PODCAST

CK"s Cold Dive

cronokirby

Musings about cryptography, software, and technology cronokirby.substack.com

technology mathematics

All Episodes

31:21

Blockchains as Government?

CK"s Cold Dive ·

2023/05/13

Topics* The Fiscal Theory of the Price Level* Prof. Cochrane’s Blog* The Fiscal Theory, as applied to Bitcoin and Ethereum* Blockchains as Government more broadly* Foreign token reserves?* Fees paid as tokenized bonds?If you enjoyed this episode, and want to get notified when the next one arrives, feel free to subscribe:If you want even more updates, feel free to check out my blog, and you can even follow me on Twitter. (Or on Bluesky). This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this

31:03

Woops, Another Proof Framework

CK"s Cold Dive ·

2023/05/10

Topics:* Why I think the subfield of cryptographic proofs is interesting and worthwhile* Why I keep coming back and thinking about it* Why you want machines to check proofs (eventually)* Some ideas for a new graphical proof language for protocolsIf you enjoyed this episode, and want to get notified when the next one arrives, feel free to subscribe:If you want even more updates, feel free to check out my blog, and you can even follow me on Twitter. (Or on Bluesky). This is a public episode. If you

29:56

Idealized Models for Free

CK"s Cold Dive ·

2023/03/10

Topics* Generic groups.* A trio of interesting papers:* To Label, or Not To Label (in Generic Groups)* The Algebraic Group Model* An Analysis of the Algebraic Group ModelI should also mention that Léo Ducas had some similar ideas way back in 2009If you enjoyed this episode, and want to get notified when the next one arrives, feel free to subscribe:If you want even more updates, feel free to check out my blog, and you can even follow me on Twitter. (Or on Mastodon). This is a public episode. If you

26:10

Sketches of Meta-Cryptography

CK"s Cold Dive ·

2023/03/09

Topics:* An anecdote about idealized hash functions* https://cronokirby.com/posts/2022/04/canettis-paradoxical-encryption-scheme/* My preliminary thoughts on developing a theory of meta-cryptography using category theory.If you enjoyed this episode, and want to get notified when the next one arrives, feel free to subscribe:If you want even more updates, feel free to check out my blog, and you can even follow me on Twitter. (Or on Mastodon). This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this

26:10

Procrastinating on my Master's Thesis

CK"s Cold Dive ·

2023/03/08

Topics:* A little bit about MPS.* A little bit about Cait-Sith.* Bulletin Boards for MPC.* Applications of the bulletin board model.* Robust Schnorr Signatures.* Some deception around group reconstruction circuits.If you enjoyed this episode, and want to get notified when the next one arrives, feel free to subscribe:If you want even more updates, feel free to check out my blog, and you can even follow me on Twitter. (Or on Mastodon). This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with

32:29

Cool Another Interesting Threshold Signature In The...

CK"s Cold Dive ·

2023/03/07

Topics:* What is Threshold ECDSA again?* What is a CAIT-SITH?* Simulating networked benchmarks* API design for protocol libraries* The advantage of key-independent preprocessing* Planned improvementsIf you enjoyed this episode, and want to get notified when the next one arrives, feel free to subscribe:If you want even more updates, feel free to check out my blog, and you can even follow me on Twitter. (Or on Mastodon). This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other

30:03

2023 is the New 1971

CK"s Cold Dive ·

2023/01/07

* 1:10 Thoughts on why AI will not cause as much economic growth as people think* 16:10 Why ML techniques would benefit from better integration with classical techniquesIf you enjoyed this episode, and want to get notified when the next one arrives, feel free to subscribe:If you want even more updates, feel free to follow me on Twitter. (Or on Mastodon). This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit

31:40

They Don't Know about Non-Interactive MPC

CK"s Cold Dive ·

2022/11/23

Topics covered in this episode:* 1:00 Legibility, and an overview of the rest of the episode.* 2:50 What is fully homomorphic encryption (FHE)?* 7:28 Some applications of FHE.* 8:15 Contrasting this with MPC.* 11:50 Why you shouldn’t need to care about implementation details for applications.* 14:28 Why I’m annoyed when people conflate Machine Learning and computing.* 23:20 The legibility problem, and why these kinds of conflations are inevitable.If you enjoyed this episode, and want to get notified

32:52

Bulletin but not Bored

CK"s Cold Dive ·

2022/10/12

Topics covered in this episode:* 2:20 Why I prefer alphabetical references to numeric ones.* 8:42 Why round complexity in MPC is of limited utility.* 23:25 Replacing identifiable aborts with bulletin boards?If you enjoyed this episode, and want to get notified when the next one arrives, feel free to subscribe:If you want even more updates, feel free to follow me on Twitter. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit

77:36

Threshold ECDSA in Excessive Detail

CK"s Cold Dive ·

2022/10/08

Topics covered in this episode:* 4:05 The basic components of a signature.* 6:00 A primer on cryptographic groups.* 11:52 How ECDSA works.* 25:55 Bringing ECDSA to the threshold setting.* 29:29 Inversion from multiplication.* 31:50 The big approaches to multiply numbers.* 33:22 Homomorphic encryption in a nutshell.* 40:30 Multiplication via Oblivious Transfer in a nutshell.* 48:21 Back of the napkin comparison of the two approaches.* 50:19 The difficulty of getting malicious security.* 54:00 How to

34:16

Some Thoughts on Threshold Signatures

CK"s Cold Dive ·

2022/10/05

Topics covered in this episode:* 00:54 What are threshold signatures?* 04:33 Example use-case: code signing.* 06:50 Example use-case: asset custody.* 11:08 Example use-case: validators.* 14:30 What kind of signatures are usually thresholdized?* What makes Schnorr signatures easier to thresholdize: https://cronokirby.com/posts/2021/07/signatures_from_identification/* 20:10 How distributed key generation works, at a high level.* 27:34 On the utility of key refresh.* 30:50 On the utility of

34:54

On Comparing SNARKs

CK"s Cold Dive ·

2022/09/24

Topics covered in this episode:* 4:20 The difficulties in comparing SNARKs together* 14:52 SNARKs with varying security parameters* Justin Thaler’s blog post on SNARK security parameters.* https://a16zcrypto.com/snark-security-and-performance/* 25:35 A proposal for a uniform benchmarking system for SNARKs.* 28:40 It would be nice to be able to compare the cost of different gadgets.If you enjoyed this episode, and want to get notified when the next one arrives, feel free to subscribe:If you want even

39:54

What is security?

CK"s Cold Dive ·

2022/09/21

Topics covered in this episode:* 1:40 The fundamental advantage of an attacker.* 3:02 The need for threat modelling.* 5:49 Security games.* 13:13 What does it mean for games to be secure?* 15:43 How do you prove that no adversary can break a game?* 19:24 What kind of cryptographic assumptions are there?* 28:58 How modelling security can fail in practice?If you enjoyed this episode, and want to get notified when the next one arrives, feel free to subscribe:If you want even more updates, feel free to

45:22

Thoughts on the Fiat-Shamir Transform

CK"s Cold Dive ·

2022/09/18

Topics covered in this episode:* 1:30 What the Fiat-Shamir transform is.* 6:50 What you need to include in the hash function.* 11:35 Rewindable soundness for multi-round protocols.* 15:36 What to hash over multiple rounds?* 19:25 Merlin & Magikitten* https://merlin.cool* https://github.com/cronokirby/magikitten* 31:18 A note on sponge functions.* 34:06 Some thoughts on SAFE* (SAFE) https://hackmd.io/bHgsH6mMStCVibM_wYvb2wIf you enjoyed this episode, and want to get notified when the next one

44:58

On Security Against Time Traveling Adversaries

CK"s Cold Dive ·

2022/09/07

Topics covered in this episode:* 0:00 “On Security Against Time Traveling Adversaries”* https://eprint.iacr.org/2022/1148* 3:47 Why time travel is sort of relevant to Cryptography.* 5:53 “On the effectiveness of time travel to inject covid-19 alerts”* https://eprint.iacr.org/2020/1393* 10:42 A brief primer on security games.* 15:30 Creating a uniform grame for cryptographic schemes.* 20:37 The basics of time travel.* 23:12 Rewinding back one step.* 26:26 Rewinding many steps backwards.* 28:13 The

31:38

Can Machines Learn without Knowledge?

CK"s Cold Dive ·

2022/08/27

Topics covered in this episode:* 00:28 On using ZK Proofs in the context of Machine Learning.* 14:00 On the centralized force of ML.* 25:00 On economies of scale in ZK proving.If you enjoyed this episode, and want to get notified when the next one arrives, feel free to subscribe:If you want even more updates, feel free to follow me on Twitter. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cronokirby.substack.com

31:13

Ok Algebraic Automaton

CK"s Cold Dive ·

2022/08/24

Topics covered in this episode:* 00:50 What exactly counts as a SNARK?* 08:12 SNARKs with sublinear verification time* 12:34 Algebraic Automatons and structured computation* Linear-Time Probabilistic Proofs Over Every Field: https://eprint.iacr.org/2022/1056* 16:59 On the limits of structured computation* Miden VM: https://maticnetwork.github.io/miden/intro/main.html* * 21:17 Why Boolean Circuits are more natural than Arithmetic Circuits* Measuring SNARK performance - Justin Thaler:

38:14

Can You Cheat a Semi-Honest Man?

CK"s Cold Dive ·

2022/08/20

Topics covered in this episode:* 00:43 Models of security for MPC.* 07:00 To what extent is the Semi-Honest model useful?* 11:15 Connecting MPC with consensus* 19:42 On identifiable aborts.* A blog post of mine on the subject: https://cronokirby.com/posts/2022/06/on-identifiable-aborts/* 28:00 Some thoughts on block producer privacyIf you enjoyed this episode, and want to get notified when the next one arrives, feel free to subscribe:If you want even more updates, feel free to follow me on Twitter

31:15

MPC In The Head 2: Thoughts About Rem-Boo

CK"s Cold Dive ·

2022/08/17

Topics covered in this episode:* 1:00 ZK Proofs + MPC in the head recap.* 2:57 Boolean circuits and their representations* 14:11 Why WASM is an interesting bytecode, and thoughts on compiling WASM to circuits.* 19:40 A few thoughts on my Rem-Boo project* Rem-Boo: https://github.com/cronokirby/rem-boo* Reverie (not by me, but mentioned here): https://github.com/trailofbits/reverie/If you enjoyed this episode, and want to get notified when the next one arrives, feel free to subscribe:If you want even

33:17

We're Not in Kansas Anymore

CK"s Cold Dive ·

2022/08/10

Topics covered in this episode:0:55 What is Tornado Cash (briefly).2:00 The U.S. Treasury sanctions Tornado Cash.https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy09164:35 How Tornado Cash works, from the bottom up.15:19 Why smart contracts are really a “service”.19:27 Broader consequences of this decision.28:00 How I’d like to see regulation in this space evolve.If you enjoyed this episode, and want to get notified when the next one arrives, feel free to subscribe.If you want even more updates, feel

24 results

CK"s Cold Dive

All Episodes

Similar Podcasts

Lead With AI

Tamara Nall

Linux in the Ham Shack

Black Sparrow Media

Data Engineering Podcast

Tobias Macey

Eye On A.I.

Craig S. Smith

Reflections

Livewire Labs