01-30, 10:30–10:50 (Europe/Zurich), Beam Stage
As blockchain technology matures, the expansion from purely public state systems, pioneered by Ethereum, to privacy-centric platforms like Aztec and Aleo marks significant progress. However, the development of private shared state—where multiple parties can collaborate on data without revealing it to others—remains an unmet challenge. This talk outlines collaborative SNARKs, a cryptographic primitive that combines Zero-Knowledge (ZK) proofs with Multiparty Computation (MPC) to address this gap.
We will begin by exploring the motivations for private shared state, with applications in areas such as privacy-preserving machine learning, auctions, and gaming. The foundational research from Ozdemir and Boneh's 2022 paper on coSNARKs will be discussed, showcasing how these techniques enable secure, distributed proof generation among multiple participants.
Moving from theory to practice, we will look at the engineering challenges of implementing coSNARKs, such as optimizing the witness extension for practical use, and achieving real-world scalability. Benchmarks from recent alphanet deployments will highlight the performance and usability of coSNARKs in real-world environments.
We will mention the current limitations of this technology and the open problems in the field, inviting researchers and developers to explore its future possibilities. We will close by emphasizing how coSNARKs can broaden the Ethereum landscape by leveraging programmable cryptography to collaborate across private shared state.
This talk will introduce collaborative SNARKs (coSNARKs), a technique that combines Zero-Knowledge (ZK) proofs and Multiparty Computation (MPC) to enable private shared state in blockchain systems. We will explore the motivational use cases for private shared state, such as privacy preserving machine learning, secure auctions, and online gaming (eg. poker).
The talk will discuss the research foundations laid by Ozdemir and Boneh in their 2022 paper, which introduced collaborative SNARKs. The engineering considerations for implementing this technology effectively will also be covered.
Real-world deployments and benchmarks will be presented to showcase the efficiency and scalability of collaborative SNARKs in practice. The current state of the art and potential future advancements will be discussed.
The talk will address the open problems and research directions that lie ahead, encouraging the community to actively participate in shaping the future of collaborative SNARKs. The significance of this technology in enabling new possibilities for decentralized applications and building a more secure, private, and efficient blockchain ecosystem will be emphasized.
Attendees will gain a deeper understanding of collaborative SNARKs and the potential impact of this technology on the blockchain industry. The talk aims to inspire and empower attendees with the knowledge and motivation to explore this exciting field further and contribute to its development.
Aisling holds degrees in math, economics, and computer science, and obtained her PhD from the ENS in Paris in 2019. She has spent the past years working extensively on threshold cryptography and confidential computing, in both trad-fi and web3. Beyond this, she also worked on scientific and technical direction, strategy, and the legal aspects of building and using privacy enhancing technologies.