Introducing Dynamic zk-SNARKs—a breakthrough from the Lagrange research team... Weijie Wang, Charalampos (Babis) Papamanthou, Shravan Srinivasan, and Dimitris Papadopoulos Dynamic zk-SNARKs mark a major step forward in making real-time, updatable cryptographic proofs a reality Here’s what that means and why it matters 🧵show more

Introducing DeepProve—Lagrange’s zkML Library—a breakthrough in verifiable AI inference.... We can now verify AI decisions instead of blindly trusting black-box models. And we can do it up to 158x faster than ever before. The future of AI is ZK. The future of humanity is Lagrange: 🧵show more

BITCOIN RAILS #69: ZERO-KNOWLEDGE PROOFS FOR POST-QUANTUM BITCOIN |... with Benedikt Bünz 🔗 YOUTUBE: 🌿 SPOTIFY: While many Bitcoiners remain hopeful the network will embrace zero-knowledge proofs for protocol-level use cases, practical adoption has remained limited outside of BitVM and a handful of experimental proposals. Most of the world’s ZKP research has circled around Ethereum and other ecosystems, where significant resources have been dedicated to advancing these systems, particularly for scaling and privacy applications. One of the most notable contributors to this research is Benedikt Bünz ☕️ — professor of cryptography at NYU and collaborator of Dan Boneh, who together inarguably form one of the strongest blockchain-applied cryptography teams in the world. The pair recently announced they’ll be leading the new post-quantum cryptography unit localhost research — the first dedicated PQ research effort within a major Bitcoin development organization. With Benedikt leading the charge on the use of zero-knowledge proofs for post-quantum mitigation, the question emerges: will the post-quantum transition be the catalyst to finally bring zero-knowledge proofs to Bitcoin's core protocol? In more detail, Benedikt and I discuss: - Why ZKPs haven’t been widely adopted by the Bitcoin technical community — and why the threat of quantum computers may change that posture going forward - How ZKPs could be used for signature batching to address larger post-quantum signatures in Bitcoin’s post-quantum era - Why Bitcoiners will likely prioritize hash-based signatures as an initial post-quantum scheme — rather than more efficient but less proven alternatives (e.g., lattice-based) - How ZKPs have evolved over the last decade and may finally be ready for Bitcoin’s strict requirements around trust assumptions - Why Benedikt and Dan are teaming up with localhost research to create the first post-quantum cryptography unit within a major Bitcoin development organization + what they hope to accomplish This episode of Bitcoin Rails is brought to you by: LayerTwo Labs LayerTwo Labs — developing research, software, and technologies for scaling Bitcoin via the integration of Drivechains (BIP 300/301) Hashi on Sui — a primitive for executing Bitcoin DeFi transactions, without having to trust a federated bridge or other centralized entity BitBox BitBox — an open-source Bitcoin-only hardware wallet, with smooth UX and no compromises on security. Check out Bitbox [dot] swiss and use code BITCOINRAILS to get a discount TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 — Intro 00:22 — Benedikt's background 04:10 — How Benedikt got into Bitcoin and cryptography 07:42 — First ZK project: proving exchange solvency after Mt. Gox 16:01 — ZK proofs explained 27:43 — How security gets popular & ZK proofs in Bitcoin 35:49 — Other applications of ZK proofs for Bitcoin 40:15 — Why ZK proofs haven't been adopted in Bitcoin 50:46 — Why the Bitcoin post-quantum transition needs ZK proofs 01:07:00 — Cryptographic agility and why lattices win 01:18:00 — The size problem and how SNARKs solve it 01:33:57 — Proving a Bitcoin block in a laptop in 1.5 seconds 01:37:12 — Bitcoin as the primary quantum target 01:40:47 — ZK proofs for seed phrase recoveryshow more

I’m incredibly excited to share a sneak peak of... Wayve’s GAIA-1, a major step forward in action and language-conditioned world models for #AutonomousDriving. Here’s a glimpse of what GAIA-1 can do - more in the 🧵. (These are not real videos!) But what's a world model?show more

First Principles Ep. 6 with Shafi Goldwasser What if... you could prove something is true without revealing why it’s true? Turing Award winner Shafi Goldwasser tells the origin story of zero-knowledge proofs: how a playful question about playing poker securely over the telephone led her, Silvio Micali, and Charles Rackoff to rethink what a mathematical proof could be. Goldwasser traces those ideas through interactive proofs, the sum-check protocol, SNARKs, and the systems now used to verify computation and preserve privacy on blockchains. She also reflects on why breakthrough ideas are often rejected at first, how toy problems can produce foundational theories, and whether AI systems should have to prove their answers. Hosted by Tim Roughgarden with Justin Thaler 00:00 Intro 03:36 How mental poker inspired zero-knowledge proofs: Proving that something is true without revealing the underlying information 06:30 The simulation paradigm and the meaning of “zero knowledge” 08:33 Why the original paper was repeatedly rejected 10:33 How interactive proofs became more powerful than conventional proofs 13:36 The road to modern SNARKs 19:02 Why the sum-check protocol is so useful for verifiable computation 25:31 Why many so-called “zk proofs” are not actually zero knowledge 34:06 Why toy examples, playfulness, and narratives can produce deep theory 37:23 The role of rigor and computational assumptions in cryptography 42:44 Applying zero-knowledge proofs to law, evidence, and secret software 45:23 Training AI systems to provide proofs alongside their answers 54:27 Why genuinely new ideas are often difficult for experts to recognizeshow more

What happens when ZK wraps around AI instead of... trying to prove it? In this talk from @Zk_Hub_Global, Brandon Kase (CEO of o1Labs (httpz)/Mina Protocol (httpz) 🪶) argues that the real near-term value of ZK x AI is in control, privacy, and coordination - not proving LLMs. Brandon introduces the idea of ZK as the "boundary layer" for AI agents - governing access to data, payments, and identity. He also teases a little bit about “Project Untitled”, a new decentralized private state layer for agent memory and coordination 🤝show more

HUDL Testnet Act II: The Nexus is now LIVE💫... We're now one step closer to decentralizing real-time connectivity and making it accessible to all. Be a part 🫵 Join the Nexus now: Here’s what the Nexus has in store for users, builders, creators & more 🧵show more

#ICCV2025 🤩3D world generation is cool, but it is... cooler to play with the worlds using 3D actions 👆💨, and see what happens! — Introducing *WonderPlay*: Now you can create dynamic 3D scenes that respond to your 3D actions from a single image! Web: 🧵1/7show more

What if blockchains didn’t just scale, but spoke the... same language? Boundless is making that real with Mainnet Beta and The Signal, a universal proof layer broadcasting Ethereum state across chains. This isn’t some vague vision. It’s live. Here’s how it works: • Anyone can request a proof → each one strengthens The Signal • Provers earn directly by running nodes and generating proofs • Communities vote to decide which chain gets integrated next It’s a new kind of interoperability where computation is verifiable, incentives are aligned, and blockchains become part of a shared ZK fabric. This is what connected infrastructure looks like. Explore more hereshow more

People ask me all the time why/how I’m a... democrat. It always goes back to this 1960 speech from JFK. In this speech he outlined a compassionate and progressive forward looking philosophy while challenging the right’s definition and perception of what it means to be a liberal.show more

BITCOIN RAILS EPISODE #24: The History of Zero-Knowledge Proofs... | with ZK “Godfather” Eli Ben Sasson In 2013, computer science professor Eli Ben-Sasson | Starknet.io presented his research on zero-knowledge proofs at a small Bitcoin conference outside of Standford University. The presentation immediately sparked interest from Bitcoin Core developer Greg Maxwell—leading Eli into over a decade of sustained work advancing ZK-based solutions for blockchain scalability and privacy. Today, zero-knowledge proofs are widely considered some of the most powerful and promising cryptographic primitives for scaling—with their full potential for Bitcoin simmering just beneath the surface of active development. This episode shares Eli’s early discussions of ZKPs for scaling, the use of proofs in privacy-enhancing technologies like Zcash, the explosion of ZKPs for Layer 2s on Ethereum… and his recent return to exploring ZKPs for Bitcoin. As always, you can view this episode on YouTube or Spotify via the linktree in my bio—YouTube link in comments as well. This episode is powered by Best In Slot—the leading API for Ordinals and BRC20 data aggregation and indexing. TIMESTAMPS: 00:51 Eli Ben-Sasson: Godfather of ZKPs 02:15 Revealing Proof Research to Bitcoiners 04:15 Meeting Greg Maxwell; Mike Hearn 06:10 ZCash: Bringing ZK Based Privacy for Crypto 07:05 SNARKs and STARKs Explained 08:10 Would Satoshi Approve of Bitcoin STARKs? 11:41 ZCash Privacy Versus Monero 13:45 When did the ZKP era begin on Ethereum? 16:34 What’s different about ZK STARKs? 18:40 Vitalik and STARKs on Ethereum with Starkware 21:10 Academics finally appreciating STARKs 23:18 Healthy competition in the ZK industry 24:20 What is Starknet? 25:50 What is an L2, in Eli’s view? 27:20 Focustree, an app on Starknet 30:00 How Eli arrived at Bitcoin Season 2 34:45 When did ZK look realistic for Bitcoin? 36:55 Eli first heard about OP_CAT 39:30 Why Lightning isn’t good enough 40:30 When did Starkware start focusing on OP_CAT? 44:20 Runes bridge to Starknet! 46:00 Expanding Starknet staking to BTC 48:20 Why is OP_CAT “barely enough” for Bitcoin L2s? 51:00 The real reason people oppose OP_CAT, per Eli 53:00 The risks of *not* changing Bitcoin 55:35 The weakness of Bitcoin’s lack of governance 01:00:15 We will need to softfork for quantum!show more

DROPS E24: Francis - Co-Founder & CEO of zkPass:... ZK Privacy Is About to Go Mainstream! We deep-dive into why private data is the next trillion-dollar battlefield and how ZK-TLS flips the internet from "trust me" to "prove it" without revealing anything. We talk about: - How ZK-TLS makes the entire HTTPS internet verifiable - Why private data will eclipse public data in value - Crypto use cases from reputation-based lending to accredited investor checks - Protecting medical records, killing data brokers, and enabling safer AI training - Lessons from eight startup failures and the long-game mindset founders need - The journey that led from bow ties → startups → ZK infrastructure And much more! Timestamps 0:00 Meet Francis of zkPass 1:50 The Fundamentals of Growing a Crypto Startup 3:17 From Congo to New York: Francis’ Journey 4:06 Launching a Bow Tie Business in College 7:07 Adaptability from a Global Childhood 8:35 Eight Failures and What They Taught 13:07 Surviving Burnout and Mental Struggles 15:15 Small Successes That Fueled the Fire 18:04 Crypto Rollercoasters & Sustainable Growth 18:30 From Bow Ties to Blockchain: The Crypto Pivot 21:33 What Is Zero Knowledge (ZK)? 23:12 ZK + TLS: Making the Internet Verifiable 25:20 Explaining zkPass to Your Mom 28:22 Chainlink for Private Data? zkPass vs Public Oracles 30:16 Why APIs Can’t Cover the Web 32:00 Crypto Use Cases for zkPass 33:38 Beyond Collateral: Trustless Reputation Lending 35:13 Medical Privacy & Stablecoin Bank Transfers 38:26 What Makes zkPass Tech Unique 40:29 Yes/No Verifications: Trusting the zk Black Box 43:34 Why Data Privacy Is the Futureshow more

LIVE NOW - Ethereum’s Last Big Upgrade: The zkEVM... Ethereum scaling isn’t just “bigger blocks.” It’s a shift from re-executing everything → verifying once with proofs. ansgar.eth breaks down: - verifying blocks without re-execution - real-time proofs for L1 - optional → mandatory proofs roadmap - the 3 bottlenecks: compute / IO / bandwidth - why “L1 gets rollup-like” (without losing verifiability) 🎬 Enjoy. --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 0:43 Ethereum’s Biggest Upgrade 4:35 The Core Idea: Verify Blocks Without Re-Executing 10:40 From Bitcoin’s “Verify Cheaply” to Verifying Full Execution 16:22 Cryptography 2.0: Proving Arbitrary Computation 22:56 Scaling All 3 Constraints: Compute, IO, Bandwidth 32:33 Why Ethereum Has Been “Slow” by Design 38:29 3× Per Year: Scaling Now, Not Someday 41:28 ZK Isn’t About Faster Blocks (But Speed Still Improves) 46:33 Rollout Plan: Optional Proofs → Mandatory Proofs 49:59 Dependencies: Block-in-Blobs, Repricing, New State Trees 54:14 Security Reality Check: Performance → Security → Production 1:01:24 Client Diversity in a ZK World 1:10:51 Timeline: ZK Ethereum, Around 2030 1:16:31 Second-Order Wins: L2 Bridging and Beyond Crypto 1:20:49 Closing: Build the Boring Infrastructure, Enable the Appsshow more

Today we present Morpheus, a persistent enterprise simulation platform... designed to make Continual Learning a reality. Morpheus is the world’s first real world Reinforcement Learning environment. Every Reinforcement Learning environment operates in the game world. Benchmarks like Atari, OpenAI Gym, MuJoCo, and Procgen are all small, game-like worlds that reset every few minutes. But the real world never resets. A business keeps running and evolving everyday. We tested how frontier LLMs would perform in realistic and dynamic business environments 🧬on Morpheus. The main conclusion was that LLMs are not continual learners. 🧵Here’s how we did it and what we learned:show more

Another robot from Disney! 🕺🏻 Just look at this... dancing fella created by Disney Research. Creating control policies that work on real robots and handling diverse, unseen motions in physics-based character control is still difficult. The Disney team proposes a two-state solution. The first step involves learning a latent space encoding with an autoencoder. After encoding, the policy is trained to map kinematic input to dynamic output, ensuring accurate and adaptable movement. This method eliminates common mode collapse issues and improves motion encoding by separating these stages. This technique has proven effective in real robots in simulations, marking a significant leap forward in robot control. Can't wait for it in action live in 2025 :) ~~~ RT to help 1 robot find a new workplace.show more

What is the value of a domain name in... the digital world? Is it just a piece of online real estate, or can it become something more liquid and dynamic? We spoke with Michael Ho of D3 about Doma Protocol (Doma Protocol) the blockchain infrastructure creating a new reality where the internet’s names become liquid, composable, and free from the friction of legacy markets. Watch the full interview 👇show more

📽️The people behind the Demonstrator explain what it means,... and why it matters. This is the country's first crewed combat air flying demonstrator in four decades. A once-in-a-generation national endeavour, and a real test of what British industry can deliver, together. Proving advanced technologies before they reach the front line, at the same time as developing the national skills that Britain needs for the future of combat air. Watch the full video now 👇show more