05-27, 16:00–16:55 (CET), Flower
This panel explores the expanding frontier of client-side ZK applications— zk-identity, proof of humanity, zkLogin, zkMail, private payments, decentralized trading, and even provable AI—highlighting how local proof generation is revolutionizing user sovereignty, privacy, and security.
As zero-knowledge (ZK) technologies move from research to real-world deployment, client-side proving emerges as a pivotal capability for unlocking entirely new paradigms in both on-chain and off-chain computation. This panel explores the expanding frontier of client-side ZK applications— zk-identity, proof of humanity, zkLogin, zkMail, private payments, decentralized trading, and even provable AI—highlighting how local proof generation is revolutionizing user sovereignty, privacy, and security.
We will explore the diverse landscape of proving systems available today, contrasting the leading approaches such as SNARKs, STARKs, and emerging paradigms such as recursive proofs and hybrid models, and combinations with TEEs. By dissecting their respective performance characteristics, cryptographic assumptions, hardware requirements, and developer tooling, we aim to illuminate the design tradeoffs facing builders in this space.
We'll discuss advances in browser-based proving, mobile optimization to push the boundaries of what’s feasible directly on user devices—shifting the locus of trust and computation away from centralized servers and towards the edges of the network.
Michel Abdalla holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), as well as an M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering and a B.Sc. in Electronics Engineering from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. Since 2005, he has served as a senior researcher at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS). He was also an adjunct professor in the Computer Science Department at École Normale Supérieure until September 2021. Following a two-year tenure as a Staff Research Scientist at the DFINITY Foundation, Michel currently works as a Research Scientist at Nexus. In addition to his research roles, he serves as the president of the International Association for Cryptologic Research (IACR).
ZK-engineer & VM aficionado, Ethereum ZK-client development, Chief Protocol Officer & Co-Founder @ Kakarot
TBD
Leading growth for payments and stablecoins at StarkWare. Previously set up Oliver Wyman's Digital Asset business, where I also focused on Corporate and Institutional Banking.
Co-Executive Director at the Ethereum Foundation |
Founder @nethermindeth | Lantern Capital @lanterncap_