{"id":7144,"date":"2025-01-09T20:26:05","date_gmt":"2025-01-09T19:26:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wsj-crypto.com\/?p=7144"},"modified":"2025-01-09T20:26:05","modified_gmt":"2025-01-09T19:26:05","slug":"innovations-on-the-horizon-recent-developments-from-ef-supported-teams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wsj-crypto.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/09\/innovations-on-the-horizon-recent-developments-from-ef-supported-teams\/","title":{"rendered":"Innovations on the Horizon: Recent Developments from EF-Supported Teams"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Friends,<\/p>\n

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Leaves have descended in the northern hemisphere, summer approaches in the south, and ETH is being staked worldwide. The merriest of seasons has arrived, marking the inception of the beacon chain. Furthermore, phenomenal advancements have occurred recently by all<\/em> EF-backed teams. However, due to the lack of in-person interactions lately, we may have overlooked much from each other. As this distinctive year comes to a conclusion, we are thrilled to present a plethora of comprehensive updates to you from several teams contributing to the advancement of Ethereum in myriad ways. It’s an extensive read, but there’s a wealth of progress to sift through (or feel free to navigate using the table of contents).<\/p>\n

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As always, this series of updates centers on EF-supported teams whose members are dedicated to expanding and enhancing Ethereum as a whole. This edition includes updates from numerous teams featured in the prior report<\/a>, along with other new and rotating groups.<\/p>\n

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Enjoy!<\/p>\n

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Applied ZKP<\/h2>\n

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Written by Thore Hildebrandt<\/em><\/p>\n

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The Applied ZKP team endeavors to connect cutting-edge research in zero-knowledge proofs with application development on Ethereum.<\/p>\n

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Perpetual Powers of Tau<\/h3>\n

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In September 2019, we initiated the Perpetual Powers of Tau<\/a> ceremony (PPOT). PPOT is designed to support the zero-knowledge ecosystem, especially zk-SNARK projects developed on Ethereum, by alleviating some of the burdens of trusted setup ceremonies. Many zk-SNARK projects necessitate two phases of parameter generation, and PPOT substitutes the first phase, allowing it to be shared among all circuits. Individual teams can select any contribution from the ceremony to carry out their own phase 2 setup.<\/p>\n

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This ceremony accommodates circuits with up to 2 ^ 28 constraints, which implies that each contribution entails a 97G download, a computation period of one day, and a 49G upload. At the time of writing, we have gathered 63 contributions, and all contribution files can be downloaded and independently verified against a public ceremony transcript<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Initiatives that plan to utilize or have already utilized the ceremony include tornado.cash<\/a>, Semaphore<\/a>, Hermez<\/a>, MACI<\/a>, and zkopru<\/a>. The simplest way to contribute is to connect with Wei Jie via Telegram @weijiek. Tune into this podcast<\/a> to hear Wei Jie discuss the ceremony.<\/p>\n

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Semaphore<\/h3>\n

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Semaphore<\/a> is a versatile privacy tool that enables functionalities such as mixers, anonymous login, anonymous voting, and reputation systems.<\/p>\n

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Semaphore has undergone an audit and is presently conducting a phase 2 ceremony based on Perpetual Powers of Tau. So far, there are 51 participants; please get involved<\/a> to enhance the security of Semaphore. Join the discussion in the Semaphore Society Telegram chat group<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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MACI<\/h3>\n

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Initially proposed by Vitalik Buterin, systems built with MACI<\/a> hinder collusion among participants while upholding the advantages of censorship resistance and correct execution offered by smart contracts. While MACI can afford collusion resistance only if the coordinator is truthful, a dishonest coordinator cannot either censor or manipulate its execution. Watch Wei Jie explain how MACI functions on Youtube<\/a>. You can utilize the MACI command-line interface<\/a> to run a demonstration.<\/p>\n

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Recently, clr.fund executed<\/a> a quadratic funding round where results were computed using MACI. Bribery could pose a significant challenge for Gitcoin as it scales, yet MACI can assist as it ensures that it’s impossible to prove whom one voted for. MACI 1.0 is under development<\/a>; join the Telegram group<\/a> to discover more and engage in discussions.<\/p>\n

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MiMC Bounty<\/h3>\n

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There is a current bounty<\/a> for locating collisions in the MiMC hash function.<\/p>\n

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Hubble<\/h3>\n

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Optimistic Rollups (OR) facilitate enhanced layer 2 scalability by leveraging on-chain data availability and fraud proofs. Hubble enables the formation of optimistic rollup chains with a uniform interface, allowing individuals to enter the rollup space once and subsequently transition between chains seamlessly at minimal costs, thereby eliminating the necessity to ever “exit” the low-cost rollup environment.<\/p>\n

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Key attributes encompass bulk migrations and a global account registry. Burnauctions will be utilized to decentralize the coordinator and to allocate MEV to CLR’s. Transfers to novel accounts are feasible directly from L2 without the necessity to deposit on L1. With the assistance of BLS signatures, the team succeeded in achieving 2500 tps on ropsten<\/a>. The Hubble BLS wallet is designed to accommodate other OR’s such as Arbitrum, Optimism, and Fuel.<\/p>\n

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Hubble’s source code can be found on Github<\/a>. Contracts are currently on hold, as the team prepares for an impending audit.<\/p>\n

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zkopru<\/h3>\n

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zkopru (zk-optimistic-rollup) serves as a layer-2 scaling solution for confidential transactions utilizing zk-SNARK and optimistic rollup. It facilitates private transfers and atomic swaps within the layer-2 ecosystem between ETH, ERC20, and ERC721 at minimal expense. Additionally, it offers instant withdrawals with pay-in-advance features and compliance compatibility employing spending key and viewing keys. Wanseob showcased the system at zk-summit, with the recording to be made available on Youtube shortly.
\nzkopru is advancing into the \u201cBurrito\u201d phase of its roadmap<\/a>, and you can currently experiment on testnet<\/a> right now. Furthermore, the UI for its trusted setup and burn auction aimed at the decentralized coordination are in development. An audit is slated to commence in January.<\/p>\n

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Experimental directions<\/h3>\n

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