Zero Knowledge

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 ongoing push toward better proving benchmarks. Anna wraps with reflections on why privacy tech is becoming more urgent in the age of AI and what the community will be exploring next year. Related Links Ecosystem ZK Whiteboard Sessions ZK MeshSubscribe to ZK MeshZK Podcast substackState of ZK Report ZK Systems Story Back to the Future with Zero KnowledgeZero Knowledge Systems, Privacy and Security with Jonathan WilkinsThe Founding of Zero Knowledge Systems with Austin Hill Lattices Implementing LatticeFold with Matthew and Albert from Nethermind Lattices, Folding, & Symphony with Binyi ChenZK Whiteboard:Lattice-based SNARKs, w/ Vadim LyubashevskyZK Whiteboard:LatticeFold, w/ Binyi Chen Ligero Ligero for Memory-Efficient ZK with MuthuZK Whiteboard:The Ligero Proof System, w/ Muthu Venkitasubramaniam Quantum Quantum Engineering with Jelena VučkovićQuantum Punks with Alex and NicolaCountdown to Q-Day with Project 11

Pratyush Mishra on Tiny Proofs, Folding, Low-Memory SNARKs and More

26.11.2025 | 1 Std. 2 Min.

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, proximity proofs with FICS and FACS, his work on low-memory SNARKs, and ZK applications outside the blockchain space. Pratyush shares how these ideas intersect with one another, from faster proving to smallest proof sizes to real-world uses. He also touches on his collaborations with other leading cryptographers like Benedikt Bünz and Alessandro Chiesa, and how ZK is finding its place in broader computer science. Related Links Garuda and Pari: Faster and Smaller SNARKs via Equifficient Polynomial CommitmentsArc: Accumulation for Reed--Solomon CodesFICS and FACS: Fast IOPPs and Accumulation via Code-SwitchingScribe: Low-memory SNARKs via Read-Write StreamingCoral: Fast Succinct Non-Interactive Zero-Knowledge CFG ProofsHekaton: Horizontally-Scalable zkSNARKs via Proof AggregationQuery-Optimal IOPPs for Linear-Time Encodable CodesTime-Space Trade-Offs for SumcheckBlendy: A Time-Space Tradeoff for the Sumcheck ProverAccumulation without HomomorphismvSQL: Verifying Arbitrary SQL Queries over Dynamic Outsourced DatabasesSuccinct Arguments in the Quantum Random Oracle ModelLattices, Folding, & Symphony with Binyi Chen Aztec

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 the advantages of lattices over other approaches in the folding context while also highlighting their tradeoffs. Binyi goes on to introduce Symphony, his new work that eliminates the need to implement Fiat-Shamir in the recursive verification circuit, and describes how that improves efficiency and removes the chances for a KRS-style attack. Related Links Binyi Chen’s WebsiteLatticeFold: A Lattice-based Folding Scheme and its Applications to Succinct Proof SystemsLatticeFold+: Faster, Simpler, Shorter Lattice-Based Folding for Succinct Proof SystemsSymphony: Scalable SNARKs in the Random Oracle Model from Lattice-Based High-Arity FoldingProtostar: Generic Efficient Accumulation/Folding for Special-sound ProtocolsZK Whiteboard Sessions:SEASON 3 MODULE 3: Lattice-based SNARKs, w/ Vadim LyubashevskyZK Whiteboard Sessions:SEASON 3 MODULE 4: LatticeFold, w/ Binyi ChenImplementing LatticeFold with Matthew and Albert from NethermindLattice-based ZK Systems with Vadim Lyubashevsky Further Reading Generating Hard Instances of Lattice Problems by M. Ajtai SWIFFT: A Modest Proposal for FFT HashingDelegating Computation: Interactive Proofs for MugglesHow to Prove False Statements: Practical...

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 bridge theory to practice. They explore the benchmarks, the challenges and opportunities of this cutting-edge privacy cryptography and cover potential optimizations and real-world uses. While iO is still far from being truly practical, their work shows tangible steps ahead and offers interesting insights into how this could actually work. Related Links Indistinguishability Obfuscation (iO) with Huijia (Rachel) LinMachina iODiamond iO: A Straightforward Construction of Indistinguishability Obfuscation from LatticesCompact Pseudorandom Functional Encryption from Evasive LWEIndistinguishability Obfuscation from Well-Founded Assumptions Lookup-Table Evaluation over Key-Homomorphic Encodings and KP-ABE for Nonlinear OperationsOriginal BGG+ paper:Fully Key-Homomorphic Encryption, Arithmetic Circuit ABE, and Compact Garbled Circuits∗Gentry’s classic thesis on FHE bootstrapping:A FULLY HOMOMORPHIC ENCRYPTION SCHEMEGentry (GGH+) paper for obfuscation for all circuits:Candidate Indistinguishability Obfuscation and Functional Encryption for all circuitsOptimal Broadcast Encryption and CP-ABE from Evasive Lattice AssumptionsEvasive LWE Assumptions: Definitions, Classes, and CounterexamplesLattice-Based Post-Quantum iO from Circular Security with Random Opening Assumption (Part II: zeroizing attacks against private-coin evasive LWE assumptions)

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. Alex and Conor break down which algorithms are most at risk, why simple network upgrades won’t be enough, and what users will need to do to protect their own funds. They also outline potential mitigation strategies, including how Project 11 is approaching the challenge with post-quantum signature schemes, secure vaults, and a global namespace to coordinate user migrations ahead of “Q-Day.” The conversation also touched on how post-quantum thinking overlaps with zero-knowledge research, as hash- and lattice-based SNARKs offer resilience against future quantum attacks. Related Links Project 11Yellow PagesPQC Suite B GitHub  Securing Sui in the Quantum Computing EraQuantum resource estimation for large scale quantum algorithms: Section 5Estimating the cost of generic quantum pre-image attacks on SHA-2 and SHA-3Downtime Required for Bitcoin Quantum-Safety Related Episodes Quantum Engineering with Jelena VučkovićQuantum Punks with Alex and NicolaQuantum Cryptography Part 2 with Or Sattath ZK Whiteboard Sessions is an educational video series produced by ZK Hack in collaboration with Bain Capital Crypto. It is focused on the building blocks of zero knowledge technology. Find season 3 of the Whiteboard Sessions as well as previous seasons here.   Check out the latest jobs in ZK at the