Stanford Blockchain Week: ZK, modularity, and trends in Bitcoin ecosystem development.

2023-09-07 13:40

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The ZKP ecosystem is gradually becoming more specialized, with different companies focusing on specific parts of the ZK process.

Original Title: "Stanford Blockchain Week: ZK, Modularity, and Trends in Bitcoin Ecosystem Development Summary"

Original Author: PAUL VERADITTAKIT

Original Source: TechFlow

August 26th to September 1st is Stanford Blockchain Week, a week-long series of conferences, summits, and events. In addition to the main academic conference, there are many other summits this year, including the Blockchain Application Stanford Summit (BASS) hosted by the Stanford Blockchain Club, the Starknet Summit in San Francisco, and academic seminars focused on consensus, MEV, and DAO, as well as countless other accompanying events. In this article, we will explore three key trends of this week and what they mean for the development of the entire industry.

Trend 1: Optimization of Zero-Knowledge Proofs in Theory and Practice

As expected, a large part of the conference focused on zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs). Optimization of existing ZKP solutions was a core theme of the SBC, with one session discussing breakthroughs in efficient folding schemes such as HyperNova and Protostar. In addition to these, other academic presentations focused on applying zkSNARKs to more efficient batch Merkle proofs and formal verification of ZK circuits.

In addition, the interest in promoting ZKP research is not limited to the academic community at Stanford. This week, several startups from the Stanford Blockchain Accelerator showcased new applications of zero-knowledge proofs in various fields. For example, Nexus Labs and Modulus Labs used ZKPs in verifiable computation, Ironmill and Succinct proposed use cases in new development tools and infrastructure, and Nocturne and Hinkal demonstrated applications for private transactions.

The ZKP ecosystem is gradually becoming specialized, with different companies focusing on specific parts of the ZK process, whether it's connecting applications to provers, providing ZK proofs for specific verticals (such as Modulus' AI), or offering other enhanced integration tools. This specialization may indicate that the industry is gradually evolving into a modular and complex process, highlighting the increasing maturity of ZKP as a technology. Of course, all of this is being done at a steady pace of academic breakthroughs (such as the new folding scheme proposed on SBC), which opens up new use cases for the technology and creates a symbiotic relationship between ZKP theory and practice.

Trend 2: Achieving "plug-and-play" composability through increased modularity

In the past few months, modularity has become a hot topic and a growing trend, with different companies focusing on specific tasks in the blockchain technology stack (such as sorting, execution, data availability, etc.) rather than having one large blockchain handle everything. However, modularity itself is not necessarily the end goal; instead, the goal is to create a more composable technology stack, a "plug-and-play" design space that allows developers to experiment and fine-tune blockchain stacks for any set of requirements.

This "plug-and-play" spirit was reflected in Professor Ed Felton's speech on Stylus for Arbitrum on BASS, which aims to unify the execution environment of EVM and WASM code, allowing smart contracts and WASM code to interact smoothly with each other. This makes it possible to create WASM "libraries" that EVM contracts can call functions from, enabling a more composable development experience. Other interesting developments in modularization to improve composability include Chainlink's CCIP, which attempts to create industry-defined interoperability standards, and Celestia's speech on the history and future of modular blockchains.

It is worth noting that many of the projects that Stanford is driving this trend with are larger and more mature companies (such as Arbitrum, Chainlink, Celestia, Starkware), which are already industry leaders. Although there are also small companies like Stanford startup Caldera that are committed to this trend, composability seems to be more for projects seeking to establish or consolidate ecosystem leadership advantages, trying to attract developers to use their technology stack. For the entire blockchain industry, this is a positive move, as increasing the emphasis on composability through "plug and play" methods reduces the entry barriers for new developers and allows for more customizable technology stacks to be applied to a wider range of use cases.

Trend 3: Renewed Attention to the Bitcoin Developer Ecosystem

The third interesting trend during the Stanford Blockchain Conference is the renewed attention to the development and future of the world's oldest blockchain. During BASS on Saturday afternoon, the Bitcoin ecosystem was specifically emphasized, both from a developer and technical perspective, as well as from a cultural perspective. In addition to Professor David Tse's speech on the Babylon Bitcoin collateral protocol, there were multiple group discussions, including speakers from Ordinals, Taproot Wizards, Bitcoin Startup Labs, Bitcoin Magazine, etc., discussing the innovative future of the Bitcoin ecosystem, especially after Ordinals.

One of the most interesting and unique perspectives comes from Erin Redwing, the Chief Operating Officer of Ordinals, who defends Bitcoin art (such as Raresats). She believes that if Bitcoin is "digital gold," then the art engraved on it by Ordinals is equivalent to "digital jewelry." Just as most ordinary people interact indirectly with gold through "art and jewelry," the same logic applies to Bitcoin. In addition, the cultural and technological changes brought about by Ordinals and other new projects seem to have rekindled the interest of many Ethereum developers in the Bitcoin ecosystem after Ordinals, bringing the design, token economics, and implementation expertise of Ethereum DApps to Bitcoin, potentially reviving the ancient ecosystem of Bitcoin.

However, it is too early to assert whether we are currently in a true "Bitcoin Renaissance". As is well known, Bitcoin is a conservative ecosystem, and its community's attitude towards cultural and technological change is at most indifferent, even hostile. Nevertheless, the potential development of the Bitcoin ecosystem is still worth paying attention to, even if only from the perspective of transaction volume and cultural recognition.

Conclusion

The above three trends about the progress of ZK, the achievability through modularity, and the development of the Bitcoin ecosystem, cannot fully describe all the research and innovation that Stanford University is conducting. From new research on consensus mechanisms that lay the foundation for future L1 or L2, to transaction and MEV modeling techniques that may enhance analysis tools, to new cryptographic primitives, the Stanford Blockchain Week showcases the diversity and vitality of this industry. Unlike many other industry summits or academic conferences, SBC and its affiliated conferences cleverly synchronize the industry with research and combine them to create a vibrant alliance composed of startups, mature protocols, and academia, all committed to advancing the blockchain field and building a better decentralized future.