pseudotheoszkSNARKs vs zkSTARKs: a primer
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'...
pseudotheosPBS: Neutralizing the Dark Forest
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...
pseudotheosDistinguishing zkEVMs
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...
zk maxi helping bring research into the mainstream.
pseudotheoszkSNARKs vs zkSTARKs: a primer
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'...
pseudotheosPBS: Neutralizing the Dark Forest
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...
pseudotheosDistinguishing zkEVMs
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...
zk maxi helping bring research into the mainstream.
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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.
This is the sweet spot in zkEVM development: a zkEVM as Ethereum compatible as possible while reaching the market as fast as possible. This is likely a Type 2 or 2.5 zkEVM according to Vitalik’s classification. Currently, only two zkEVM teams are building towards this goal: Scroll and Polygon, but zkSync is likely to end up at this type of system at a later date.
Why is Ethereum compatibility important? As it currently stands, most active users are on EVM-compatible blockchains.
By leveraging existing developer tooling, EVM dApps, and infrastructure, zkEVMs can avoid the cold-start problem. A zkEVM with a familiar development environment will allow an ecosystem to develop much faster. Blockchains without EVM compatibility have less adoption. A healthy, mature ecosystem follows the path outlined below.
A common way to solve this cold start problem is by incentivizing developers by injecting capital into the system, but it is not long-term sustainable. The end goal of this strategy is to kickstart the flywheel and let network effects carry it after the initial capital injection. This has worked better for EVM-compatible blockchains, as it also leverages the nearly-decade-old tooling and developer network effects that already exist.
While both strategies are viable, having EVM support is much cheaper and becomes self-sustaining much faster.
Therefore it is likely for zkEVMs with close-to-Ethereum compatibility to end up with a majority of the ZK Rollup market share, independent of technical superiority or capital thrown at it, at least in the medium-term.
Thanks for reading this article! This is the summation of a lot of research. Follow me on Twitter to get notified about future posts, and let me know what you think. My content will remain 100% free forever and is licensed under CC BY-SA unless otherwise specified.
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.
This is the sweet spot in zkEVM development: a zkEVM as Ethereum compatible as possible while reaching the market as fast as possible. This is likely a Type 2 or 2.5 zkEVM according to Vitalik’s classification. Currently, only two zkEVM teams are building towards this goal: Scroll and Polygon, but zkSync is likely to end up at this type of system at a later date.
Why is Ethereum compatibility important? As it currently stands, most active users are on EVM-compatible blockchains.
By leveraging existing developer tooling, EVM dApps, and infrastructure, zkEVMs can avoid the cold-start problem. A zkEVM with a familiar development environment will allow an ecosystem to develop much faster. Blockchains without EVM compatibility have less adoption. A healthy, mature ecosystem follows the path outlined below.
A common way to solve this cold start problem is by incentivizing developers by injecting capital into the system, but it is not long-term sustainable. The end goal of this strategy is to kickstart the flywheel and let network effects carry it after the initial capital injection. This has worked better for EVM-compatible blockchains, as it also leverages the nearly-decade-old tooling and developer network effects that already exist.
While both strategies are viable, having EVM support is much cheaper and becomes self-sustaining much faster.
Therefore it is likely for zkEVMs with close-to-Ethereum compatibility to end up with a majority of the ZK Rollup market share, independent of technical superiority or capital thrown at it, at least in the medium-term.
Thanks for reading this article! This is the summation of a lot of research. Follow me on Twitter to get notified about future posts, and let me know what you think. My content will remain 100% free forever and is licensed under CC BY-SA unless otherwise specified.
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