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PODCAST

Zero Knowledge

Zero Knowledge Podcast

Zero Knowledge is a podcast which goes deep into the tech that will power the emerging decentralised web and the community building this. Covering the latest in zero knowledge research and applications, the open web as well as future technologies and paradigms that promise to change the way we interact — and transact — with one another online. Zero Knowledge is hosted by Anna Rose Follow the show at @ZeroKnowledgefm (https://twitter.com/zeroknowledgefm) or @AnnaRRose (https://twitter.com/AnnaRRose)

technology mathematics

All Episodes

57:27

JP Aumasson on Quantum Risk, AI Attacks and Too Much...

Zero Knowledge ·

2026/09/30

This week, Anna, Tarun and Nico are joined by JP Aumasson, co-designer of BLAKE3, author of Serious Cryptography and cryptography engineer at Cloudflare. They revisit the quantum threat to cryptography, looking at recent advances in quantum attacks on RSA and elliptic-curve cryptography, and discuss why JP remains cautious about predictions of an imminent “Q-day.” They then explore how AI is changing cryptanalysis, from recent RSA factoring records to the growing divide between symmetric and

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01:06:30

Auto Research on Yukon with Soubhik Deb

Zero Knowledge ·

2026/09/23

This week, Anna is joined by Soubhik Deb, Head of Research at EigenLabs, to explore Yukon, a platform for collaborative AI-powered research. Soubhik traces the project’s origins to ECDSA.fail, a competition launched in response to Google’s work on more resource-efficient quantum circuits for breaking secp256k1. They discuss how researchers and their AI agents build on one another’s submissions, turning traditional research into a multiplayer process that can iterate at machine speed.The

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01:01:49

Ron Rothblum on Fiat-Shamir Attacks, Flock and...

Zero Knowledge ·

2026/09/16

This week, Anna and Kobi are joined by Ron Rothblum, Professor of Computer Science at Technion and researcher at Succinct. They catch up on Ron’s move from theory into practice, including his work on the SP1 zkVM, Jagged Polynomial Commitments, and a recent Fiat-Shamir attack that exposed vulnerabilities in practical uses of GKR. Ron explains what the attack revealed about Fiat-Shamir’s security assumptions and why it prompted changes to deployed systems.The conversation then explores Ron’s

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46:00

The Evolution from ZKP2P to Peer with Richard Liang

Zero Knowledge ·

2026/09/09

This week, Anna catches up with Richard Liang from Peer, formerly ZKP2P. They trace the project’s evolution over the past two years, from their initial ZKP2P product that used ZK email proofs to connect Venmo payments with on-chain USDC, to their use of ZK TLS, and most recently, their move to using TEEs (trusted execution environments) and the rebrand to Peer. Richard breaks down what motivated each shift and how the team has navigated the trade-offs around privacy, speed, and UX.The conversation

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01:12:01

Minimmit, Multimmit and the New Consensus Frontier...

Zero Knowledge ·

2026/08/05

This week, Anna and Guillermo are joined by Patrick O'Grady, founder of Commonware. They discuss his journey from Coinbase and Avalanche to building Commonware, a Rust library of composable primitives for blockchain development. They explore Commonware's "anti-framework" philosophy, why it gives developers control over every layer of the stack, and how its modular approach differs from traditional blockchain SDKs.The conversation then turns to consensus research, examining how changing

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01:04:13

Private Information Retrieval (PIR) with Alex Hoover

Zero Knowledge ·

2026/07/29

In this episode, Anna and Kobi are joined by Alex Hoover, cryptographer and Assistant Professor at Stevens Institute of Technology. They explore Private Information Retrieval (PIR)—a cryptographic primitive that lets users query public databases without revealing what they're looking for.They trace PIR's evolution from its early theoretical foundations to modern, practical constructions, unpack key variants like batch and keyword PIR, and discuss emerging blockchain applications, from private

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01:01:57

Alex Ozdemir on where Theorem Provers and ZK meet

Zero Knowledge ·

2026/07/15

This week, Anna and Nico are joined by Alex Ozdemir, Assistant Professor at Georgia Tech, to explore the intersection of formal verification and zero knowledge. They begin by revisiting the evolution of the ZK DSL landscape since Alex's last appearance, discussing the rise of ZKVMs, new language tooling, and how his compiler infrastructure project, CirC, has evolved.The conversation then dives into formal verification and theorem proving, covering SMT solvers, Lean, and zkPi, the first zkSNARK for

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01:07:07

Sergey Gorbunov on TEEs and the Arc Privacy Sector

Zero Knowledge ·

2026/07/08

This week, Anna speaks with Sergey Gorbunov, Engineer at Circle, about Arc, Circle’s new EVM-compatible Layer 1 blockchain, and its approach to a TEE based on-chain privacy. They begin by revisiting Sergey’s journey from Axelar to Circle, reflecting on the evolution of cross-chain infrastructure, the aftermath of the Terra collapse, and how Circle’s acquisition of Interop Labs led to the development of Arc. The conversation then turns to Arc’s architecture, including its privacy layer, known as the

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06:04

zkMesh+ Exclusive Clip – Benedikt Bünz on the threat...

Zero Knowledge ·

2026/07/01

Last week on the show, we interviewed Benedikt Bünz, Chief Scientist at Espresso Systems and Professor at NYU. The conversation ran long, so we're releasing some of the extra material as an exclusive clip for zkMesh+ subscribers. We've also included the first five minutes here. In this segment, Anna, Kobi, and Benedikt discuss whether AI poses a genuine threat to the foundations of cryptography. They explore the 'immune system' metaphor for AI's dual role in security: it can uncover bugs and

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01:08:55

Pushing the Limits of Proof Systems with Benedikt Bünz

Zero Knowledge ·

2026/06/24

In this episode, Anna and Kobi speak with Benedikt Bünz, Chief Scientist at Espresso Systems and Professor at NYU. They start with a quick update on Espresso's architecture, its role in delivering fast finality across chains, and the challenges of building high-throughput blockchain infrastructure. The conversation then turns to Benedikt’s recent research on folding schemes, hash-based proof systems such as Arc and Warp, and Golden, a non-interactive distributed key generation protocol for threshold

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01:13

Announcement: zkMesh+ Exclusive Clip – Vericoding and...

Zero Knowledge ·

2026/06/18

No main episode this week, but we’ve got an exclusive bonus clip for our zkMesh+ subscribers! Continuing our conversation from last week, Wyatt Benno (ICME) describes the world of 'vericoding' - the next stage after the era of 'vibecoding.' Vericoding uses formal mathematics to prove that AI code is actually correct and help prevent bugs in AI-written code. We go deep on SMT (Satisfiability Modulo Theories), a decades-old verification technique originally built for cloud infrastructure, and discuss

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01:07:25

Building ZK-Powered AI Guardrails with Wyatt Benno

Zero Knowledge ·

2026/06/10

In this episode, Anna and Nico chat with Wyatt Benno, technical founder of ICME Labs. They trace Wyatt’s start into ZK in the ZKHack Discord and Justin Thaler’s study group before diving into ICME’s early work on folding schemes, local proving, and NovaNet.The conversation then shifts to ICME’s work at the intersection of AI and ZK. Wyatt introduces ICMEPreflight, a ZK-based guardrail tool for AI. They then explore how succinct verification and privacy-preserving proofs can help secure agentic

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58:55

The Quantum Question Panel – Live from zkSummit14

Zero Knowledge ·

2026/05/27

This episode was recorded live at zkSummit14 in Rome. In it, Anna and Nico Mohnblatt hosted the live ‘Quantum Question’ panel which began as an interview, but became something harder to categorize: part seminar, part group therapy, part improv theater, and — depending on the timeline you expect for viable quantum computers — part emergency briefing.The logistics of the panel were really unusual. The guests were meant to be Justin Drake and Dan Boneh, but Dan’s flight was delayed. And so the panel

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53:23

From Access Control to Encrypted Execution with Auryn...

Zero Knowledge ·

2026/05/20

In this episode, Anna chats with Auryn Macmillan, founder of Gnosis Guild. They check in on Zodiac, which started as a DAO toolset and has evolved into a modular access control suite for on-chain entities. They discuss the state of DAOs today—what's worked, what hasn't, and how tools like Zodiac might have mitigated large-scale multisig hacks like the recent Bybit exploit.The conversation then shifts to The Interfold (formerly Enclave), Gnosis Guild's new project combining FHE, ZK, and MPC to

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01:24:35

Quantum Advances, Hybrid Signatures and SNARKs to the...

Zero Knowledge ·

2026/05/06

In this 400th episode, Anna Rose welcomes back Dan Boneh, professor of computer science and electrical engineering at Stanford University, for a wide-ranging conversation on quantum computing, post-quantum cryptography, and the evolving role of ZK.They discuss Google's recent quantum algorithm announcement—what the paper actually showed, why it was proven in zero knowledge, and the cryptographic ideas embedded in the work. Dan shares his perspective on quantum timelines, the risks of rushing the

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01:02:44

Is ZK dead? Or has it just begun? with the ZK Pod...

Zero Knowledge ·

2026/04/22

In this episode, Anna is joined by co-hosts Guillermo Angeris, Nico Mohnblatt, and Tarun Chitra for a reunion on this 399th episode. They reflect on how they each joined the show and how both the podcast and the ZK space have evolved over time, before diving into discussion on whether ZK is ‘dead’ or simply maturing. They explore its shift from niche research to hype-driven narrative to becoming a widely used but increasingly invisible piece of infrastructure. They go on to discuss the changing

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56:15

Verifiable Databases with Shyam & Emanuele from Provably

Zero Knowledge ·

2026/04/08

In this episode, Anna Rose and Nico Mohnblatt speak with Shyam Duraishwami and Emanuele Ragnoli, co-founders of Provably. They trace the origins of Provably, from early work on data ecosystems and blockchain infrastructure to the launch of their verifiable database approach, exploring how advances in cryptography and database theory enabled this shift.The conversation dives into what a verifiable database actually is and how this contrasts with Merkle-based systems and zkVMs, explaining how

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01:12:06

Dev Ojha on the Osmosis Story and his Return to Privacy

Zero Knowledge ·

2026/04/01

In this episode, Anna Rose and Guillermo Angeris catch up with Dev Ojha, co-founder of Osmosis and longtime ZK researcher. They revisit the story of Osmosis since its 2021 launch as a key Cosmos DEX, its role in early IBC adoption, the DeFi summer surge, the Terra collapse fallout, and the later pivot by the team toward privacy-focused cross-chain tools.The conversation then turns to Dev’s return to privacy tech, focusing on Zcash. They explore ongoing challenges like shielded sync, nullifier

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57:42

lean Ethereum Part 6: Formal Verification with Alex...

Zero Knowledge ·

2026/03/25

https://youtu.be/9u4fu7TiZCAIn this episode, Nico Mohnblatt speaks with Alex Hicks from the Ethereum Foundation about formal verification and its role in the lean Ethereum vision. This is the 6th and final episode of the lean Ethereum mini-series. Nico and Alex explore what it means to produce machine-checked proofs across the ZK stack, from RISC-V and zkVMs to circuits, compilers, and cryptographic primitives, and how these pieces connect in practice. The conversation also covers Alex’s path

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39:06

lean Ethereum Part 5: Devnets & Upgrade Coordination...

Zero Knowledge ·

2026/03/18

https://youtu.be/Ul2bs8INF0k In this episode Nico Mohnblatt chats with Will Corcoran and Raúl Kripalani from the Ethereum Foundation. This is part 5 in the 6-part leanEthereum miniseries, shifting focus from the cryptographic primitives and LeanVM stack to the real-world integration happening through devnets, specs, and cross-team coordination. They dive into the human coordination layer, how independent teams align on post-quantum signatures, SNARK aggregation, and protocol changes, plus the

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438 results

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