Zero Knowledge
Zero Knowledge is a podcast that explores the technologies behind the emerging decentralized web, with a focus on zero knowledge research and applications. Hosted by Anna Rose, the show covers topics like the open web and future technologies that could change online interactions and transactions. It also highlights the community building these systems and discusses the latest developments in the space. The podcast invites listeners to join discussions via Telegram and supports open-source initiatives through platforms like Gitcoin and Patreon.
Episodes
Exploring the Lasers that Power Quantum Computers
This week, Anna and Guillermo chat with Josh Yang, CEO and co-founder of Brightlight Photonics, about the lasers that power quantum computers. Josh explains how lasers are used in neutral atom and other atom-based quantum systems to cool and move atoms, manipulate qubit states and read out results. They explore why these systems require so many different lasers and how today’s bulky, expensive opt
JP Aumasson on Quantum Risk, AI Attacks and Too Much Crypto
This week, Anna, Tarun and Nico are joined by JP Aumasson, co-designer of BLAKE3, author of Serious Cryptography and cryptography engineer at Cloudflare. They revisit the quantum threat to cryptography, looking at recent advances in quantum attacks on RSA and elliptic-curve cryptography, and discuss why JP remains cautious about predictions of an imminent “Q-day.” They then explore how AI is chang
Auto Research on Yukon with Soubhik Deb
This week, Anna is joined by Soubhik Deb, Head of Research at EigenLabs, to explore Yukon, a platform for collaborative AI-powered research. Soubhik traces the project’s origins to ECDSA.fail, a competition launched in response to Google’s work on more resource-efficient quantum circuits for breaking secp256k1. They discuss how researchers and their AI agents build on one another’s submissions, tu
Ron Rothblum on Fiat-Shamir Attacks, Flock and SNARK.fast
This week, Anna and Kobi are joined by Ron Rothblum, Professor of Computer Science at Technion and researcher at Succinct. They catch up on Ron’s move from theory into practice, including his work on the SP1 zkVM, Jagged Polynomial Commitments, and a recent Fiat-Shamir attack that exposed vulnerabilities in practical uses of GKR. Ron explains what the attack revealed about Fiat-Shamir’s security a
The Evolution from ZKP2P to Peer with Richard Liang
This week, Anna catches up with Richard Liang from Peer, formerly ZKP2P. They trace the project’s evolution over the past two years, from their initial ZKP2P product that used ZK email proofs to connect Venmo payments with on-chain USDC, to their use of ZK TLS, and most recently, their move to using TEEs (trusted execution environments) and the rebrand to Peer. Richard breaks down what motivated e
Minimmit, Multimmit and the New Consensus Frontier with Patrick O'Grady
This week, Anna and Guillermo are joined by Patrick O'Grady, founder of Commonware. They discuss his journey from Coinbase and Avalanche to building Commonware, a Rust library of composable primitives for blockchain development. They explore Commonware's "anti-framework" philosophy, why it gives developers control over every layer of the stack, and how its modular approach differs from traditional
Private Information Retrieval (PIR) with Alex Hoover
In this episode, Anna and Kobi are joined by Alex Hoover, cryptographer and Assistant Professor at Stevens Institute of Technology. They explore Private Information Retrieval (PIR)—a cryptographic primitive that lets users query public databases without revealing what they're looking for.
They trace PIR's evolution from its early theoretical foundations to modern, practical constructions,
Alex Ozdemir on where Theorem Provers and ZK meet
This week, Anna and Nico are joined by Alex Ozdemir, Assistant Professor at Georgia Tech, to explore the intersection of formal verification and zero knowledge. They begin by revisiting the evolution of the ZK DSL landscape since Alex's last appearance, discussing the rise of ZKVMs, new language tooling, and how his compiler infrastructure project, CirC, has evolved.
The conversation then dives i
Sergey Gorbunov on TEEs and the Arc Privacy Sector
This week, Anna speaks with Sergey Gorbunov, Engineer at Circle, about Arc, Circle’s new EVM-compatible Layer 1 blockchain, and its approach to a TEE based on-chain privacy. They begin by revisiting Sergey’s journey from Axelar to Circle, reflecting on the evolution of cross-chain infrastructure, the aftermath of the Terra collapse, and how Circle’s acquisition of Interop Labs led to the developme
zkMesh+ Exclusive Clip – Benedikt Bünz on the threat of AI
Last week on the show, we interviewed Benedikt Bünz, Chief Scientist at Espresso Systems and Professor at NYU.
The conversation ran long, so we're releasing some of the extra material as an exclusive clip for zkMesh+ subscribers. We've also included the first five minutes here. In this segment, Anna, Kobi, and Benedikt discuss whether AI poses a genuine threat to the foundations of cryptography.
T
Pushing the Limits of Proof Systems with Benedikt Bünz
In this episode, Anna and Kobi speak with Benedikt Bünz, Chief Scientist at Espresso Systems and Professor at NYU.
They start with a quick update on Espresso's architecture, its role in delivering fast finality across chains, and the challenges of building high-throughput blockchain infrastructure. The conversation then turns to Benedikt’s recent research on folding schemes, hash-based proof syste
Announcement: zkMesh+ Exclusive Clip – Vericoding and SMT
No main episode this week, but we’ve got an exclusive bonus clip for our zkMesh+ subscribers! Continuing our conversation from last week, Wyatt Benno (ICME) describes the world of 'vericoding' - the next stage after the era of 'vibecoding.' Vericoding uses formal mathematics to prove that AI code is actually correct and help prevent bugs in AI-written code. We go deep on SMT (Satisfiability Modul
Building ZK-Powered AI Guardrails with Wyatt Benno
In this episode, Anna and Nico chat with Wyatt Benno, technical founder of ICME Labs. They trace Wyatt’s start into ZK in the ZKHack Discord and Justin Thaler’s study group before diving into ICME’s early work on folding schemes, local proving, and NovaNet.
The conversation then shifts to ICME’s work at the intersection of AI and ZK. Wyatt introduces ICMEPreflight, a ZK-based guardrail tool for A
The Quantum Question Panel – Live from zkSummit14
This episode was recorded live at zkSummit14 in Rome. In it, Anna and Nico Mohnblatt hosted the live ‘Quantum Question’ panel which began as an interview, but became something harder to categorize: part seminar, part group therapy, part improv theater, and — depending on the timeline you expect for viable quantum computers — part emergency briefing.
The logistics of the panel were really unusual.
From Access Control to Encrypted Execution with Auryn Macmillan
In this episode, Anna chats with Auryn Macmillan, founder of Gnosis Guild. They check in on Zodiac, which started as a DAO toolset and has evolved into a modular access control suite for on-chain entities. They discuss the state of DAOs today—what's worked, what hasn't, and how tools like Zodiac might have mitigated large-scale multisig hacks like the recent Bybit exploit.
The conversation then s
Quantum Advances, Hybrid Signatures and SNARKs to the Rescue with Dan Boneh
In this 400th episode, Anna Rose welcomes back Dan Boneh, professor of computer science and electrical engineering at Stanford University, for a wide-ranging conversation on quantum computing, post-quantum cryptography, and the evolving role of ZK.
They discuss Google's recent quantum algorithm announcement—what the paper actually showed, why it was proven in zero knowledge, and the cryptographic
Is ZK dead? Or has it just begun? with the ZK Pod co-hosts
In this episode, Anna is joined by co-hosts Guillermo Angeris, Nico Mohnblatt, and Tarun Chitra for a reunion on this 399th episode. They reflect on how they each joined the show and how both the podcast and the ZK space have evolved over time, before diving into discussion on whether ZK is ‘dead’ or simply maturing. They explore its shift from niche research to hype-driven narrative to becoming a
Verifiable Databases with Shyam & Emanuele from Provably
In this episode, Anna Rose and Nico Mohnblatt speak with Shyam Duraishwami and Emanuele Ragnoli, co-founders of Provably. They trace the origins of Provably, from early work on data ecosystems and blockchain infrastructure to the launch of their verifiable database approach, exploring how advances in cryptography and database theory enabled this shift.
The conversation dives into what a verifiabl
Dev Ojha on the Osmosis Story and his Return to Privacy
In this episode, Anna Rose and Guillermo Angeris catch up with Dev Ojha, co-founder of Osmosis and longtime ZK researcher. They revisit the story of Osmosis since its 2021 launch as a key Cosmos DEX, its role in early IBC adoption, the DeFi summer surge, the Terra collapse fallout, and the later pivot by the team toward privacy-focused cross-chain tools.
The conversation then turns to Dev’s retur
lean Ethereum Part 6: Formal Verification with Alex Hicks
https://youtu.be/9u4fu7TiZCA
In this episode, Nico Mohnblatt speaks with Alex Hicks from the Ethereum Foundation about formal verification and its role in the lean Ethereum vision. This is the 6th and final episode of the lean Ethereum mini-series. Nico and Alex explore what it means to produce machine-checked proofs across the ZK stack, from RISC-V and zkVMs to circuits, compilers, and cryptogra
lean Ethereum Part 5: Devnets & Upgrade Coordination with Will and Raúl
https://youtu.be/Ul2bs8INF0k
In this episode Nico Mohnblatt chats with Will Corcoran and Raúl Kripalani from the Ethereum Foundation. This is part 5 in the 6-part leanEthereum miniseries, shifting focus from the cryptographic primitives and LeanVM stack to the real-world integration happening through devnets, specs, and cross-team coordination.
They dive into the human coordination layer, how in
lean Ethereum Part 4: leanVM, a Custom VM for Signature Aggregation
https://youtu.be/YWkyvTrwtQU
In this episode of the lean Ethereum miniseries, Nico Mohnblatt speaks with Thomas Coratger and Emile from the Ethereum Foundation about the design and implementation of LeanVM, a minimal zkVM created to support post-quantum signature aggregation on Ethereum’s consensus layer. They explain why the team chose a VM architecture over fixed circuits and how LeanVM
lean Ethereum Part 3: Security of PQ SNARKs and an update about the Proximity Prize
https://youtu.be/v8SGKS3T-3A
In this episode, Nico Mohnblatt speaks with Giacomo Fenzi from EPFL and Antonio Sanso from the Ethereum Foundation. For this 3rd instalment of the lean Ethereum miniseries, they talk about the theory and security behind post-quantum SNARKs. They dive into the hash-based proof systems underpinning LeanVM, multilinear approaches like sumcheck, and how these fit into Eth
lean Ethereum Part 2: PQ Signatures and Poseidon with Dmitry and Benedikt
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xh8hbz1nqxQ
In this episode, Nico Mohnblatt speaks with Benedikt Wagner and Dmitry Khovratovich, cryptography researchers at the Ethereum Foundation, for the second instalment of the lean Ethereum miniseries. They explore leanSig, a hash-based multi-signature scheme designed as a post-quantum replacement for BLS in Ethereum consensus.
The conversation walks throug
lean Ethereum Part 1: Introduction with Justin Drake
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dad2UonQ9Ag&feature=youtu.be
In this episode, Nico Mohnblatt sits down with Justin Drake from the Ethereum Foundation to kick off a miniseries on lean Ethereum, a bold vision to rethink Ethereum’s consensus, data, and execution layers. Justin outlines how post-quantum cryptography, faster finality, and enshrined zkEVMs fit together into a cohesive redesign. At
lean Ethereum Miniseries Kick-off with Anna & Nico
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbskOlf7oA0
In this episode, Anna Rose and Nico Mohnblatt kick-off a new six-part video miniseries exploring lean Ethereum. Lean Ethereum is a proposal initiated by the EF that weaves zero-knowledge cryptography and post-quantum upgrades throughout Ethereum’s stack. They discuss why the topic deserves a deeper series, what listeners can expect from upcoming episo
Bonus: zkMesh+ & Upcoming Miniseries
There’s no full-length episode this week, but we wanted to highlighting a new bonus segment available exclusively to zkMesh+ subscribers. In this, we revisit last week’s conversation with Ian Miers, Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the University of Maryland.
Ian dives deeper into:
The renewed cultural focus on privacyThe evolving narrative around ZcashHis recent research on reducing n
Stateful ZK Identity with Ian Miers
In this episode, Anna Rose and Nico Mohnblatt welcome back Ian Miers, Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the University of Maryland, to continue the conversation from a previous episode and dig deeper into his latest work like zk-Promises, zk-Cookies, and Cryptographic Personas. These ZK tools aim to build social networks that protect user privacy while maintaining integrity, like anonymou
Bonus: Join zkMesh+ for some bonus podcast content!
No full length episode this week, but we have released an additional podcast clip with Sean Bowe to our a zkMesh+ paid subscribers.
Sean Bowe is a Zcash core developer and lead on Tachyon. In this clip, Sean shares his thoughts on the question of quantum computers and their real impact on blockchains and ZK systems.
Join zkMesh+ as a paid subscriber to get access to this and all our extra member
Sean Bowe on Tachyon and the Evolution of Zcash
In this episode, Anna Rose catches up with Sean Bowe, a Zcash core developer now leading work on Tachyon, the upcoming Zcash shielded pool upgrade. They discuss the evolution of Zcash’s technical roadmap over the past five years and how it has influenced the design of Tachyon.
Sean then walks through the cryptographic ideas behind Tachyon, including its proving systems, new techniques for pruning
Bonus: Welcome to 2026 from ZK Podcast & zkMesh+
We share some updates about the upcoming episodes and the ZK Podcast & ZK Hack ecosystem - specifically zkMesh+ launching this Wednesday. zkMesh+ will bring together work from the Zero Knowledge Podcast, ZK Hack, and ZK Mesh. Subscribers will have access to a set of additional resources, including:
the quarterly State of ZK Reportmonthly addendums on adjacent technologies such as FHE, iO, and
Year in Review: ZK Podcast in 2025 & Beyond
In this end-of-year episode, Anna recaps the major ZK themes of 2025 and gives a preview of what’s coming in 2026 — new episodes, a mini-series, zkSummit14, and the rollout of ZK Mesh Plus, a unified space for newsletters, educational content, and events.
She highlights this year’s core research threads, from lattices and Ligero to quantum security, ZK-ID systems, emerging applications, and the o
Pratyush Mishra on Tiny Proofs, Folding, Low-Memory SNARKs and More
In this episode, Anna Rose and Nico Mohnblatt catch up with Pratyush Mishra, Assistant Professor of Computer and Information Science at the University of Pennsylvania. They discuss the various themes in his ZK research and some of the works he has been a part of in the last few years. They explore how Garuda and Pari achieve extremely small SNARK proofs, how Arc facilitates hash-based folding, pro
Lattices, Folding, & Symphony with Binyi Chen
In this episode Anna Rose and Nico Mohnblatt chat with Binyi Chen, researcher at Stanford University. They discuss his work on lattice-based folding schemes, revisit LatticeFold and LatticeFold+, and cover how lattices enable low-cost, post-quantum-secure folding by replacing Pedersen hashes with Ajtai commitments. They discuss the early folding work from 2023 and how it has evolved and explore th
The Quest for Practical iO with Machina iO
In this episode, Anna Rose and Tarun Chitra chat with Sora Suegami and Enrico Bottazzi from Machina iO. They explain indistinguishability obfuscation (iO) technology and how they are working to bring this powerful cryptographic primitive from theoretical territory into the practical world. They discuss how the pair got into iO and how new assumptions like all-product LWE and evasive LWE will help
Countdown to Q-Day with Project 11
In this episode, Anna Rose chats with Alex Pruden and Conor Deegan from Project 11. They revisit the topic of quantum computing and explore the threat it poses to cryptographic systems like blockchains. As blockchain technology becomes increasingly integrated into global financial infrastructure — especially through stablecoins and banking rails — the stakes for quantum security continue to rise.
Kevin Lacker on AI-Assisted Theorem Proving and Acorn
In this episode, Anna Rose and Guillermo Angeris talk with Kevin Lacker, creator of Acorn, a theorem prover utilising AI. They explore what theorem provers are, their history, and how they're used today. Kevin shares how Acorn brings in AI to simplify the proving process, letting users naturally write mathematical statements while the system checks the correctness of those statements. It's built t
Payy and Payy Card, the Undoxable Credit Card
In this episode, Anna Rose and Tarun Chitra catch up with Sid Gandhi and Calum Moore from Payy to discuss the Payy private payment system and the newly released Payy credit card. They explore their focus on building a user-friendly privacy focused product, how ZK tooling advancement makes this possible, and a walkthrough into how it works with the Visa remittance system. Sid and Cal explain Payy's
ZKPassport, Obsidion & the Emerging Noir Ecosystem
In this episode, Anna Rose chats with Théo Madzou and Michael Elliot from ZKPassport and Obsidion about their ZK-based identity solution. Théo shares his start in ZK through ZK Hack hackathons using Noir, while Mike shares his path from Bitcoin and MakerDAO to working on zkID systems. They explain how they teamed up to build ZKPassport, a non-profit public-good ZK identity solution project,and how
Verifiable Key Management and TEEs with Turnkey
In this episode, Anna Rose and Kobi Gurkan chat with Arnaud Brousseau and Jack Kearney from Turnkey about verifiable key management using trusted execution environments (TEEs). They share how their past work on custody and validators inspired them to build more sophisticated key management tools and some of the qualities TEEs enabled.
The discussion covers a range of challenges and techniques: t
Zerocoin to zk-creds: Modern ZK History with Ian Miers
In this episode, Anna Rose and Nico Mohnblatt catch up with Ian Miers from the University of Maryland, starting with his work on seminal ZK blockchain research, Zerocoin and Zerocash and the creation of the first zk-focused blockchain project Zcash. They then explore the history of trusted setups, including the trusted setup bug discovery in Zcash, and subsequent improvements like Powers of Tau. I
Evolving ZK Identity from Iden3 to Privado & Billions
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
Miden & the Edge Blockchain with Bobbin & Gaylord
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
Indistinguishability Obfuscation (iO) with Huijia (Rachel) Lin
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 famili
Lighter, Perp DEXs and Custom ZK Circuits
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 market makers.
Vladimir discusses the advantage of build
Ethproofs, zkVM Benchmarks & the Unstoppable Rise of ZK with Justin Drake
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 proje
zkPDF and zkID with Vikas Rushi and Ying Tong
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
How ZK inspired AI Watermarking with Miranda Christ
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 erro
ZKTorch & the Evolution of ZKML with Daniel Kang
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
Ligero for Memory-Efficient ZK with Muthu
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
TLSNotary with Dan and Sinu
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 conversatio
Local-First with grjte and Goblin Oats
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 projec
Bringing ID Onchain with Self
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 u
ZK in Sui & zkAt with Kostas Kryptos
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.
Th
AI and ZK Auditing with David Wong
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 t
Bringing ZK to Google Wallet with Abhi and Matteo
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 applicati
zkTLS with Maddy from Reclaim
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 connectio
Implementing LatticeFold with Matthew and Albert from Nethermind
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 n
Quantum Punks with Alex and Nicola
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
Lattice-based ZK Systems with Vadim Lyubashevsky
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 ada
Building ZK Registries Onchain with Rarimo
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
Quantum Engineering with Jelena Vučković
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
ZK Benchmarks with Conner Swann
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 be
Coordinating Provers with Norbert from ZkCloud
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-sca
The Founding of Zero Knowledge Systems with Austin Hill
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 amb
Making ZK More Human with ZK Email
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 exp
Learning ZK with Jeffrey from RareSkills
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
Zero Knowledge Systems, Privacy and Security with Jonathan Wilkins
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 res
ZK in Solana with Mert Mumtaz
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 eme
ZODA & The Accidental Computer
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
Taking ZK IRL with Cursive
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 w
Back to the Future with Zero Knowledge
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 Know
ZK in Review: Decoding 2024 & Predicting 2025
SummaryThis 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 zkSu
Latest ZK Research with Dan Boneh
SummaryIn 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 episo
ZK Events 2024 Recap
SummaryThis 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 cr
Mastering MPC & Memes with Mikerah
SummaryThis 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 te
Catch up with Zac and Ariel
SummaryThis 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
coSNARKs with Ais and Lukas from TACEO
SummaryThis 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 w
Is Cosmos Dead? A critical look with Zaki Manian
SummaryThis 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 fact
TEEs with Andrew Miller
SummaryIn this week’s episode, Anna and Tarun catch up with Andrew Miller. They cover his early work on consensus, ZK and MPC before switching focus to the topic of his current work: TEEs. They map his evolving opinion on TEEs and explore why they could be seen as an optimal solution to many of the blockchain challenges. Here’s some additional links for this episode:Andrew Miller worksSoK: Researc
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