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...

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 s...

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.   T...

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 marketmakers. 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...

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...

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...

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 t...

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 s...

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...

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: Episode 325: Web Proofs with Tracy fr...

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...

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: Self Protocol on X/Twitter Episode 364: AI and ZK Auditing with David Wong Episode 363: Bringing ZK to Google Wallet with Abhi and Matteo Episode 358: Building ZK Registries Onchain with Rarimo Episode 93: L...

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 T...

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...

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...

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: Episode 353: Making ZK More Human with ZK Email TLSNotary ...

There’s no interview this week, but we have some ad spot availability coming up!

If you want to reach a highly technical ZK audience and get eyes on your project, tooling, hiring, and more, get in touch at sponsorships@zeroknowledge.fm.

If you would like to donate individually to the show, our eth address is here: 0xE2C080047213C1d8cDf2099E0B07479C5D9cee8a

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...

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: Quantum Punks Manifesto Episode 288: Quantum Cryptography with Or Sattath Episode 357: Quantum Engineering with Jelena Vučković Paris Workshop Video Playlist Teleport.Best Flashbots Project Aria Protocol Labs Conjugate Coding BB84: Quantum cryptography: Public key...

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: Episode 345: Latest ZK Research with Dan Boneh Episode 288: Quantum Cryptography with Or Sattath LaBRADOR...

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...

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: Episode 288: Quantum Cryptography with Or Sattath WHIR: Reed–Solomon Proximity Testing with Super-Fast Verification BB84: Quantum cryptography: Public key distribution and coin tossing BBM92: Quantum Cryptography Without Bell's Theorem Stanford Nanos...

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: zkSummit The Zero-Knowledge Community Survey NoirHack Noir ethProofs Designing Optimistic Interoperability with Nomad Trusted Setup Ceremonies Explored Anna’s Post on Benchmarking The path to secure and efficient zkVMs: Ho...

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: ZKV ZK Hack Kraków Mina Snarketplace Mina: What are SNARK workers and the Snarketplace Gevulot ZkCloud EthCC Paris: Toghrul Maharramov - Multi-Verifiers as a Hedge Agai...

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 ho...

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: ZK Email Website ZKP2P with Brian & Richard Modular Summit 3.0 Panel: ZK Applications ZK12: Future of ZK Applications with...

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: RareSkills Website ZK HACK Website ZK HACK Whiteboard Sessions RareSkills ZK Book Jeffrey Scholz on Medium Jeffrey Scholz’s course on Udemy Consensys Bootcamp in 2021 Encode Cl...

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...

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 Extens...

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 A...

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: Zupass ZK for web2 i...

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 @ze...

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 th...

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!

Further Reading:

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:

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, th...

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:

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 -

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.

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:

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: