Zerocoin to zk-creds: Modern ZK History with Ian Miers

Zero Knowledge

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. Ian also discussed his work on ZEXE, a system that has inspired the formation of Aleo, and his more recent works: zk-creds for building flexible anonymous credentials from existing identity signals like passports, and zk-promises for supporting anonymous reputation, moderation, and callbacks in decentralized systems. They also touch on broader topics like post-quantum security considerations, sybil resistance, and the need for programmable privacy tools.

Related Links

• Ian Miers: Academic profile and publications
• Zerocoin: Anonymous Distributed E-Cash from Bitcoin
• Pinocchio: Nearly Practical Verifiable Computation
• Zerocash: Decentralized Anonymous Payments from Bitcoin
• Zcash: Privacy-preserving cryptocurrency based on Zerocash protocol
• Zexe: Enabling Decentralized Private Computation
• Powers of Tau Ceremony: Zcash Foundation's multi-party computation for secure zk-SNARK parameters
• Powers-of-Tau to the People: Decentralizing Setup Ceremonies
• zk-creds: Flexible Anonymous Credentials from zkSNARKs and Existing Identity Infrastructure
• zk-promises: Anonymous Moderation, Reputation, and Blocking from Anonymous Credentials with Callbacks
• Decentralized Anonymous Credentials
• Sonic: Zero-Knowledge SNARKs from Linear-Size Universal and Updatable Structured Reference Strings
• Quadratic Span Programs and Succinct NIZKs without PCPs
• DECO: Liberating Web Data Using Decentralized Oracles for TLS
• SNARKs for C : Verifying Program Executions Succinctly and in Zero Knowledge
• Scalable Zero Knowledge via Cycles of Elliptic Curves (BCTV14)
• Sean Bowe on SNARKs, Trusted Setups & Elliptic Curve Cryptography

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