Illustration: Lehel KovacsMatter Labs announced the launching of the first EVM-compatible ZK Rollup on public testnet. This is a significant step towards scalability on Ethereum because it unlocks the possibility to build DeFi (Autonomous Agents) on ZK powered rollups. This article is the follow up of "DeFi on Bitcoin and private ZK Proofs", where we'll explore the missing link between zero-knowledge proofs (ZKP) and Layer 2 scalability, and then we'll try to understand what else we...

Illustration: Lehel KovacsMatter Labs announced the launching of the first EVM-compatible ZK Rollup on public testnet. This is a significant step towards scalability on Ethereum because it unlocks the possibility to build DeFi (Autonomous Agents) on ZK powered rollups. This article is the follow up of "DeFi on Bitcoin and private ZK Proofs", where we'll explore the missing link between zero-knowledge proofs (ZKP) and Layer 2 scalability, and then we'll try to understand what else we...

https://www.eonline.com/news/1271714/these-25-mission-impossible-secrets-are-yours-if-you-choose-to-accept-themWhen I first heard about researchers "breaking into" secure enclaves, I imagined a "Mission Impossible" style operation where the researcher dodges laser beams, breaks some cryptography, and runs away with the top-secret list of undercover agents. It turns out that the researchers are CPU geeks with a deep knowledge of CPU Microarchitecture (yes, we’ll demystify that as well) who use...

https://www.eonline.com/news/1271714/these-25-mission-impossible-secrets-are-yours-if-you-choose-to-accept-themWhen I first heard about researchers "breaking into" secure enclaves, I imagined a "Mission Impossible" style operation where the researcher dodges laser beams, breaks some cryptography, and runs away with the top-secret list of undercover agents. It turns out that the researchers are CPU geeks with a deep knowledge of CPU Microarchitecture (yes, we’ll demystify that as well) who use...

Not your keys, not your coin.Since the beginning of time in 2008, privacy and security have been in constant battle with usability. You know the drill: “Not your keys, not your coin”. This problem has grown more significant with the advent of blockchains that promise computational privacy. In this post, I will share how we at Ten are building the first decentralised platform that keeps data private but does not change the user and developer experience. After reading this article, as a develop...

Not your keys, not your coin.Since the beginning of time in 2008, privacy and security have been in constant battle with usability. You know the drill: “Not your keys, not your coin”. This problem has grown more significant with the advent of blockchains that promise computational privacy. In this post, I will share how we at Ten are building the first decentralised platform that keeps data private but does not change the user and developer experience. After reading this article, as a develop...

We’re just scratching the surface of what Web3.0 will enable in gaming. In this post, I’ll explore a single idea of a game that could be built on Ten and show you how an entirely new dimension of gameplay is added.Let's begin by imagining a turn-based strategy game like Civilization. If you don’t know what Civilization is, it’s a game where your objective is to develop a civilization from the dawn of man through many in-game millennia to the modern era. Along the way, you control every a...

We’re just scratching the surface of what Web3.0 will enable in gaming. In this post, I’ll explore a single idea of a game that could be built on Ten and show you how an entirely new dimension of gameplay is added.Let's begin by imagining a turn-based strategy game like Civilization. If you don’t know what Civilization is, it’s a game where your objective is to develop a civilization from the dawn of man through many in-game millennia to the modern era. Along the way, you control every a...

In this post, I’ll explain what computational privacy is and how it’ll unleash a whole new wave of applications for Web 3.0.Let’s start with where it all began. Eric Hughes, one of the founders of the cypherpunk movement and the author of ‘A Cypherpunk's Manifesto’, wrote on March 9th, 1993:Privacy is necessary for an open society in the electronic age. Privacy is not secrecy. A private matter is something one doesn’t want the whole world to know, but a secret matter is something one doe...

In this post, I’ll explain what computational privacy is and how it’ll unleash a whole new wave of applications for Web 3.0.Let’s start with where it all began. Eric Hughes, one of the founders of the cypherpunk movement and the author of ‘A Cypherpunk's Manifesto’, wrote on March 9th, 1993:Privacy is necessary for an open society in the electronic age. Privacy is not secrecy. A private matter is something one doesn’t want the whole world to know, but a secret matter is something one doe...

Here’s how the crazy ConstitutionDAO dreamers could have BEATEN Ken Griffin at his own game. ConstitutionDAO was a beautiful experiment in creating a DAO for a single purpose — to buy a first edition of the US Constitution at Sotheby’s auction. 17,000 people came together and raised $46 million to try and make the purchase. The group broke the record for the most money crowdfunded in less than 72 hours.One of 13 remaining copies of the Official Edition of the Constitution. Image: Sotheby’sFor...

Here’s how the crazy ConstitutionDAO dreamers could have BEATEN Ken Griffin at his own game. ConstitutionDAO was a beautiful experiment in creating a DAO for a single purpose — to buy a first edition of the US Constitution at Sotheby’s auction. 17,000 people came together and raised $46 million to try and make the purchase. The group broke the record for the most money crowdfunded in less than 72 hours.One of 13 remaining copies of the Official Edition of the Constitution. Image: Sotheby’sFor...

One of the most powerful innovations in Ten solves a problem more critical than just bringing encryption to Ethereum. Ten brings encryption to Ethereum with a seamless, frictionless user and developer experience. In this post, I’ll be showing you, as a user, what you can expect when you interact with Ten. And as a developer, the very minor changes you’ll need to make to get a fully confidential version of your app.Ten, making encryption easyUsersThe goal was to replicate the same user experie...

One of the most powerful innovations in Ten solves a problem more critical than just bringing encryption to Ethereum. Ten brings encryption to Ethereum with a seamless, frictionless user and developer experience. In this post, I’ll be showing you, as a user, what you can expect when you interact with Ten. And as a developer, the very minor changes you’ll need to make to get a fully confidential version of your app.Ten, making encryption easyUsersThe goal was to replicate the same user experie...

Welcome back! Firstly, apologies for the delay in getting round to part two. It was in part to working feverishly with the team on getting the Ten testnet ready, for which I’m proud to say is now open for applications. In part one, I introduced various approaches to privacy. The focus of this post is to clear up some of the misconceptions around Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs), particularly in the context of rollups and privacy and present various ways ZKPs can and cannot optimise for the privac...

Welcome back! Firstly, apologies for the delay in getting round to part two. It was in part to working feverishly with the team on getting the Ten testnet ready, for which I’m proud to say is now open for applications. In part one, I introduced various approaches to privacy. The focus of this post is to clear up some of the misconceptions around Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs), particularly in the context of rollups and privacy and present various ways ZKPs can and cannot optimise for the privac...

Where we try to build DeFi on Bitcoin-like networks and, in the process, discover some interesting facts about zero-knowledge proof rollups.Image from: https://steemkr.com/bitcoin/@kojotyler23/robot-holding-bitcoinIn 2017 MakerDAO invented a revolutionary way to issue a decentralised stablecoin backed by native digital assets by cleverly leveraging market forces, game theory and maths. Around the same time, Vitalik Buterin ideated a way to build decentralised Automated Market Makers(AMM), and...

Where we try to build DeFi on Bitcoin-like networks and, in the process, discover some interesting facts about zero-knowledge proof rollups.Image from: https://steemkr.com/bitcoin/@kojotyler23/robot-holding-bitcoinIn 2017 MakerDAO invented a revolutionary way to issue a decentralised stablecoin backed by native digital assets by cleverly leveraging market forces, game theory and maths. Around the same time, Vitalik Buterin ideated a way to build decentralised Automated Market Makers(AMM), and...

intel.comWhen I started reading about Intel SGX a few years ago, I felt intimidated. On the one hand, there was a lot of scary-sounding terminology; on the other hand, the results seemed magic. In this article, I will break it down into non-scary concepts, something which would have helped past-me get a head start. Before putting it all together, we'll look at the evolution of the relevant CPU features that made SGX possible and how cryptography was added to the mix. The key to the myste...

intel.comWhen I started reading about Intel SGX a few years ago, I felt intimidated. On the one hand, there was a lot of scary-sounding terminology; on the other hand, the results seemed magic. In this article, I will break it down into non-scary concepts, something which would have helped past-me get a head start. Before putting it all together, we'll look at the evolution of the relevant CPU features that made SGX possible and how cryptography was added to the mix. The key to the myste...

Let’s go on a journey through a world set 10 years in the future. One where blockchain and privacy went hand-in-hand, and another without privacy.This post uses excerpts from what I consider the best book available on blockchain, The Blockchain Innovator’s Handbook by Conor Svensson. Full details at the end.With privacyIllustration by Hokyoung KimIt’s been just over ten years since the global Covid-19 pandemic, and you’ve woken up in your hotel room in Singapore. You reach for your phone to c...

Let’s go on a journey through a world set 10 years in the future. One where blockchain and privacy went hand-in-hand, and another without privacy.This post uses excerpts from what I consider the best book available on blockchain, The Blockchain Innovator’s Handbook by Conor Svensson. Full details at the end.With privacyIllustration by Hokyoung KimIt’s been just over ten years since the global Covid-19 pandemic, and you’ve woken up in your hotel room in Singapore. You reach for your phone to c...

Inspired by Vitalik’s scalability trilemma, we propose a privacy trilemma to help reason about privacy in the context of blockchain. In this blog post, I’ll explain why the privacy trilemma makes privacy (and data confidentiality) so difficult on the blockchain. I’ll then make the case for why Ten optimises for all three.The Privacy TrilemmaOur thesis is that without revolutionary technology, like homomorphic encryption (or something greater), most solutions can only solve for two out of Priv...

Inspired by Vitalik’s scalability trilemma, we propose a privacy trilemma to help reason about privacy in the context of blockchain. In this blog post, I’ll explain why the privacy trilemma makes privacy (and data confidentiality) so difficult on the blockchain. I’ll then make the case for why Ten optimises for all three.The Privacy TrilemmaOur thesis is that without revolutionary technology, like homomorphic encryption (or something greater), most solutions can only solve for two out of Priv...