The research that laid the foundation for anonymous payments receives an award.
A ten-year research effort, considered a "project" for the first practical use of zero-knowledge proofs (ZK proofs), won an award from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the world's largest technical professional organization.
According to the statement, the "genesis document" — "Zerocash: decentralized anonymous payments from bitcoin" - became the basis for the use of ZK proofs in cryptocurrency and was awarded the "Test of Time" award at the IEEE Symposium on security and privacy.
"The award recognizes the broad and long-lasting contribution of an article to research and practice in the field of computer security and privacy," StarkWare noted.
The article, which has 2,400 academic citations, did not change the financial industry, but paved the way for many projects using ZK-proofs. It presented the first practical application of cryptographic techniques in cryptocurrency to improve privacy.
The award was presented to the authors of the publication: Alessandro Chiesa, Christina Garman, Matthew Green, Ian Meyers, Eran Tromer, Madars Virza and Eli Ben-Sasson. Ben-Sasson founded StarkWare, a blockchain scaling company.
"The award is a reminder that it was this paper that brought ZK proofs to the forefront of blockchain research," Ben-Sasson noted, adding that it was the beginning of a growing interest in how this technology can help cryptocurrencies become important for everyone."
The article describes the use of Zero-Knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Arguments of Knowledge (zk-SNARKS) to create a private payment protocol called Zerocash, which hides the source, purpose, and number of transactions.
Currently, ZK proofs are often used for second-tier Ethereum solutions to confirm the validity of data without disclosing its content. They help scale by enabling techniques such as rollups, and provide reliable verification of large amounts of off-chain data. Leading second-tier networks that use ZK proofs include StarkNet, Linea, zkSync Era, Scroll, and Polygon.
Earlier, we reported on SecurityLab more than once that regulators around the world are increasing pressure on protocols that ensure privacy. However, ZK proofs can offer solutions that preserve privacy, while ensuring that funds are not sent to criminals.
Ben-Sasson stressed that privacy is a priority. "To enable it, ZK capabilities will be added to our Stwo proof, which will allow developers to create a more scalable version of the Zerocash construct on StarkNet and Ethereum."
In April, Ernst & Young, one of the "big four" auditing firms, launched an Ethereum-based solution that uses ZK proofs to help its private business clients make complex contracts easier to execute.
A ten-year research effort, considered a "project" for the first practical use of zero-knowledge proofs (ZK proofs), won an award from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the world's largest technical professional organization.
According to the statement, the "genesis document" — "Zerocash: decentralized anonymous payments from bitcoin" - became the basis for the use of ZK proofs in cryptocurrency and was awarded the "Test of Time" award at the IEEE Symposium on security and privacy.
"The award recognizes the broad and long-lasting contribution of an article to research and practice in the field of computer security and privacy," StarkWare noted.
The article, which has 2,400 academic citations, did not change the financial industry, but paved the way for many projects using ZK-proofs. It presented the first practical application of cryptographic techniques in cryptocurrency to improve privacy.
The award was presented to the authors of the publication: Alessandro Chiesa, Christina Garman, Matthew Green, Ian Meyers, Eran Tromer, Madars Virza and Eli Ben-Sasson. Ben-Sasson founded StarkWare, a blockchain scaling company.
"The award is a reminder that it was this paper that brought ZK proofs to the forefront of blockchain research," Ben-Sasson noted, adding that it was the beginning of a growing interest in how this technology can help cryptocurrencies become important for everyone."
The article describes the use of Zero-Knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Arguments of Knowledge (zk-SNARKS) to create a private payment protocol called Zerocash, which hides the source, purpose, and number of transactions.
Currently, ZK proofs are often used for second-tier Ethereum solutions to confirm the validity of data without disclosing its content. They help scale by enabling techniques such as rollups, and provide reliable verification of large amounts of off-chain data. Leading second-tier networks that use ZK proofs include StarkNet, Linea, zkSync Era, Scroll, and Polygon.
Earlier, we reported on SecurityLab more than once that regulators around the world are increasing pressure on protocols that ensure privacy. However, ZK proofs can offer solutions that preserve privacy, while ensuring that funds are not sent to criminals.
Ben-Sasson stressed that privacy is a priority. "To enable it, ZK capabilities will be added to our Stwo proof, which will allow developers to create a more scalable version of the Zerocash construct on StarkNet and Ethereum."
In April, Ernst & Young, one of the "big four" auditing firms, launched an Ethereum-based solution that uses ZK proofs to help its private business clients make complex contracts easier to execute.
