1/ We're excited to share the initial release of Jolt, a new approach to zkVM design. Early benchmarks indicate it outperforms RISC Zero by ~6x and SP1 by up to 2x. Major optimizations are still in the pipeline.
Justin Thaler
370 posts
Justin Thaler
@SuccinctJT
Research Partner @ a16z crypto
Associate Professor of CS at Georgetown.
Joined January 2022
- In my latest blog post on SNARKs, I identify, and try to clear up, a variety of misconceptions that have been hindering progress and causing confusion. I hope this leads to more informed and accurate discourse surrounding this transformative technology!
- Introducing Lasso and Jolt, two new works that I hope will change how SNARKs are designed and built. You can read about them here: a16zcrypto.com/posts/article/… (1/6)
- 1/ Beware the hype: while SNARKs and zkVMs show immense promise, they’re not ready for complex, high-stakes deployments. Bugs are everywhere, formal verification is nascent, and proofs can be hundreds of thousands of times slower than native execution.
- I have some exciting news to share – I’ll be joining @a16zcrypto research as a Research Partner at the conclusion of this semester. a16zcrypto.com/justin-thaler (1/7)
- 1/ Jolt just got a 6× speedup. We now prove over 1,000,000 RISC-V cycles/sec on a 32-core CPU and over 500,000 cycles/sec on a MacBook, with proofs of about 50 KB. Here’s what’s new 🧵
- After my last post, I had a request from some folks to discuss the security of SNARKs as they are currently deployed. I've done so in this new post here: a16zcrypto.com/snark-security… (1/9)
- 1/ Today’s zkVMs are likely riddled with bugs. We should stop pretending otherwise. My latest blog post outlines our roadmap toward a bug-free Jolt.
- 1/ New post: Jolt now proves RISC-V programs with 64-bit registers (RV64IMAC), at speeds exceeding those we previously reported for 32-bit. 1.5M cycles/sec on a 32-core CPU, 500k cycles/sec on a MacBook. Here’s why this matters 🧵
- 1/ We just unveiled Twist and Shout, two new memory-checking arguments designed to supercharge the Jolt zkVM. Expect ~3x end-to-end prover speedups (on top of 2x improvements that are already in progress), plus shorter proofs. Full post:
- 1/ New survey: Sum-check is all you need. Just posted a survey on the design principles behind Jolt and fast-prover SNARKs more broadly. It's arguably the first time the core ideas have all been written down in one place.
- In my latest blog posts, I delve into work just unveiled by Ben Diamond and Jim Posen (D&P) that, in my view, reshapes the landscape for hashing-based SNARKs. D&P have fine-tuned the Ligero/Brakedown polynomial commitment scheme... (1/5)
- A couple of talks I gave during a recent visit to a16z are now up on Youtube. Part 1: youtube.com/watch?v=tg6lKP… Part 2: youtube.com/watch?v=cMAI7g… (1/4)
- 1/ In the short video + blog post below, we give an update on Jolt, covering progress since release and our roadmap for the months ahead.
