Pushing the Limits of Proof Systems with Benedikt Bünz

In this episode, Anna and Kobi speak with Benedikt Bünz, Chief Scientist at Espresso Systems and Professor at NYU.

They start with a quick update on Espresso's architecture, its role in delivering fast finality across chains, and the challenges of building high-throughput blockchain infrastructure. The conversation then turns to Benedikt’s recent research on folding schemes, hash-based proof systems such as Arc and Warp, and Golden, a non-interactive distributed key generation protocol for threshold signatures.

The episode later explores Flock, a new proof system for standard hash functions such as Blake3 and SHA-256 that exceeds Ethereum's post-quantum proving targets without relying on specialized hash functions. They conclude by discussing proof system performance, post-quantum cryptography, and the use of AI-assisted development in cryptographic engineering.

Related Links

• Bulletproofs — Short Proofs for Confidential Transactions and More
• Protostar — Generic Efficient Accumulation/Folding for Special-Sound Protocols
• HyperPlonk — Plonk with Linear-Time Prover and High-Degree Custom Gates
• Nova — Recursive Zero-Knowledge Arguments from Folding Schemes
• Arc — Accumulation for Reed–Solomon Codes
• Linear-Time Accumulation Schemes
• Golden: Lightweight Non-Interactive Distributed Key Generation
• Flock: Fast Proving for Batch Boolean Computations
• TensorSwitch — Nearly Optimal Polynomial Commitments from Tensor Codes
• Bolt: Faster SNARKs from Sketched Codes
• Ligero — Lightweight Sublinear Arguments Without Trusted Setup

Systems and Infrastructure

• Espresso Systems Documentation
• CAPE (Configurable Asset Privacy for Ethereum)
• Monero

Additional Reading

• Vitalik Buterin — The Splurge: Post-Quantum Ethereum
• Accumulation without Homomorphism
• Neo and SuperNeo: Post-Quantum Folding with Pay-Per-Bit Commitments
• Espresso’s HotShot: A Consensus Protocol Designed for Rollups

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