Episode notes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dad2UonQ9Ag&feature=youtu.be In this episode, Nico Mohnblatt sits down with Justin Drake from the Ethereum Foundation to kick off a miniseries on lean Ethereum, a bold vision to rethink Ethereum’s consensus, data, and execution layers. Justin outlines how post-quantum cryptography, faster finality, and enshrined zkEVMs fit together into a cohesive redesign. At the heart of it is leanVM, an ultra-minimal zkVM built to aggregate hash-based signatures and recursively verify proofs, potentially turning post-quantum migration into a scalability win. They also…
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Zero Knowledge
Zero Knowledge Podcast · Tech & Science · English
Zero Knowledge is a podcast which goes deep into the tech that will power the emerging decentralised web and the community building this. Covering the latest in zero knowledge research and applications, the open web as well as future technologies and paradigms that promise to change the way we inter
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25 Mar 2026 · 58 min
lean Ethereum Part 6: Formal Verification with Alex Hicks
https://youtu.be/9u4fu7TiZCA In this episode, Nico Mohnblatt speaks with Alex Hicks from the Ethereum Foundation about formal verification and its role in the lean Ethereum vision. This is the 6th and final episode of the lean Ethereum mini-series. Nico and Alex explore what it means to produce machine-checked proofs across the ZK stack, from RISC-V and zkVMs to circuits, compilers, and cryptographic primitives, and how these pieces connect in practice. The conversation also covers Alex’s path from physics and math into the ZK space, how the EF effort took shape, and the community push to…
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18 Mar 2026 · 39 min
lean Ethereum Part 5: Devnets & Upgrade Coordination with Will and Raúl
https://youtu.be/Ul2bs8INF0k In this episode Nico Mohnblatt chats with Will Corcoran and Raúl Kripalani from the Ethereum Foundation . This is part 5 in the 6-part leanEthereum miniseries, shifting focus from the cryptographic primitives and LeanVM stack to the real-world integration happening through devnets, specs, and cross-team coordination. They dive into the human coordination layer, how independent teams align on post-quantum signatures, SNARK aggregation, and protocol changes, plus the networking upgrades needed for larger payloads. Raúl explains the shift from today's libp2p stack…
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11 Mar 2026 · 33 min
lean Ethereum Part 4: leanVM, a Custom VM for Signature Aggregation
https://youtu.be/YWkyvTrwtQU In this episode of the lean Ethereum miniseries, Nico Mohnblatt speaks with Thomas Coratger and Emile from the Ethereum Foundation about the design and implementation of LeanVM, a minimal zkVM created to support post-quantum signature aggregation on Ethereum’s consensus layer. They explain why the team chose a VM architecture over fixed circuits and how LeanVM takes inspiration from Cairo with just 4 opcodes and 2 precompiles to keep the instruction set extremely small and make formal verification easier. The conversation also covers LeanVM implementation choices…
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4 Mar 2026 · 37 min
lean Ethereum Part 3: Security of PQ SNARKs and an update about the Proximity Prize
https://youtu.be/v8SGKS3T-3A In this episode, Nico Mohnblatt speaks with Giacomo Fenzi from EPFL and Antonio Sanso from the Ethereum Foundation . For this 3rd instalment of the lean Ethereum miniseries, they talk about the theory and security behind post-quantum SNARKs. They dive into the hash-based proof systems underpinning LeanVM, multilinear approaches like sumcheck, and how these fit into Ethereum's post-quantum upgrades. They cover the $1M Proximity Prize and the recent wave of papers on proximity gaps, correlated agreement, and list decoding. From negative results near the Elias bound…
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25 Feb 2026 · 35 min
lean Ethereum Part 2: PQ Signatures and Poseidon with Dmitry and Benedikt
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xh8hbz1nqxQ In this episode, Nico Mohnblatt speaks with Benedikt Wagner and Dmitry Khovratovich , cryptography researchers at the Ethereum Foundation , for the second instalment of the lean Ethereum miniseries. They explore leanSig, a hash-based multi-signature scheme designed as a post-quantum replacement for BLS in Ethereum consensus. The conversation walks through how one-time signatures and Merkle trees can be combined to support long-lived validators, and why SNARK-based aggregation is needed in a post-quantum setting. The talk touches on key tradeoffs…
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18 Feb 2026 · 9 min
lean Ethereum Miniseries Kick-off with Anna & Nico
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbskOlf7oA0 In this episode, Anna Rose and Nico Mohnblatt kick-off a new six-part video miniseries exploring lean Ethereum . Lean Ethereum is a proposal initiated by the EF that weaves zero-knowledge cryptography and post-quantum upgrades throughout Ethereum’s stack. They discuss why the topic deserves a deeper series, what listeners can expect from upcoming episodes, and how this new video-first format will differ from the podcast’s usual style. The conversation previews key themes like hash-based signatures, formal verification, proximity gaps, and the…
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11 Feb 2026 · 2 min
Bonus: zkMesh+ & Upcoming Miniseries
There’s no full-length episode this week, but we wanted to highlighting a new bonus segment available exclusively to zkMesh+ subscribers. In this, we revisit last week’s conversation with Ian Miers , Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the University of Maryland . Ian dives deeper into: The renewed cultural focus on privacy The evolving narrative around Zcash His recent research on reducing nullifier state growth without relying on traditional pruning Join zkMesh+ as a paid subscriber to get access to this and all our extra members-only perks. https://zkmesh.substack.com/subscribe We…
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4 Feb 2026 · 1 hr 2 min
Stateful ZK Identity with Ian Miers
In this episode, Anna Rose and Nico Mohnblatt welcome back Ian Miers , Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the University of Maryland , to continue the conversation from a previous episode and dig deeper into his latest work like zk-Promises, zk-Cookies, and Cryptographic Personas. These ZK tools aim to build social networks that protect user privacy while maintaining integrity, like anonymous moderation and reputation systems without central databases. Ian explains how they differ from traditional creds but share ideas around proving attributes securely. The conversation explores…
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29 Jan 2026 · 1 min
Bonus: Join zkMesh+ for some bonus podcast content!
No full length episode this week, but we have released an additional podcast clip with Sean Bowe to our a zkMesh+ paid subscribers. Sean Bowe is a Zcash core developer and lead on Tachyon. In this clip, Sean shares his thoughts on the question of quantum computers and their real impact on blockchains and ZK systems. Join zkMesh+ as a paid subscriber to get access to this and all our extra members-only perks. https://zkmesh.substack.com/subscribe
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21 Jan 2026 · 1 hr 14 min
Sean Bowe on Tachyon and the Evolution of Zcash
In this episode, Anna Rose catches up with Sean Bowe , a Zcash core developer now leading work on Tachyon , the upcoming Zcash shielded pool upgrade. They discuss the evolution of Zcash’s technical roadmap over the past five years and how it has influenced the design of Tachyon. Sean then walks through the cryptographic ideas behind Tachyon, including its proving systems, new techniques for pruning nullifiers without disrupting other parts of the protocol, and how the upgrade aims to address Zcash’s remaining scalability bottlenecks. They also explore plans for Zcash governance, wallet UX,…
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