Episodes

  • Sergey Gorbunov on TEEs and the Arc Privacy Sector

    Sergey Gorbunov on TEEs and the Arc Privacy Sector
    Jul 8 2026
    This week, Anna speaks with Sergey Gorbunov, Engineer at Circle, about Arc, Circle’s new EVM-compatible Layer 1 blockchain, and its approach to a TEE based on-chain privacy. They begin by revisiting Sergey’s journey from Axelar to Circle, reflecting on the evolution of cross-chain infrastructure, the aftermath of the Terra collapse, and how Circle’s acquisition of Interop Labs led to the development of Arc. The conversation then turns to Arc’s architecture, including its privacy layer, known as the Privacy Sector, and the decision to build it around Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) rather than ZKPs or FHE. Sergey explains the design trade-offs, discussing privacy, composability, enterprise infrastructure, and why he believes TEEs are currently the most practical foundation for programmable private execution. Related Links
    • Axelar Network
    • Arc Privacy Sector: Keeping Blockchain State, Transactions, and Accounts Private and Quantum Safe
    • Circle’s Post-Quantum Security Roadmap
    • Arc Documentation
    • Arc: An open Layer-1 blockchain purpose-built for stablecoin finance
    • Sergey’s X Post on the Arc Privacy Sector paper
    • Ian Mier’s X Response to the Arc Privacy Sector works

    **If you like what we do:** * Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree * Subscribe to our podcast newsletter * Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm * Join us on Telegram * Catch us on YouTube **Support the show:** * Patreon * ETH - Donation address * BTC - Donation address * SOL - Donation address * ZEC - Donation address Read transcript
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    1 hr and 7 mins
  • zkMesh+ Exclusive Clip – Benedikt Bünz on the threat of AI

    zkMesh+ Exclusive Clip – Benedikt Bünz on the threat of AI
    Jul 1 2026

    Last week on the show, we interviewed Benedikt Bünz, Chief Scientist at Espresso Systems and Professor at NYU.

    The conversation ran long, so we're releasing some of the extra material as an exclusive clip for zkMesh+ subscribers. We've also included the first five minutes here. In this segment, Anna, Kobi, and Benedikt discuss whether AI poses a genuine threat to the foundations of cryptography.

    They explore the 'immune system' metaphor for AI's dual role in security: it can uncover bugs and vulnerabilities, while also strengthening defenses through tools like formal verification. The conversation closes with the question of whether AI could ever break fundamental cryptographic primitives—or even invent new physics to do it.

    To hear the full discussion, head to https://zkmesh.substack.com/subscribe and become a paid subscriber.
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    6 mins
  • Pushing the Limits of Proof Systems with Benedikt Bünz

    Pushing the Limits of Proof Systems with Benedikt Bünz
    Jun 24 2026
    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 MoreProtostar — Generic Efficient Accumulation/Folding for Special-Sound ProtocolsHyperPlonk — Plonk with Linear-Time Prover and High-Degree Custom GatesNova — Recursive Zero-Knowledge Arguments from Folding SchemesArc — Accumulation for Reed–Solomon CodesLinear-Time Accumulation SchemesGolden: Lightweight Non-Interactive Distributed Key GenerationFlock: Fast Proving for Batch Boolean ComputationsTensorSwitch — Nearly Optimal Polynomial Commitments from Tensor CodesBolt: Faster SNARKs from Sketched CodesLigero — Lightweight Sublinear Arguments Without Trusted Setup Systems and Infrastructure Espresso Systems DocumentationCAPE (Configurable Asset Privacy for Ethereum)Monero Additional Reading Vitalik Buterin — The Splurge: Post-Quantum EthereumAccumulation without HomomorphismNeo and SuperNeo: Post-Quantum Folding with Pay-Per-Bit CommitmentsEspresso’s HotShot: A Consensus Protocol Designed for Rollups **If you like what we do:** * Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree * Subscribe to our podcast newsletter * Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm * Join us on Telegram * Catch us on YouTube **Support the show:** * Patreon * ETH - Donation address * BTC - Donation address * SOL - Donation address * ZEC - Donation address Read transcript
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    1 hr and 9 mins
  • Announcement: zkMesh+ Exclusive Clip – Vericoding and SMT

    Announcement: zkMesh+ Exclusive Clip – Vericoding and SMT
    Jun 18 2026

    No main episode this week, but we’ve got an exclusive bonus clip for our zkMesh+ subscribers!

    Continuing our conversation from last week, Wyatt Benno (ICME) describes the world of 'vericoding' - the next stage after the era of 'vibecoding.' Vericoding uses formal mathematics to prove that AI code is actually correct and help prevent bugs in AI-written code. We go deep on SMT (Satisfiability Modulo Theories), a decades-old verification technique originally built for cloud infrastructure, and discuss how SMT can now take a plain-English description and mathematically verify that your AI-generated code does exactly what you want it to do.

    If you want to hear this bonus clip, please head over to zkMesh and become a paid subscriber! Link to subscribe: https://zkmesh.substack.com/subscribe
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    1 min
  • Building ZK-Powered AI Guardrails with Wyatt Benno

    Building ZK-Powered AI Guardrails with Wyatt Benno
    Jun 10 2026
    In this episode, Anna and Nico chat with Wyatt Benno, technical founder of ICME Labs. They trace Wyatt’s start into ZK in the ZKHack Discord and Justin Thaler’s study group before diving into ICME’s early work on folding schemes, local proving, and NovaNet. The conversation then shifts to ICME’s work at the intersection of AI and ZK. Wyatt introduces ICMEPreflight, a ZK-based guardrail tool for AI. They then explore how succinct verification and privacy-preserving proofs can help secure agentic commerce and provide stronger guarantees than existing guardrail approaches. They also discuss Jolt Atlas, ICME’s zero-knowledge machine learning framework, the connections between ZK and AI and the challenges of scaling ZKML. Finally, Wyatt encourages future advances in ZKML that could unlock privacy and verifiability in AI systems. Related Links
    • ICME Labs
    • Nova: Recursive Zero-Knowledge Arguments from Folding Schemes (2022)
    • Jolt Atlas: Verifiable Inference via Lookup Arguments in Zero Knowledge (2026)
    • ZK Podcast:Is ZK dead? Or has it just begun? with the ZK Pod co-hosts
    • ZK Podcast:Isogenies with Luca De Feo
    • ZK Podcast:How ZK inspired AI Watermarking with Miranda Christ
    • Neo: Lattice-based folding scheme for CCS over small fields and pay-per-bit commitments (2025)
    • Awesome Folding Schemes Repo by Lurk Labs
    • Proofs, Arguments, and Zero-Knowledge by Justin Thaler

    Smart contracts have lost users billions of dollars to bugs. Zero-knowledge protocols are next. zkSecurity audits the full stack and publishes open research on ZK vulnerabilities. Head to zksecurity.xyz to learn more. **If you like what we do:** * Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree * Subscribe to our podcast newsletter * Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm * Join us on Telegram * Catch us on YouTube **Support the show:** * Patreon * ETH - Donation address * BTC - Donation address * SOL - Donation address * ZEC - Donation address Read transcript
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    1 hr and 7 mins
  • The Quantum Question Panel – Live from zkSummit14

    The Quantum Question Panel – Live from zkSummit14
    May 27 2026
    This episode was recorded live at zkSummit14 in Rome. In it, Anna and Nico Mohnblatt hosted the live ‘Quantum Question’ panel which began as an interview, but became something harder to categorize: part seminar, part group therapy, part improv theater, and — depending on the timeline you expect for viable quantum computers — part emergency briefing. The logistics of the panel were really unusual. The guests were meant to be Justin Drake and Dan Boneh, but Dan’s flight was delayed. And so the panel began with just Justin Drake and the hosts — what someone in the room jokingly described as the highest moderator-to-panelist ratio in zkSummit history. To compensate, the format broke open: researchers from the audience, including Daira-Emma Hopwood from the Zcash team and Jens Groth (author of Groth16), joined the conversation. A park bench materialized in real time. The conversation veered into the history of quantum computing research, why Shor’s algorithm threatens today’s public-key cryptography and pairing-based SNARKs, fault-tolerant ‘logical qubits’, physical qubit fidelities, and why neutral-atom machines—despite slower cycle times—may be the most practical path to ‘Q-Day.’ The group also debates the rush-to-post-quantum pitfalls, the benefits of lattice-based post-quantum schemes versus hash-based ones, and how hybrid transitions are unfolding in practice. This was a truly chaotic, spontaneous, informative and fun session at zk14 with some great contributors from attendees and community members, we hope you enjoy it! Related Links
    • ZK14 - The Quantum Question Panel Video
    • Episode 391 -lean Ethereum Part 1: Introduction with Justin Drake
    • Episode 400 - Quantum Advances, Hybrid Signatures and SNARKs to the Rescue with Dan Boneh
    • Quantum Algorithm Zoo
    • POSEIDON: A New Hash Function for Zero-Knowledge Proof Systems
    • Poseidon2: A Faster Version of the Poseidon Hash Function
    • Securing Elliptic Curve Cryptocurrencies against Quantum Vulnerabilities: Resource Estimates and Mitigations
    • Oratomic (Neutral Atoms Startup)
    • Neo and SuperNeo: Post-quantum folding with pay-per-bit costs over small fields
    • lean Ethereum

    Check out all the talks from zkSummit14 in Rome on our YouTube channel here. **If you like what we do:** * Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree * Subscribe to our podcast newsletter * Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm * Join us on Telegram * Catch us on YouTube **Support the show:** * Patreon * ETH - Donation address * BTC - Donation address * SOL - Donation address * ZEC - Donation address Read transcript
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    59 mins
  • From Access Control to Encrypted Execution with Auryn Macmillan

    From Access Control to Encrypted Execution with Auryn Macmillan
    May 20 2026
    In this episode, Anna chats with Auryn Macmillan, founder of Gnosis Guild. They check in on Zodiac, which started as a DAO toolset and has evolved into a modular access control suite for on-chain entities. They discuss the state of DAOs today—what's worked, what hasn't, and how tools like Zodiac might have mitigated large-scale multisig hacks like the recent Bybit exploit. The conversation then shifts to The Interfold (formerly Enclave), Gnosis Guild's new project combining FHE, ZK, and MPC to create encrypted execution environments. These enable multiple parties to collectively compute over private data and produce a verifiable output without any single trusted coordinator. They explore use cases like secret ballot voting and sealed bid auctions, the broader potential for collaborative analytics and private AI training, and how this fits into the larger privacy ecosystem. Related Links
    • Charting Zodiac & DAOs with Nathan Ginnever and Auryn Macmillan
    • theinterfold.com
    • gnosisguild.org
    • How Aztec Raised $59M With 17,000 Bidders Using Uniswap’s CCA

    Check out the talks from zkSummit14 in Rome on our YouTube channel here. **If you like what we do:** * Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree * Subscribe to our podcast newsletter * Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm * Join us on Telegram * Catch us on YouTube **Support the show:** * Patreon * ETH - Donation address * BTC - Donation address * SOL - Donation address * ZEC - Donation address Read transcript
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    53 mins
  • Quantum Advances, Hybrid Signatures and SNARKs to the Rescue with Dan Boneh

    Quantum Advances, Hybrid Signatures and SNARKs to the Rescue with Dan Boneh
    May 6 2026
    In this 400th episode, Anna Rose welcomes back Dan Boneh, professor of computer science and electrical engineering at Stanford University, for a wide-ranging conversation on quantum computing, post-quantum cryptography, and the evolving role of ZK. They discuss Google's recent quantum algorithm announcement—what the paper actually showed, why it was proven in zero knowledge, and the cryptographic ideas embedded in the work. Dan shares his perspective on quantum timelines, the risks of rushing the post-quantum transition, and why algebraic signatures deserve more attention than hash-based ones in the blockchain world. The conversation covers hybrid signature schemes, the web's quiet transition to post-quantum cryptography, and the intersection of AI and ZK. Dan also highlights witness encryption, explains why encrypted mempools are generating new research questions, and closes with an update on the Ethereum Foundation's Proximity Prize. Related Links
    • Episode 100 with Dan Boneh
    • Episode 256 with Dan Boneh
    • Episode 345 with Dan Boneh
    • Episode 390 lean Ethereum Miniseries Kick-off with Anna & Nico
    • Episode 359 Lattice-based ZK Systems with Vadim Lyubashevsky
    • Episode 364 AI and ZK Auditing with David Wong
    • Episode 382 Kevin Lacker on AI-Assisted Theorem Proving and Acorn
    • Securing Elliptic Curve Cryptocurrencies against Quantum Vulnerabilities: Resource Estimates and Mitigations
    • Optimal Proximity Gaps for Subspace-Design Codes and (Random) Reed-Solomon Codes
    • Oratomic (Neutral Atoms Startup)
    • Proximity Prize
    • The Trail of Bits Blog:We beat Google’s zero-knowledge proof of quantum cryptanalysis

    **If you like what we do:** * Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree * Subscribe to our podcast newsletter * Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm * Join us on Telegram * Catch us on YouTube **Support the show:** * Patreon * ETH - Donation address * BTC - Donation address * SOL - Donation address * ZEC - Donation address Read transcript
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    1 hr and 25 mins