Pushing the Limits of Proof Systems with Benedikt Bünz

In this episode, x.com/AnnaRRose and Kobi (x.com/kobigurk) speak with Benedikt Bünz (x.com/benediktbuenz), Chief Scientist at Espresso Systems (espressosys.com) 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 such as Blake3 and SHA-256 that exceeds Ethereum's post-quantum proving targets without relying on specialized hash functions. They conclude by discussing proof system performance, post-quantum cryptography, and the use of AI-assisted development in cryptographic engineering.

Related Links
• Bulletproofs — Short Proofs for Confidential Transactions and More (eprint.iacr.org/2017/1066.pdf)
• Protostar — Generic Efficient Accumulation/Folding for Special-Sound Protocols (eprint.iacr.org/2023/620.pdf)
• HyperPlonk — Plonk with Linear-Time Prover and High-Degree Custom Gates (eprint.iacr.org/2022/1355.pdf)
• Nova — Recursive Zero-Knowledge Arguments from Folding Schemes (eprint.iacr.org/2021/370.pdf)
• Arc — Accumulation for Reed–Solomon Codes (eprint.iacr.org/2024/1731.pdf)
• Linear-Time Accumulation Schemes (eprint.iacr.org/2025/753.pdf)
• Golden: Lightweight Non-Interactive Distributed Key Generation (eprint.iacr.org/2025/1924.pdf)
• Flock: Fast Proving for Batch Boolean Computations (github.com/succinctlabs/flock/blob/main/paper/…)
• TensorSwitch — Nearly Optimal Polynomial Commitments from Tensor Codes (eprint.iacr.org/2025/2065.pdf)
• Bolt: Faster SNARKs from Sketched Codes (eprint.iacr.org/2026/310.pdf)
• Ligero — Lightweight Sublinear Arguments Without Trusted Setup (acmccs.github.io/papers/p2087-amesA.pdf)

Systems and Infrastructure
• Espresso Systems Documentation (docs.espressosys.com)
• CAPE (Configurable Asset Privacy for Ethereum) (espressosys.com/blog/cape-configurable-asset-p…)
• Monero (getmonero.org)

Additional Reading
• Vitalik Buterin — The Splurge: Post-Quantum Ethereum (vitalik.eth.limo/general/2024/10/17/futures2.h…)
• Accumulation without Homomorphism (eprint.iacr.org/2024/474.pdf)
• Neo and SuperNeo: Post-Quantum Folding with Pay-Per-Bit Commitments (eprint.iacr.org/2026/242.pdf)
• Espresso’s HotShot: A Consensus Protocol Designed for Rollups (medium.com/@espressosys/espresso-hotshot-conse…)

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Read transcript (github.com/ZeroKnowledgefm/episode-transcripts…)