
Inside the Dark Web turns to the topic of internet surveillance concerning the pros and cons of the ability for everything that passes over the immense World Wide Web being able to be watched, recorded, and analyzed.

Documentary about the history of web3 and the cypherpunks.

Inside the Dark Web


Magic technology, advancing civilization, short letters, privacy, and a future that's already here. That's Zero Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs) in a nutshell. What's going on?

Zero Knowledge Proofs are magic. They allow us to do things we couldn't dream of before.

A Friendly Introduction to Zero Knowledge


One of the most exciting recent advances in the field of cryptographic proof systems is the development of STARKs. It comes in the wake of a booming blockchain industry, for which proof systems in general seem tailor-made: blockchain networks typically consist of mutually distrusting parties that wish to transact, or generally update collective state according to state evolution rules, using secret information. Since the participants are mutually distrusting, they require the means to verify the validity of transactions (or state updates) proposed by their peers. Zk-SNARKs are naturally equipped to provide assurance of computational integrity in this environment, as a consequence of their features:

- zk-SNARKs are (typically) universal, meaning that they are capable of proving the integrity of arbitrary computations;
- zk-SNARKs are non-interactive, meaning that the entire integrity proof consists of a single message;
- zk-SNARKs are efficiently verifiable, meaning that the verifier has an order of magnitude less work compared to naïvely re-running the computation;
- zk-SNARKs are zero-knowledge, meaning that they do not leak any information about secret inputs to the computation.

This tutorial series explains the mechanics of the STARK proof system. It is directed towards a technically-inclined audience with knowledge of basic maths and programming.

Anatomy of a STARK


Circom is a fantastic tool for learning zk-snarks. However, because it is quite low-level, there are more opportunities to accidentally add subtle bugs. In real applications, programmers should consider using higher level zero knowledge programming languages. You should always get an audit before deploying a smart contract that holds user funds, but this is especially true for zk circuits, as the attack vectors are less well known.


This tutorial introduces the Circom language and how to use it, along with common pitfalls

Circom language tutorial with circomlib walkthrough


Tornado cash is a cryptocurrency smart contract mixer that enables users to deposit crypto with one address and withdraw with another wallet without creating a traceable link between those two addresses.

How Tornado Cash Works


In this series of posts, we will show how to execute a PLONK zero-knowledge proof system completely by hand. All of the math used in these posts can reasonably be done with just pencil-and-paper (and a little patience). For each kind of computation we will give you at least one fully worked example—often several—and tricks to help save time and notebook paper.

Most of the math we will do is elementary, though some higher-level concepts do appear. This series assumes the reader is familiar with polynomial and matrix arithmetic as well as finite fields and their simple extensions.

Having some knowledge about elliptic curves will be helpful, but the needed formulas are provided and can be used even if you are unfamiliar with them.

While this series is intended to show that even a complex construction like PLONK can be done on paper, you might want to use a computational helper like WolframAlpha to move through the posts more quickly, if you wish.

In this first post we will show you how to choose parameters, run a trusted setup, and convert a statement into a PLONK-style circuit by hand. The next post will show you how to create a proof, and in the final post in the series we will verify the proof.

This article will explain how to execute a PLONK zero-knowledge proof system completely by hand.

PLONK by Hand


In this series we try to demystify zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) for the rest of non-math nerds. Since writing [part 1](https://dev.to/tonyolendo/the-complete-full-stack-guide-to-getting-started-with-zero-knowledge-proofs-using-circom-and-zk-snarks-part-1-53gi), my thoughts on the subject have evolved. I’m more drawn to answering the following questions

- Can anyone be a ZK developer?
- Is there a simple path that we can define for anyone to get started in writing ZK circuits?

The simple answer to all the questions above is yes! Most assuredly, yes. How? Just learn [Circom](https://iden3.io/circom) and you’ll be well on your way.



## TL;DR

- Zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) can cryptographically prove a statement is true without revealing the statement itself. They offer a new level of privacy in digital transactions, allowing for verification without compromising sensitive data.
- Zk-SNARKs, which stand for Succinct Non-interactive Arguments of Knowledge, are a type of ZKPs. ‘ Succinct’ and ‘Non-interactive’ highlight their efficient performance, while ‘Zero-knowledge’ refers to their privacy-enhancing feature. They are becoming increasingly important in the blockchain world, significantly improving both scalability & privacy.


Despite the growing importance of ZKPs, much of the existing information about them tends to be quite technical. This article provides a clear guide to ZKPs for the blockchain world.

Zero-Knowledge Proofs in Plain English


ZkBlock develops content, tools and dapps for zero knowledge proofs, smart contracts, ethereum (& L2), web3 apps and cryptography. https://zkblock.app/


Learn how does a zk voting work? How to create one using zkblock.app?

#privacy

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