zlacker

[return to "Opening up ‘Zero-Knowledge Proof’ technology"]
1. bobbie+yc[view] [source] 2025-07-03 19:02:07
>>doomro+(OP)
Anyone have a good explanation on the intuition of non-interactive zero-knowledge proofs? For example, I thought the "paint-mixing" analogy for Diffie-Hellman key exchange (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffie–Hellman_key_exchange#Ge...) really helped me handwave the math into "mixing easy, unmixing hard".

https://blog.cryptographyengineering.com/2014/11/27/zero-kno... was a good intro for interactive ZK proofs but I haven't been able to find something for non-interactive ones.

This blog post comparing ZK-STARKs to erasure coding is in the right flavor but didn't quite stick to my brain either: https://vitalik.eth.limo/general/2017/11/09/starks_part_1.ht...

◧◩
2. coldpi+1e[view] [source] 2025-07-03 19:09:58
>>bobbie+yc
Yeah I'm also interested in some of the details here, but the linked library repo is a bit too low-level for my current understanding.

For example, in the usecase of providing a proof-of-age to a website: who provides the verification data (the government?); what form does that take (a file in a standard format?); who holds/owns the verification data (the user?); who runs the verification software (the end-user's web browser?).

Can the user use any implementation to provide the proof, or must it be a "blessed" implementation such as Google Wallet?

◧◩◪
3. Matteo+We[view] [source] 2025-07-03 19:18:56
>>coldpi+1e
The specifics depend on local regulations, but roughy speaking: the government gives you a document in a standard format (eg MDOC). Your phone stores the document, with cooperation from a secure element that binds the document to the phone. The website you visit verifies the proof. The government gives documents to whatever wallet they want, which may be a special government wallet. They may or may not give the document to Google Wallet.
◧◩◪◨
4. coldpi+Ef[view] [source] 2025-07-03 19:23:58
>>Matteo+We
Thank you.

> Your phone stores the document, with cooperation from a secure element that binds the document to the phone. The website you visit verifies the proof.

So it does require a "blessed" implementation, and I have to trust Google or Apple to handle my data? I cannot own the document myself and use an open-source client that I trust to provide the proof?

◧◩◪◨⬒
5. miki12+fo[view] [source] 2025-07-03 20:29:25
>>coldpi+Ef
In principle, you could use an open source implementation, but not a user-modifiable implementation.

Nothing stops a government from making their code open source and providing you with reproducible builds. You just won't be able to change the code to do something the government doesn't deem legal.

[go to top]