Shipping zkPassport, Shipping Self Protocol Into Production | Marek Olszewski at Pragma Prague 2025

Thu, Oct 2, 2025, 12:00 AM

Marek Olszewski, co-founder of Celo and creator of Self Protocol, presents a deep dive into zkPassport and Self Protocol at Pragma Prague 2025. Learn how this decentralized identity solution leverages biometric passports, zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs), and blockchain to verify identity without compromising privacy. Discover how Self Protocol tackles Sybil resistance, prevents bad actors in DeFi, and distinguishes humans from AI—all while maintaining full decentralization. From NFC passport scanning to on-chain ZK attestations, this talk covers the technical architecture, challenges in production, and real-world applications for Web3 identity. 00:00 - Introduction to Self Protocol by Marek Olszewski 00:44 - Self Protocol Launch at ETH Denver Recap 01:27 - Solving Web3’s Biggest Problems: Sybil Resistance 02:03 - Preventing Bad Actors in DeFi with On-Chain Identity 02:43 - Proving You’re Human in an AI-Driven World 03:48 - Interactive Game: Guess the Country! 04:58 - Why Existing Identity Solutions Fall Short 06:00 - Centralized vs. Decentralized Identity Tradeoffs 06:36 - Why Passports Are Ideal for Decentralized Identity 07:50 - Biometric Passports & NFC Chip Security 08:32 - How Countries Authenticate Passports On-Chain 09:46 - Using ZK Proofs for Privacy-Preserving Verification 10:23 - Proving Citizenship Without Revealing Country 10:58 - Age Verification & OFAC Compliance with ZKPs 12:01 - Self Protocol’s Two-Step Onboarding Flow 12:39 - Scanning Your Passport & NFC Verification 13:14 - Generating ZK Proofs for On-Chain Registration 14:01 - How Self Protocol’s Merkle Tree Works 14:39 - Nullifiers & Commitments for Anti-Sybil 15:56 - Privacy: Hiding Data from Issuing Countries 17:17 - Demo: Proving Attributes to dApps with ZK 18:49 - Technical Deep Dive: ZKP Circuit Design 19:24 - Merkle Exclusion Proofs for OFAC Checks 20:09 - How Self Protocol Protects User Privacy 20:59 - Mobile App & Secure Secret Backup 21:40 - Offloading ZKP Generation to Trusted Hardware 22:59 - Challenges: Choosing a Proving System (R1CS vs. Groth16) 23:38 - Handling 5GB Proving Keys & Ceremony Complexity 24:47 - Why Off-the-Shelf ZK Tools Failed 25:20 - Can AI Help Write ZK Circuits? (Spoiler: Not Yet) 26:02 - Hackathon Use Cases: DeFi, Smart Wallets, Memecoins 26:34 - Closing Remarks & Self Protocol Documentation _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🇨🇿 *Pragma Prague* Pragma Prague 2025 was held on May 29th at Holešovice Market in Prague, Czech Republic and was an in-person summit for builders and leaders in the web3 ecosystem. This event was in collaboration with ETH Prague. Watch the full Pragma Prague YouTube Playlist here: ETHGlobal's Pragma series takes place in cities around the world, and is designed to be a different kind of event. Pragma is a one-stage conference with founders-only on stage, bringing together a small group of curated attendees and speakers to discuss the future of web3 and reflect on the past. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ Follow Marek Olszewski X: https://x.com/marek_ ✅ Follow Self X: https://x.com/SelfProtocol ✅ Follow Kartik Talwar X: https://x.com/TheRealKartik ✅ Follow ETHGlobal X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Warpcast: https://warpcast.com/ethglobal Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UCfF9ZO8Ug4xk_AJd4aeT5HA _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship? 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _