Special thanks to motherpredicate for the discussion that led to this blog post. The accelerated timelines of crypto are both a benefit and a hazard. Crypto does not operate on software startup timelines, and it shouldn’t - but the assumption that it does is the root of crypto’s problems. Crypto was a hyper-niche novelty from 2009-2012, and nobody expected it to catch on the way it did. Those early players who held on to their tokens made a massive amount of money (yet the vast majority sold ...

Special thanks to motherpredicate for the discussion that led to this blog post. The accelerated timelines of crypto are both a benefit and a hazard. Crypto does not operate on software startup timelines, and it shouldn’t - but the assumption that it does is the root of crypto’s problems. Crypto was a hyper-niche novelty from 2009-2012, and nobody expected it to catch on the way it did. Those early players who held on to their tokens made a massive amount of money (yet the vast majority sold ...

Trying out a longer form article this time to allow a deeper dive into some areas of blockchain research. There are a lot of articles on zero knowledge proofs, and a lot of research papers on SNARKs or STARKs, but very little bridging the intermediate gap. If you haven’t read my introduction to zero knowledge proofs Twitter thread, I strongly recommend it before going further, as a lot of this article builds on top of it. pseudo 🇺🇦 @pseudotheos all these zk terms... what do they mean? what'...

Trying out a longer form article this time to allow a deeper dive into some areas of blockchain research. There are a lot of articles on zero knowledge proofs, and a lot of research papers on SNARKs or STARKs, but very little bridging the intermediate gap. If you haven’t read my introduction to zero knowledge proofs Twitter thread, I strongly recommend it before going further, as a lot of this article builds on top of it. pseudo 🇺🇦 @pseudotheos all these zk terms... what do they mean? what'...

The most monumental update in blockchain history since the Bitcoin genesis block is upon us: at TTD 58750000000000000000000, Ethereum is switching to Proof-of-Stake. With it comes a 99.5% energy use reduction, finalization of the dynamic supply mechanism introduced by EIP-1559, as well as setting the stage for future updates, including sharding.ethereum.orgThis migration to Proof-of-Stake is nothing short of groundbreaking. Nearly a decade of decentralized coordination and work from researche...

The most monumental update in blockchain history since the Bitcoin genesis block is upon us: at TTD 58750000000000000000000, Ethereum is switching to Proof-of-Stake. With it comes a 99.5% energy use reduction, finalization of the dynamic supply mechanism introduced by EIP-1559, as well as setting the stage for future updates, including sharding.ethereum.orgThis migration to Proof-of-Stake is nothing short of groundbreaking. Nearly a decade of decentralized coordination and work from researche...

Domothy and I co-authored this article. PBS is still an active area of research, but this comprehensive post aims to aggregate and summarize where research is so far- and where it’s headed. In the existing architecture, block proposers (previously miners) select transactions in the mempool to build a block. On Ethereum, these consist of validators running a consensus and execution client in tandem. Theoretically, a block builder would select transactions paying the highest fee- but this is no...

Domothy and I co-authored this article. PBS is still an active area of research, but this comprehensive post aims to aggregate and summarize where research is so far- and where it’s headed. In the existing architecture, block proposers (previously miners) select transactions in the mempool to build a block. On Ethereum, these consist of validators running a consensus and execution client in tandem. Theoretically, a block builder would select transactions paying the highest fee- but this is no...

Vitalik’s recent post on classifying zkEVMs prompted discussions over specific implementations but did not dive into the best implementation. Although this is a question full of nuance from a technical standpoint, the best implementation regarding market success is more straightforward. Of course, every implementation will eventually find a market fit, but at the moment, there is a niche that hasn’t been filled and will likely succeed in the short-to-medium term.source: Vitalik ButerinThis is...

Vitalik’s recent post on classifying zkEVMs prompted discussions over specific implementations but did not dive into the best implementation. Although this is a question full of nuance from a technical standpoint, the best implementation regarding market success is more straightforward. Of course, every implementation will eventually find a market fit, but at the moment, there is a niche that hasn’t been filled and will likely succeed in the short-to-medium term.source: Vitalik ButerinThis is...

In my previous post in this series, we went over zkSync and the zkEVM. Let’s go over StarkWare’s ZK rollup solution, which uses STARKs instead of SNARKs.StarkWareStarkWare was founded in 2018 by Eli Ben-Sasson, Uri Kolodny, Michael Riabzev, and Alessandro Chiesa. StarkWare has the goal of scaling Ethereum using ZK proofs via StarkNet and StarkEx.source: StarkWareSTARKsOutlined in further detail in my previous SNARKs vs STARKs post, STARK stands for Scalable Transparent ARguments of Knowledge....

In my previous post in this series, we went over zkSync and the zkEVM. Let’s go over StarkWare’s ZK rollup solution, which uses STARKs instead of SNARKs.StarkWareStarkWare was founded in 2018 by Eli Ben-Sasson, Uri Kolodny, Michael Riabzev, and Alessandro Chiesa. StarkWare has the goal of scaling Ethereum using ZK proofs via StarkNet and StarkEx.source: StarkWareSTARKsOutlined in further detail in my previous SNARKs vs STARKs post, STARK stands for Scalable Transparent ARguments of Knowledge....

This is part one of a multi-part series diving deeper into the blockchain applications of zero knowledge proofs. There’s been a lot of hype in this space recently, but not a lot of meaningful technical discussion, so this series of articles will explore the applications under the hood. Let’s get started!zkSynczkSync, developed by Matter Labs, was created in 2018 by Alex Gluchowski. zkSync’s end goal is to create a fully trustless L2 with L1 guarantees, such as reorg protection and fund securi...

This is part one of a multi-part series diving deeper into the blockchain applications of zero knowledge proofs. There’s been a lot of hype in this space recently, but not a lot of meaningful technical discussion, so this series of articles will explore the applications under the hood. Let’s get started!zkSynczkSync, developed by Matter Labs, was created in 2018 by Alex Gluchowski. zkSync’s end goal is to create a fully trustless L2 with L1 guarantees, such as reorg protection and fund securi...

Last updated September 21st, 2022 All of my articles, threads, etc. will be aggregated here for easy navigation. Feel free to bookmark this page as it will be updated as new content comes out! (This page has a lot of embeds and it may take a moment to load everything.)Zero-Knowledge pseudo 🇺🇦 @pseudotheos all these zk terms... what do they mean? what's the big deal with zk proofs? a quick breaking it down: 572 8:30 PM • Dec 29, 2021 https://pseudotheos.mirror.xyz/\_LAi4cCFz2gaC-3WgNmri1eTvc...

Last updated September 21st, 2022 All of my articles, threads, etc. will be aggregated here for easy navigation. Feel free to bookmark this page as it will be updated as new content comes out! (This page has a lot of embeds and it may take a moment to load everything.)Zero-Knowledge pseudo 🇺🇦 @pseudotheos all these zk terms... what do they mean? what's the big deal with zk proofs? a quick breaking it down: 572 8:30 PM • Dec 29, 2021 https://pseudotheos.mirror.xyz/\_LAi4cCFz2gaC-3WgNmri1eTvc...

The Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) is the virtual machine that manages state and executes smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain. zkEVMs, which aim to prove EVM execution through zero-knowledge (ZK) circuitry, have seen significant growth and expansion as an industry over the past year. Many different projects and community efforts have emerged in this space, each taking its own unique approach to the challenges and opportunities presented by the intersection of these two technologies. On...

The Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) is the virtual machine that manages state and executes smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain. zkEVMs, which aim to prove EVM execution through zero-knowledge (ZK) circuitry, have seen significant growth and expansion as an industry over the past year. Many different projects and community efforts have emerged in this space, each taking its own unique approach to the challenges and opportunities presented by the intersection of these two technologies. On...

Scaling the execution layer via rollups, validiums, and volitions is only one half of a two-part solution. In order for a truly scalable and decentralized blockchain to exist, the data computed and stored on-chain must reside somewhere without high storage or computing requirements. Ten years from now, when significantly more people, institutions, and daily users interact with the blockchain in some way, more efficient state and data storage is required. Separating the monolith requires exist...

Scaling the execution layer via rollups, validiums, and volitions is only one half of a two-part solution. In order for a truly scalable and decentralized blockchain to exist, the data computed and stored on-chain must reside somewhere without high storage or computing requirements. Ten years from now, when significantly more people, institutions, and daily users interact with the blockchain in some way, more efficient state and data storage is required. Separating the monolith requires exist...

The internet as we know it today is the result of decades of research and development. ARPANET, the precursor to the internet, was created in the 1960s by the US military and designed to be a secure and reliable communication network for the government. Universities and research institutions then adopted this technology in the 1970s and used it to share research and connect with colleagues around the globe. In the 1980s, the US government liberalized this technology, allowing commercial busin...

The internet as we know it today is the result of decades of research and development. ARPANET, the precursor to the internet, was created in the 1960s by the US military and designed to be a secure and reliable communication network for the government. Universities and research institutions then adopted this technology in the 1970s and used it to share research and connect with colleagues around the globe. In the 1980s, the US government liberalized this technology, allowing commercial busin...