Fun with Zero Knowledge Execution Environments¶
Presented at ETH Portland 2023, this talk introduced the concept of Zero Knowledge Execution Environments and their implications for blockchain scaling and privacy.
Highlights¶
- Introduced Zero Knowledge Execution Environments as computing environments where provers execute arbitrary programs and provide 100% guarantees to verifiers without disclosing all inputs/outputs
- Covered the evolution of ZK technology: from Zero Knowledge Proofs to Gadgets, Circuits, and State Machines
- Explored ZK applications: Tornado.cash for privacy, Dark Forest for ZK gaming with Perlin noise "fog of war", Proof of Exploitability for automated bug triage, and ZKML for verifiable AI models
- Discussed blockchain scaling through ZK rollups and ZkEVM, enabling "basically unlimited scaling"
- Examined the economics of ZK execution: users pay gas fees, provers get paid for batching transactions, with competition between rollups and validiums for data availability
- Explored permissionless insertion of execution environments onto Ethereum via smart contracts (Polygon Stack, OP Stack, ZK Stack)
- Discussed ZK VMs beyond EVM: ZkRISCV (risc0), ZkWASM, and potential ZkX86
- Envisioned ZK execution environments as the infrastructure for financial transactions, identity management, personal data, software supply chains, and global media distribution