The Quantum Question Panel – Live from zkSummit14

This episode was recorded live at zkSummit14 (zksummit.com) in Rome. In it, x.com/AnnaRRose and Nico Mohnblatt (x.com/nico_mnbl) hosted the live ‘Quantum Question’ panel which began as an interview, but became something harder to categorize: part seminar, part group therapy, part improv theater, and — depending on the timeline you expect for viable quantum computers — part emergency briefing.

The logistics of the panel were really unusual. The guests were meant to be Justin Drake (x.com/drakefjustin) and Dan Boneh (crypto.stanford.edu/~dabo), but Dan’s flight was delayed. And so the panel began with just Justin Drake and the hosts — what someone in the room jokingly described as the highest moderator-to-panelist ratio in zkSummit history. To compensate, the format broke open: researchers from the audience, including Daira-Emma Hopwood from the Zcash team and Jens Groth (author of Groth16), joined the conversation. A park bench materialized in real time.

The conversation veered into the history of quantum computing research, why Shor’s algorithm threatens today’s public-key cryptography and pairing-based SNARKs, fault-tolerant ‘logical qubits’, physical qubit fidelities, and why neutral-atom machines—despite slower cycle times—may be the most practical path to ‘Q-Day.’ The group also debates the rush-to-post-quantum pitfalls, the benefits of lattice-based post-quantum schemes versus hash-based ones, and how hybrid transitions are unfolding in practice. This was a truly chaotic, spontaneous, informative and fun session at zk14 with some great contributors from attendees and community members, we hope you enjoy it!

Related Links
• ZK14 - The Quantum Question Panel Video (youtube.com/watch?v=idzQUzgz-j8)
• Episode 391 - (zeroknowledge.fm/podcast/391)lean Ethereum Part 1: Introduction with Justin Drake (zeroknowledge.fm/podcast/391)
• Episode 400 - Quantum Advances, Hybrid Signatures and SNARKs to the Rescue with Dan Boneh (zeroknowledge.fm/podcast/400)
• Quantum Algorithm Zoo (quantumalgorithmzoo.org)
• POSEIDON: A New Hash Function for Zero-Knowledge Proof Systems (eprint.iacr.org/2019/458.pdf)
• Poseidon2: A Faster Version of the Poseidon Hash Function (eprint.iacr.org/2023/323.pdf)
• Securing Elliptic Curve Cryptocurrencies against Quantum Vulnerabilities: Resource Estimates and Mitigations (arxiv.org/abs/2603.28846)
• Oratomic (Neutral Atoms Startup) (oratomic.com)
• Neo and SuperNeo: Post-quantum folding with pay-per-bit costs over small fields (eprint.iacr.org/2026/242)
• lean Ethereum (blog.ethereum.org/2025/07/31/lean-ethereum)

Check out all the talks from zkSummit14 in Rome on ourYouTube channel here. (youtube.com/@zeroknowledgefm/videos)

**If you like what we do:**

* Find all our links here! @ZeroKnowledge | Linktree (linktr.ee/zeroknowledge)
* Subscribe to our podcast newsletter (zeroknowledge.substack.com)
* Follow us on Twitter @zeroknowledgefm (twitter.com/zeroknowledgefm)
* Join us on Telegram (t.me/+taXrPJIp_30zZTNi)
* Catch us on YouTube (youtube.com/channel/UCYWsYz5cKw4wZ9Mpe4kuM_g)

**Support the show:**

* Patreon (patreon.com/zeroknowledge)
* ETH - Donation address (etherscan.io/address/0xE2C080047213C1d8cDf2099…)
* BTC - Donation address (blockchain.com/explorer/addresses/btc/bc1q9mrh…)
* SOL - Donation address (explorer.solana.com/address/Eqfm4maSDUN3ikjDfS…)
* ZEC - Donation address (mainnet.zcashexplorer.app/address/t1gmdc8jKj4E…)

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