty introduced Zeronym’s “Proof of Clean Hands,” aimed at thwarting illicit use of privacy protocols while safeguarding honest users. Blog

• A post explored combining SXG (Signed Exchanges) with ZKP for faster, tamper-evident cross-origin content delivery. Blog

[Open Source]

• levochka.eth released a Boolean GKR project dubbed “Fro-Binius,” using Frobenius morphisms to bundle operations and achieve 15–60k Keccak ops/sec on modest hardware. Further gains are expected from AVX-512 and specialized commitments. Code | Explanation | 𝕏

• Aztec’s Ariel Gabizon extended the exploration to univariate settings. Notes | 𝕏

• Argument shipped Lurk 0.5—its fastest zkVM yet—moving to a Plonky3 backend for major speedups on large inputs and dynamic programs. Code | Report

• A Plonky3-to-CCS conversion library was released. Code

• “bitcoin-circle-stark” implements numerous crypto primitives in Bitcoin Script, notably a Circle STARK verifier. Code

[Info]

• Antalpha Labs posted a September 1 zk roundup. Link

• zkHack (zkMesh) released its August 2024 recap. Link

• RISC Zero announced full open-sourcing of circuits and compiler tech. 𝕏 | Code

• Fabric Cryptography raised a $33M Series A to accelerate its Verifiable Processing Unit (VPU), with shipments planned in Q4. 𝕏

• Fiamma used MSM buckets and ECC optimizations to shrink an fflonk Bitcoin Script verifier to 0.875 GB. 𝕏

• Matter Labs (zkSync) reduced headcount by 16% (24 people); the CEO explained the decision while projects advertised open roles in response. 𝕏

• The Ethereum Foundation launched the “zkEVM Formal Verification Project,” a multi-phase 18–24 month effort with grants and bounties to ensure bug-free zkEVMs. Link

• ZKP2P is leveraging TLSProxy techniques with Reclaim to build a privacy-preserving secondary ticket marketplace, sharing why TLS Notary wasn’t chosen. 𝕏

• Provably released V1 with verifiable analytics over private data, supporting SUM and COUNT SQL aggregates. Link

• ICMS is hosting the “Foundations and Applications of Zero-Knowledge Proofs” workshop (GMT+1), available live via Zoom and via recordings two weeks later. Link

• The Ethereum Foundation published its Q2 2024 Ecosystem Support Program allocations. Link