This is event was made possible thanks to the generous sponsorship of Zcash Foundation, and organized by the QEDIT team.
Important Information
Dates: August 2nd
Registration: Closed!
Location: Barcelona
Invited Speakers
Agenda
PLONK Standardization
Which level of abstraction, what’s already out there, who’s the consumer of the standard
09.00-10.30
Session Lead: Mary Maller
In this session, we are going to discuss a current effort to write standards for the Plonk zero-knowledge proof. This is one of the most popular SNARKs to be used in deployment today and seems a natural candidate for standardization. However, it is not as if anybody has ever succeeded in standardizing such advanced cryptography before, and we are, to a degree determining style that will be used not only now but in future standards. Thus we want as much feedback and help as the community is willing to give us. Please come to our session, listen to what we have already been working on, and tell us honestly (and if necessary brutally) how we can improve to make this standard more fit for your purposes.
Coffee Break
10.30-11.00
Recursive Proof Composition
11.00-12.30
Session Lead: Ying Tong Lai
Recent advances in folding schemes and FRI-based full recursion have significantly reduced the overhead of recursive proof composition, making large computations (e.g., virtual machines, neural networks) efficiently provable.
- In this session, we will compare existing constructions of recursive proof composition, discussing criteria such as: zero knowledgeness of the recursive step.
- support for non-uniform predicates.
- instantiation of incrementally verifiable computation. and/or proof-carrying data.
- support for lookup arguments.
- recursion threshold/overhead.
- concrete prover/verifier efficiency (accounting for implementation details like field size, curve cycles).
- security and cryptographic assumptions.
We also suggest directions for further work, including:
- overlap between CCS and PlonKish standardisation efforts.
- desired tooling / interfaces for proof composition.
- benchmarking efforts.
- include SNARKS and Recursion, not only ZK.
- update the reference document of ZKProof to bless Recursion as more important concept.
Lunch Break (outside of the event)
12.30-14.15
Enjoy a personal lunch break among the many exceptional eateries encircling the conference hotel. Capitalize on this wonderful opportunity to catch up with colleagues and explore the captivating flavors of Barcelona.
ZKML- Where are we now? Where do we go from here?
14.15-15.15
Session Lead: Daniel Kang
ZKML has received a lot of attention recently, but what can it actually do? And what can ZKML frameworks do today? We’ll discuss what’s feasible today and next steps. There will be time for open-ended discussion.
SIEVE Circuit IR Specification
15.15-15.45
Session Lead: James Parker & Kimberlee Model
During the DARPA SIEVE program, teams have been collaboratively defining an intermediate representation (IR) specification language for encoding zero-knowledge proof statements. In this talk, we will present the SIEVE IR language, giving an overview of the features of the language and the ecosystem built around it. In addition, we will discuss lessons learned through the process of designing the standard by committee, and how the language might live on after SIEVE to be useful for the larger ZK community.
Coffee break
15.45-16.15
ZKPs and Post-Quantum Signatures From VOLE-in-the-Head.
16.15-16.45
Session Lead: Peter Scholl
Recent years have seen the development of new techniques for ZKPs based on VOLE, a tool from multi-party computation. VOLE-based proofs are typically interactive and not succinct, but have a very low computational overhead for the prover. In this talk, I will give an overview of VOLE-based ZK, including a recent work that allows these proofs to be non-interactive using VOLE-in-the-head. I will discuss the advantages of this approach and an application to FAEST, a candidate post-quantum signature scheme based on AES.
ZKP & Regulation Panel: Finding the Balance between Privacy, Security, and Law
16.45-17.30
Session Lead: Jonathan Rouach
Wrapping up our day-long discussion on ZKP standardization, this down-to-earth panel will address the crucial regulatory aspects of implementing zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) technology in the real world. We’ll explore the delicate balance between its privacy-enhancing features, security, and the demands of law enforcement.
Anonymous by nature, ZKP applications in blockchain raise questions about how to handle bad actors while leveraging its potential for GDPR compliance. As we work on standardizing this powerful tech, we must ensure the tools remain compatible with legal requirements and clear up any misconceptions.
Our diverse panel representing the Zcash Foundation, academia, and hands-on practitioners (hackers), will guide us through the interplay of ZKP technology, regulations, and law enforcement needs. Join us for this engaging conversation to better understand how we can harness the potential of ZKP while navigating the challenges of privacy, security, and regulation.