zkMesh: Oct 2023 recap

Welcome to zkMesh, a monthly newsletter covering the latest in decentralized privacy-enhancing technologies, privacy protocol development, and zero knowledge systems research. 

zkMesh is produced by ZK Hack.

We bring you recent research, useful articles, videos, podcasts, tweets, tools, project updates, and events. Expect a new edition at the beginning of every month. Be sure to share and subscribe!   

** ZK Hack Istanbul happens Nov 10-12 (APPLY NOW) ** 

Research

• zk-Bench: A Toolset for Comparative Evaluation and Performance Benchmarking of SNARKs by Jens Ernstberger, Stefanos Chaliasos, George Kadianakis, Sebastian Steinhorst, Philipp Jovanovic, Arthur Gervais, Benjamin Livshits and Michele Orrù

• SoK: Web3 Recovery Mechanisms by Panagiotis Chatzigiannis, Konstantinos Chalkias, Aniket Kate, Easwar Vivek Mangipudi, Mohsen Minaei and Mainack Mondal

• BitVM: Compute Anything on Bitcoin by Robin Linus

• Algebraic Group Model with Oblivious Sampling by Helger Lipmaa, Roberto Parisella and Janno Siim

• Lookup Arguments: Improvements, Extensions and Applications to Zero-Knowledge Decision Trees by Matteo Campanelli, Antonio Faonio, Dario Fiore, Tianyu Li and Helger Lipmaa

• Threshold Computation in the Head: Improved Framework for Post-Quantum Signatures and Zero-Knowledge Arguments by Thibauld Feneuil and Matthieu Rivain

• Polynomial IOPs for Memory Consistency Checks in Zero-Knowledge Virtual Machines by Yuncong Zhang, Shi-Feng Sun, Ren Zhang and Dawu Gu

• Power Circuits: A New Arithmetization for GKR-styled Sumcheck by Lev Soukhanov

• Family of embedded curves for BLS by Antonio Sanso

• Multi-Theorem Fiat-Shamir Transform from Correlation-Intractable Hash Functions by Michele Ciampi and Yu Xia

• Oblivious Issuance of Proofs by Michele Orrù, Stefano Tessaro, Greg Zaverucha and Chenzhi Zhu

• Security Bounds for Proof-Carrying Data from Straightline Extractors by Alessandro Chiesa, Ziyi Guan, Shahar Samocha and Eylon Yogev

• Arithmetization Oriented Encryption by Tomer Ashur and Al Kindi

Articles/Threads

• ZK Hunt: An Exploration into the Unknown | 0xPARC | Flynn Calcutt   

• A List of Open Problems in Crypto - II | Emperor  

• Have You Checked Your Sums? | LambdaClass

• An Overview of the Groth 16 Proof System | LambdaClass

• Zero Additional Cost Commitments in Halo2 | EZKL

• Storage Proofs: Achieving State Awareness Across Time and Chains | LongHash

• ZK Score - ZK Hardware Ranking Standard | ZKProof Standards

• Unpacking the Privacy Debate Over CBDCs | CoinDesk

• EU Privacy Watchdog Takes Aim at ‘Excessive Centralization’ of Digital Euro | CoinDesk

Videos/Podcast

• Playlist: ALL VIDEOs from zk10 | zkSummit

• Succinct Proofs and Linear Algebra with Guillermo and Alex | ZK Podcast

• Zeth, Bonsai and RISC Zero with Brian and Jeremy | ZK Podcast

• Exploring Security of ZK Systems with Nethermind's Michał & Albert | ZK Podcast 

• IOPs with Inverse Polynomial Soundness Error (Gal Arnon from Weizmann Institute) | zkStudyClub

• Moon Math Club | Ingonyama

• Securing Validating Bridges | ETHGlobal | Toghrul Maharramov

• A Full Course on Elliptic Curve Cryptography Starting From Scratch | PSE

Guides and Resources

• halo2.club

• Electronic Signatures and Infrastructures (ESI): Analysis of Selective Disclosure and Zero-Knowledge Proofs Applied to Electronic Attestation of Attributes | ETSI

• Mps.is | 0xjjpa

• Proof Of Innocence | Chainway

• RISC Zero Study Club | RISC Zero

• Safe and Sound — A Deep Dive into STARK Security | StarkWare

• This Is Not the SUAVE You Are Looking For | Anoma

Vulnerabilities/Disclosures

•  Aztec Connect Claim Proof Bug | Aztec

Tools / implementations  

• mina_bridge: Bridge from Mina to Ethereum | LambdaClass Github

• Zyclone: Optimized Token Mixer for Ethereum Utilizing zkSNARKs | Michael Amadi

• zkUniswap: A First-of-its-kind zkAMM | @diego

• Implementing Protostar Folding Scheme Using Generic Arithmetization | @levs57

• zkConnect4 | @xyz_pierre

Project Updates

• A Letter from Scroll: Mainnet is Here! | Scroll

• Welcome to ezkl! | ezkl

• ZKP2P Road to Production Update | @ZKP2P

• Continuing the Zero Gravity Journey | PSE | George Wiese and Artem Grigor

• UniRep Ceremony: An Invitation to the Celestial Call and UniRep v2 | PSE

• Introducing Polylang: TypeScript for Miden VM | Polygon Labs

• Polygon 2.0 Milestone: POL Contracts Are Live on Ethereum Mainnet | Polygon Labs

• Blobstream X: Streaming Celestia DA to Ethereum with Succinct’s ZK Tendermint Light Client | Succinct Labs

• Announcing NoirJS: Privacy-Preserving ZK Applications In Your Browser | Aztec Blog

• halo2-repl: A Browser-based REPL for halo2 in Javascript | Axiom

• ketl: Anonymous App For Verified Founders and VCs | ketl

• Asset Transfers Through the IBC Stack Powered by ZK Light Clients | Union

• ZPass, a First-Party Identity Application | Aleo

• Bain Capital Crypto, Polychain Lead $6M Funding Round For Privacy Protocol Firm Nocturne Labs | Coindesk

• Announcing the Early Community Member Program | Starknet Foundation Blog

Events/Hackathons

• ZK Hack Istanbul | Istanbul. Nov 10 - 12 (APPLY TO JOIN US)

• Devconnect  | Istanbul. Nov 13 - 19 

• ZK Social Club | Istanbul. Nov 15

• ZK Accelerate | Istanbul. Nov 15

• Progcrypto | Istanbul. Nov 16 - 17

• ETHGlobal Istanbul | Istanbul. Nov 17 - 19

• ETHIndia | Bengaluru, India. Dec 8 - 10

• ZK HACK IV | Online. January 2024

• DevCon | Southeast Asia. Spring 2024

• RWC 2024  | Toronto, Canada. March 25 – 27, 2024

• EuroSys 2024 | Athens. Apr 22 - 25, 2024

• Eurocrypt 2024 | Zurich, Switzerland. May 26 - 30, 2024

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Lastly, if you have something you think should be included in the next edition or suggestions for the format - tweet at us @__zkhack__!