The Founding of Zero Knowledge Systems with Austin Hill

This week, we present the third installment in the Zero Knowledge Systems story. In this episode, x.com/AnnaRRose chats with Austin Hill (x.com/austinhill), one of the original founders of Zero Knowledge Systems (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_Knowledge_Systems).

They explore the company’s early days, Austin’s background in tech, and what this scene in Montreal was like in the late ’90s. The conversation covers fundraising during the dot-com boom, Zero Knowledge Systems’s ambitious vision for internet privacy, its flagship product Freedom, and how the company pivoted from a broad individual privacy mission to a more focused B2B approach.

They cover Austin’s journey after ZKS—including how he discovered Bitcoin, co-founded Blockstream (blockstream.com), and navigated the challenges of building a business around open-source infrastructure. He also discusses a new project he's involved in, which ventures into a completely different field—material nanotechnology.

We encourage you to check out the first two episodes of the series here (zeroknowledge.fm/podcast/347) and here (zeroknowledge.fm/podcast/351) before diving into this one.

Related links:

• Part 1: Back to the Future with Zero Knowledge (zeroknowledge.fm/podcast/347)

• Part 2: Zero Knowledge Systems, Privacy and Security with Jonathan Wilkins (zeroknowledge.fm/podcast/351)

• Zero Knowledge Enemy of the State Shift Article (drive.google.com/file/d/1KRc_z8yjSERx6LafNJyYv…)

• Knowing Glances: Understanding Infrastructures of Surveillance (drive.google.com/file/d/109w8xebpXFJxVmUZ69rtL…)

Further reading:

• Zero Knowledge Systems Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_Knowledge_Systems)

• Blockstream Website (blockstream.com)

• Wired Article: Zero-Knowledge: Nothing Personal (wired.com/1999/02/zero-knowledge-nothing-perso…)

• News Burst: Zero-Knowledge open sources Freedom (zdnet.com/article/news-burst-zero-knowledge-op…)

• Zero-Knowledge Systems Introduces Security and Privacy Tool Suite (itprotoday.com/data-privacy/zero-knowledge-sys…)

• Interview: Austin Hill On Blockstream, Open Source And Privacy (bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/interview-austin-h…)

Applications for zkSummit13 are open, spots are limited for this edition so apply soon (zksummit.com) if you want to join.

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