Mastering SNARKs: Advanced Insights with Justin Thaler | a16z Crypto Research

An even deeper dive into SNARKs (Succinct Non-interactive Argument of Knowledge) by Justin Thaler (Georgetown University). Justin recaps his earlier talks, and provides a detailed example of a polynomial IOP and of a polynomial commitment. These examples provide an idea of how SNARKs work in general and how these particular protocols combine to give a SNARK with novel efficiency.

About the speaker
Justin is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Georgetown University and will join a16z crypto as a Research Partner in January. His research interests include verifiable computing, complexity theory, and algorithms for massive data sets. In 2011, he produced the first implementation of a general-purpose interactive proof system. He is the author of a comprehensive survey on SNARKs, and a co-creator of Apache DataSketches, an open-source library of production-quality streaming algorithms. More: https://people.cs.georgetown.edu/jthaler/

About a16z crypto research
a16z crypto research is a multidisciplinary lab that works closely with our portfolio companies and others toward solving the important problems in the space, and toward advancing the science and technology of the next generation of the internet.

Our researchers are technologists, scientists, cryptographers, and cryptocurrency experts, working to bridge the worlds of academic theory with industry practice, and to help shape crypto and web3 as a formal area of study. More about us: a16z.com/2022/04/21/announcing-a16z-crypto-research

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