zkWeekly #3

Introduction

Welcome to the zkWeekly edition #3! In this post, we cover the most important and exciting developments/news in the world of zero-knowledge proofs (ZKP) and fully homomorphic encryption (FHE) from the past week.

Researches/Prototypes/Concepts

zkFHE:
A PoC to demonstrate an approach for private computation on a public environment without give up data availability powered by RiscZero.
The PoC used a tweaked version of Cupcake, creates a demonstrating protocol consists of two parties - host and guest - in which the host has the guarantee that the guest run the algorithm using zk proof and that the guest did not access to the unecrypted data with the use of FHE.
https://github.com
GitHub - emilianobonassi/zkFHE: Verifiable and confidential computation based on ZKP and FHE, powered by risc0 zkVM.
Verifiable and confidential computation based on ZKP and FHE, powered by risc0 zkVM. A PoC to demonstrate an approach for private computation on a public environment w/o give up data availability (since data can stay encrypted). FHE provides confidentiality, ZKP provides the proof that the algorithm run following the rules.
RiscZero's reflection blog on zkHack and zkSummit:
https://www.risczero.com
Reflection on ZK Hack & ZK Summit | RISC Zero
· 3 min read Instructional Design Engineer First off: huge thanks to all the organizers and participants at ZK Hack & ZK Summit! Both events were fantastic; I'm already looking forward to next time. Now that the jetlag is behind me, I wanted to share some zero-knowledge research threads that I'm excited to keep thinking about and talking about.
Ideas mentioned in this piece:
- Well-coveted folding scheme Nova along with the more generalized SuperNova and Sangria (folding scheme for PLONK)
- Red Wedding proposal from the TritonVM team to reduce verification time on a STARK system - in which the Prover can generate a SNARK proof in order to alleviate the need for the Verifier to evaluate the AIR constraints at the DEEP query point.
- Using the finite field of order 2^31 - 1 (a Mersenne prime) for building Plonky3.
HyperOracle's research blog post about zkOracle and zkWASM:
https://mirror.xyz
zkWASM, zkOracle and Programmability: Pioneering Scalable and Se...
This blog post summarizes my (Hyper Oracle CTO Norman's) talk from zkDay at ETH Denver, which was originally titled "zkWASM, zkOracle and Programmability." Let's dive right in and start with the term "oracle." In the context of an oracle network, there are two types of oracles: input oracles and output oracles.
In this piece, the HyperOracle team has given their elaboration on building zkOracle Network - a type of oracle network with verifiable pre-commit computation, as well as their zkWASM, a type of zkVM that supports WASM binary - in order to generate proof for the unpredictable customized logic.
Nova (Zk proof folding schemes) for dummies

Wyatt Benno
@wyatt_benno

ZKP folding schemes (Nova) for Dummies.

Nova is all of the rage at the moment. If you go to an ETH or ZKP event, you will hear 'FOLDING'!

Folding here, Origami there with some Sangria . So what is it, where is it going, and why do people like it?

95
4:59 • 25 Apr 2023

ICME's founder Wyatt Benno's attempt to give a simple explanation about folding scheme like Nova, SuperNova and why these are such a big deal.
Nova's power showcasing in Zator - first end-to-end Nova based zk project

Lyron Co Ting Keh
@lyronctk

We snarked a 512-layer neural network with Nova

It's a 2.5B constraint computation that we proved in 50s per layer on a macbook

Wow. Excitement around Nova / SuperNova / HyperNova is very much justified

1/6

159
5:43 • 25 Apr 2023

Zator is the first known end-to-end implementation with Nova - the folding scheme that has been making the noises recently. It's a verified inference of a 512-layer neural network using recursive SNARKs that has a proving time of ~50 seconds per layer on a Macbook setup.
- HyperNova paper dropped:
  https://eprint.iacr.org
  HyperNova: Recursive arguments for customizable constraint systems
  Paper 2023/573 Abhiram Kothapalli , Carnegie Mellon University Srinath Setty , Microsoft Research Abstract This paper introduces HyperNova, a recursive argument for proving incremental computations whose steps are expressed with CCS (Setty et al. ePrint 2023), a customizable constraint system that simultaneously generalizes Plonkish, R1CS, and AIR without overheads.
  There's also a companion paper that introduces CCS - generalization form of R1CS that can capture R1CS, Plonkish and AIR at the same times with 0 overhead.
  
  oskarth
  @oskarth
  
  The companion paper on customizable constraint system paper, generalizing R1CS to also capture Plonkish and AIR.
  
  Amazing work by @srinathtv @SuccinctJT et al, and great timing with how much attention Nova has gotten at Zuzalu ZK Week!
  
  eprint.iacr.org/2023/552.pdf
  
  10
  18:17 • 24 Apr 2023
"State of Zero Knowledge Report 2023" from Mina
https://minaprotocol.com
The State of ZK Applications in Ethereum Part 2 from @AndyGuzmanEth:
https://mirror.xyz
The State of Zero-Knowledge Applications in Ethereum Part 2: Pri...
This is the second part of a series of articles to analyze projects on the Zero-Knowledge Applications in Ethereum through a problem-lens. In the last article we started this series to analyze the landscape of applications currently built using zero-knowledge proofs in Ethereum. Today we´ll dive deeper into Privacy and Identity.

Industry News

EZKL - Halo2-based library for doing inference for deep learning models and other computational graphs in a zk-snark - opened their Gitcoin funding round at:
https://explorer.gitcoin.co
Gitcoin | Explorer
Create & Manage Rounds

Kakarot - the zkEVM built on Cairo - has also opened their Gitcoin funding round:

Kakarot Super Sayajin ZK-EVM in Cairo
@KakarotZkEvm

Kakarot zkEVM has landed on @gitcoin !

Power up the open-source #Ethereum infra pool with us and support the next-gen eth tech

All funds will go to our buildoors
Check out & contribute to our open grant explorer.gitcoin.co/#/round/1/0xdf… #zkEVM #OpenSource #DeFiRevolution

61
16:49 • 26 Apr 2023
Credora - infrastructure platform for building transparent and privacy-preserving credit system for institutions utilizing zk proofs - has announed a 6 millions extra funding round with participation from S&P Global and top tier crypto VCs.
https://medium.com
S&P Global and major investors back Credora in building transparent credit markets
April 25, 2023 - New York, US; The crypto lending business model has come under intense scrutiny following a spate of recent credit events. Credora is helping rebuild confidence in credit markets through transparency, and today the lending infrastructure provider announced a $6m strategic funding round with S&P Global and Coinbase Ventures as major investors.
Blockless - a serverless function platform that utilizing zk proofs to prove the execution of the functions - has been selected as one of the 4 projects on the debut cohort of Poolside's Web3 accelerator
https://blog.poolside.co
Poolside Web3 Accelerator: Get to Know the Selected 4 Projects in Our Debut Cohort
With over 300 applications and countless interviews, we've handpicked four projects that stood out by their idea, team and market potential. We're thrilled to announce that our program is springing into action this week, and we're excited to help those projects grow during the next 12 weeks!
https://blog.poolside.co
Meet Blockless, a promising project accelerated by Poolside
We are thrilled to introduce you to Blockless, one of four groundbreaking Web3 startups joining the Poolside Accelerator program. Blockless offers zk verifiable serverless functions for building fast and limitless decentralized serverless applications. Led by founder Butian Li, who has years of experience in the blockchain industry and has successfully led Web3 projects listed on Binance, Blockless is poised to revolutionize decentralized application development.
StarkNet goals and roadmap for upcoming months

StarkWare
@StarkWareLtd

Starknet’s goals for the upcoming months: performance and UX!

The milestones will focus on boosting performance to new heights, and delivering a seamless UX

By year's end, we'll achieve a robust network, transitioning to seamless governance in 2024!

starkware.medium.com
Starknet Goals and Roadmap for 2023

Focuse on performance and UX

465
23:32 • 24 Apr 2023

They have highlighted the strong focus on performance and UX for the upcoming updates - including significant throughput and latency improvements, as well as reduced tx cost (with Volition as well as EIP-4844) and faster finality.

Events and Conferences

ZK 360 - full-day zk networking and education event, hosted by Mina Protocol in Texas

Mina Protocol 🪶
@MinaProtocol

ZK 360 — a full day of zero knowledge education and networking — is today at @CapitalFactory in Texas!

Watch the event from anywhere in the world live (or later) on YouTube

youtube.com/live/XNjl8vcFX…

216
16:15 • 26 Apr 2023

ScalingX's zk introduction offline event with Ethereum Singapore

ScalingX ZK Hackathon - The Hunt For X

@scaling_x

This Thursday, #ScalingX is co-hosting an offline event with @ethereum_sg. Come join our speakers Jake from @ethereum @PrivacyScaling & @NeilHANYD from @Reddio_com as they introduce you to the exciting world of #ZKP

Join the ZKP revolution