Zero Knowledge Summit 2024: On-site Report of the Zero Knowledge Summit

On April 10, 2024, the 11th Zero Knowledge Summit was held in Athens. This summit was hosted by the Zero Knowledge podcast and was attended by approximately 500 participants, with four presentations taking place simultaneously throughout the day. Below is a brief summary of the key points from the summit, covering the latest advancements in zero-knowledge hardware, SNARK performance, and the design of decentralized proof networks.

Development of Zero-Knowledge Hardware

Hardware support has always been an important goal for the zero-knowledge proof community. At this summit, several experts shared the latest developments in this field:

A certain researcher provided a comprehensive overview of zero-knowledge hardware, categorizing related companies into three types: those using general-purpose hardware, those manufacturing custom hardware, and those operating decentralized proof networks. He predicts that the combination of hardware-optimized SNARK verification systems and other upcoming optimizations could achieve a 1000-fold increase in computational efficiency, which will have a significant impact on the future architecture of blockchain.

The co-founder of a certain company introduced their new SNARK system they are developing, which optimizes both the proof system and hardware design. Preliminary tests show that the performance of the Groestl hash function is significantly better than that of Keccak in certain applications, providing new ideas for future system design.

Decentralized Prover Network

Multiple experts discussed the future development direction of decentralized proof networks:

The co-founder of a certain company analyzed the various potential mechanism designs of the prover network. She believes that competition or mining-based designs may not yield ideal results, and that auction models are most likely to prevail, potentially resembling today's block building process in the future. She also revealed that they are establishing a universal auction network to support proofs for multiple zkVMs.

A PhD student introduced their latest published research findings on the economics of proof networks. They proposed a new mechanism called Proo-phi, aimed at addressing the collusion issues that may arise in bilateral auctions. However, the mechanism still needs to resolve key design issues such as capacity parameter settings.

The technical lead of another company discussed the proof market that supports Multi-Party Computation (MPC), with a particular focus on how to achieve trustless interactions between small clients and large provers while protecting privacy. He emphasized the importance of selecting the right combination of proof systems to optimize MPC costs.

Zero-Knowledge Proof Applications

The summit also discussed the application of zero-knowledge proofs in existing identity systems:

A co-founder of a startup introduced an email-based zero-knowledge proof of ownership. This technology utilizes DKIM signatures and can be applied in scenarios such as anonymous remittances and whistleblowing.

A researcher from a certain blockchain platform shared their solution for interacting with traditional Web2 identities using OpenID Connect, which makes it possible to anonymously transfer funds to Google or Facebook accounts.

A representative from another project discussed how to build anonymous credentials from existing electronic passports, such as proving that one holds a passport from a specific country and is over a certain age, without disclosing specific personal information.

Overall, the summit showcased significant advancements in zero-knowledge proof technology in areas such as hardware optimization, network design, and practical applications, indicating the direction for future development in this field.