Minimmit, Multimmit and the New Consensus Frontier with Patrick O'Grady

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1. 

   7 Oct 2026 · 1 hr 15 min

   Exploring the Lasers that Power Quantum Computers

   This week, Anna and Guillermo chat with Josh Yang , CEO and co-founder of Brightlight Photonics , about the lasers that power quantum computers. Josh explains how lasers are used in neutral atom and other atom-based quantum systems to cool and move atoms, manipulate qubit states and read out results. They explore why these systems require so many different lasers and how today’s bulky, expensive optical setups can become a bottleneck as quantum computers scale. They also cover Brightlight’s work miniaturising the Ti:sapphire laser, a longstanding workhorse of quantum optics. Josh explains…

2. 

   30 Sep 2026 · 57 min

   JP Aumasson on Quantum Risk, AI Attacks and Too Much Crypto

   This week, Anna , Tarun and Nico are joined by JP Aumasson , co-designer of BLAKE3, author of Serious Cryptography and cryptography engineer at Cloudflare . They revisit the quantum threat to cryptography, looking at recent advances in quantum attacks on RSA and elliptic-curve cryptography, and discuss why JP remains cautious about predictions of an imminent “Q-day.” They then explore how AI is changing cryptanalysis, from recent RSA factoring records to the growing divide between symmetric and asymmetric cryptography. The conversation then turns to Poseidon and recent attacks that have…

3. 

   23 Sep 2026 · 1 hr 7 min

   Auto Research on Yukon with Soubhik Deb

   This week, Anna is joined by Soubhik Deb , Head of Research at EigenLabs , to explore Yukon , a platform for collaborative AI-powered research. Soubhik traces the project’s origins to ECDSA.fail, a competition launched in response to Google’s work on more resource-efficient quantum circuits for breaking secp256k1. They discuss how researchers and their AI agents build on one another’s submissions, turning traditional research into a multiplayer process that can iterate at machine speed. The conversation then explores Yukon’s expansion into ZK proving, inference optimisation, coding theory…

4. 

   16 Sep 2026 · 1 hr 2 min

   Ron Rothblum on Fiat-Shamir Attacks, Flock and SNARK.fast

   This week, Anna and Kobi are joined by Ron Rothblum , Professor of Computer Science at Technion and researcher at Succinct . They catch up on Ron’s move from theory into practice, including his work on the SP1 zkVM, Jagged Polynomial Commitments, and a recent Fiat-Shamir attack that exposed vulnerabilities in practical uses of GKR. Ron explains what the attack revealed about Fiat-Shamir’s security assumptions and why it prompted changes to deployed systems. The conversation then explores Ron’s recent work on faster and more efficient proof systems, from Blaze, TensorSwitch, BOLT and Veil to…

5. 

   9 Sep 2026 · 46 min

   The Evolution from ZKP2P to Peer with Richard Liang

   This week, Anna catches up with Richard Liang from Peer , formerly ZKP2P. They trace the project’s evolution over the past two years, from their initial ZKP2P product that used ZK email proofs to connect Venmo payments with on-chain USDC, to their use of ZK TLS, and most recently, their move to using TEEs (trusted execution environments) and the rebrand to Peer. Richard breaks down what motivated each shift and how the team has navigated the trade-offs around privacy, speed, and UX. The conversation then explores Peer’s current approach to connecting traditional payment platforms and…

6. 

   29 Jul 2026 · 1 hr 4 min

   Private Information Retrieval (PIR) with Alex Hoover

   In this episode, Anna and Kobi are joined by Alex Hoover , cryptographer and Assistant Professor at Stevens Institute of Technology. They explore Private Information Retrieval (PIR)—a cryptographic primitive that lets users query public databases without revealing what they're looking for. They trace PIR's evolution from its early theoretical foundations to modern, practical constructions, unpack key variants like batch and keyword PIR, and discuss emerging blockchain applications, from private state queries to Merkle proof generation. They also examine the latest research making PIR…

7. 

   15 Jul 2026 · 1 hr 2 min

   Alex Ozdemir on where Theorem Provers and ZK meet

   This week, Anna and Nico are joined by Alex Ozdemir , Assistant Professor at Georgia Tech, to explore the intersection of formal verification and zero knowledge. They begin by revisiting the evolution of the ZK DSL landscape since Alex's last appearance, discussing the rise of ZKVMs, new language tooling, and how his compiler infrastructure project, CirC, has evolved. The conversation then dives into formal verification and theorem proving, covering SMT solvers, Lean, and zkPi, the first zkSNARK for proofs expressed in Lean. They also discuss compiler correctness, the challenges of verifying…

8. 

   8 Jul 2026 · 1 hr 7 min

   Sergey Gorbunov on TEEs and the Arc Privacy Sector

   This week, Anna speaks with Sergey Gorbunov , Engineer at Circle , about Arc , Circle’s new EVM-compatible Layer 1 blockchain, and its approach to a TEE based on-chain privacy. They begin by revisiting Sergey’s journey from Axelar to Circle, reflecting on the evolution of cross-chain infrastructure, the aftermath of the Terra collapse, and how Circle’s acquisition of Interop Labs led to the development of Arc. The conversation then turns to Arc’s architecture, including its privacy layer, known as the Privacy Sector, and the decision to build it around Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs)…

9. 

   1 Jul 2026 · 6 min

   zkMesh+ Exclusive Clip – Benedikt Bünz on the threat of AI

   Last week on the show, we interviewed Benedikt Bünz , Chief Scientist at Espresso Systems and Professor at NYU. The conversation ran long, so we're releasing some of the extra material as an exclusive clip for zkMesh+ subscribers. We've also included the first five minutes here. In this segment, Anna, Kobi, and Benedikt discuss whether AI poses a genuine threat to the foundations of cryptography. They explore the 'immune system' metaphor for AI's dual role in security: it can uncover bugs and vulnerabilities, while also strengthening defenses through tools like formal verification. The…

10. 

    24 Jun 2026 · 1 hr 9 min

    Pushing the Limits of Proof Systems with Benedikt Bünz

    In this episode, Anna and Kobi speak with Benedikt Bünz , Chief Scientist at Espresso Systems and Professor at NYU. They start with a quick update on Espresso's architecture, its role in delivering fast finality across chains, and the challenges of building high-throughput blockchain infrastructure. The conversation then turns to Benedikt’s recent research on folding schemes, hash-based proof systems such as Arc and Warp, and Golden, a non-interactive distributed key generation protocol for threshold signatures. The episode later explores Flock, a new proof system for standard hash functions…