Ethereum Foundation Announces ZK Grants Round to Enhance Zero-Knowledge Proof Systems

The
Ethereum
Foundation
has
unveiled
a
new
ZK
Grants
Round,
aimed
at
accelerating
the
development
and
adoption
of
zero-knowledge
(ZK)
proof
systems.
This
initiative
seeks
to
foster
innovation
and
address
critical
challenges
within
the
blockchain
ecosystem,
according
to
the

Ethereum
Foundation
Blog.

Key
Projects
and
Objectives

The
ZK
Grants
Round
includes
a
diverse
array
of
projects
focusing
on
various
aspects
of
ZK
technology.
These
projects
are
expected
to
significantly
improve
the
efficiency,
security,
and
scalability
of
ZK
proof
systems.

Highlighted
Projects

Among
the
funded
projects
are:

• 
  Proof
  Carrying
  Data
  from
  folding
  GKR
  with
  protostar:
  This
  project
  aims
  to
  enhance
  current
  Interactive
  Verifiable
  Computation
  (IVC)
  schemes
  by
  leveraging
  the
  Goldwasser-Kalai-Rothblum
  (GKR)
  accumulation
  scheme,
  which
  will
  reduce
  witness
  size
  and
  improve
  computational
  efficiency.
• 
  Zippel:
  A
  new
  language
  and
  compiler
  designed
  for
  building
  succinct
  proof
  systems,
  allowing
  developers
  to
  express
  protocols
  in
  a
  high-level
  language
  while
  managing
  low-level
  details
  like
  parallelism
  and
  memory
  management.
• 
  Lean
  Extraction
  of
  Circuit
  Constraints
  from
  Halo2:
  This
  project
  focuses
  on
  developing
  a
  formal
  verification
  harness
  to
  extract
  constraints
  from
  Halo2
  circuits
  and
  reason
  about
  them
  in
  the
  Lean
  4
  proof
  assistant.
• 
  ZK
  Benchmarks:
  A
  project
  to
  create
  a
  comprehensive
  repository
  of
  performance
  benchmarks
  for
  different
  types
  of
  proving
  systems,
  aiding
  developers
  and
  project
  managers
  in
  making
  informed
  decisions.
• 
  zkFold
  Symbolic:
  A
  high-level
  functional
  language
  for
  writing
  zero-knowledge
  smart
  contracts,
  compiled
  directly
  into
  arithmetic
  circuits
  for
  various
  ZK
  protocols.

Additional
Contributions

The
grants
also
support
projects
aimed
at
improving
developer
tools
and
accessibility.
For
instance,
the

ZK
Treesitter
initiative
will
maintain
agnostic
treesitter
grammars
for
major
ZK
circuits
languages,
enhancing
developer
tooling
and
providing
broader
access
to
resources.

Other
notable
projects
include

Wasm
PLUME,
which
seeks
to
make
cryptographic
PLUME
scheme
implementation
more
accessible
outside
the
Rust
ecosystem,
and

Onboard
users
to
verifiable
KYC,
which
aims
to
create
an
open-source
end-to-end
app
for
verifiable
KYC
using
the
Noir
language.

Impact
on
the
Blockchain
Ecosystem

The
Ethereum
Foundation’s
ZK
Grants
Round
is
poised
to
drive
significant
advancements
in
the
field
of
zero-knowledge
proofs.
By
supporting
a
wide
range
of
innovative
projects,
the
initiative
aims
to
enhance
the
scalability,
security,
and
efficiency
of
blockchain
applications.

These
efforts
are
expected
to
lower
the
barriers
to
entry
for
developers,
enabling
them
to
create
more
efficient
ZK
applications
and
smart
contracts.
Additionally,
the
grants
will
facilitate
the
development
of
new
tools
and
frameworks
that
will
benefit
the
broader
blockchain
community.

For
a
complete
list
of
funded
projects
and
detailed
descriptions,
visit
the

Ethereum
Foundation
Blog.

Image
source:
Shutterstock