New hash functions for Ethereum, SNARKs, and STARKs by Dmitry Khovratovich (Devcon4)

Wed, Oct 2, 2019, 12:00 AM

Visit the https://archive.devcon.org/ to gain access to the entire library of Devcon talks with the ease of filtering, playlists, personalized suggestions, decentralized access on IPFS and more. https://archive.devcon.org/archive/watch/4/new-hash-functions-for-ethereum-snarks-and-starks Traditional cryptographic hash functions such as SHA-256 are well known in the Ethereum community and are well regarded for security and performance. However, they are not quite suited for SNARKs and STARKs as their circuits are too complex and slow in SNARK/STARK-friendly fields. That's why Zcash proofs originally took more than 40 seconds to create. In this talk we present and call for new designs that will make all the SNARK/STARK crypto much faster and thus bring better privacyto Ethereum. In particular, we cover: -Existing algebraic hash functions such as MIMC.  -Merkle tree enhancements: wide functions and trees with feedback;  -improved algebraic function design using ideas from AES and SASAS schemes.  -performance overview;  -how new designs will affect EVM and smart contract programming. We will also present other directions and potential research bounties that can be offered to motivate the hash research, crucial for SNARKs, STARKs, and Ethereum. Speaker(s): Dmitry Khovratovich Skill level: Intermediate Track: Privacy Keywords: zcash, hash functions, merkle Follow us: https://twitter.com/efdevcon, https://twitter.com/ethereum Learn more about devcon: https://www.devcon.org/ Learn more about ethereum: https://ethereum.org/ Devcon is the Ethereum conference for developers, researchers, thinkers, and makers. Devcon 4 was held in Prague, Czech Republic on Oct 30 - Nov 2, 2018. Devcon is organized and presented by the Ethereum Foundation, with the support of our sponsors. To find out more, please visit https://ethereum.foundation/