{"id":47307,"date":"2023-08-11T14:31:57","date_gmt":"2023-08-11T18:31:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/markets\/crypto\/venture-firm-a16z-dives-into-zk-technology-research-with-jolt-and-lasso-projects\/"},"modified":"2023-08-11T14:31:58","modified_gmt":"2023-08-11T18:31:58","slug":"venture-firm-a16z-dives-into-zk-technology-research-with-jolt-and-lasso-projects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/?p=47307","title":{"rendered":"Venture Firm a16z Dives into ZK Technology Research with ‘Jolt’ and ‘Lasso’ Projects"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Prominent VC firm\u00a0Andreessen Horowitz (a16z)<\/strong>\u00a0has unveiled two open-source software projects focused on\u00a0zero-knowledge (ZK)<\/strong>\u00a0proofs.<\/p>\n

These projects aim to accelerate the core technology behind ZK proofs, a promising type of cryptography that can help scale blockchains by increasing transaction throughput, reducing costs, and enhancing privacy, the firm\u00a0said in a recent announcement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The first project is\u00a0Lasso<\/strong>, which introduces an innovative technique to expedite ZK systems.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The whitepaper for Lasso was co-authored by Justin Thaler, an a16z member, along with Srinath Setty\u2014a Microsoft researcher\u2014and Riad Wahby, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon University.\u00a0<\/p>\n

a16z has already released the code for Lasso under an open-source license, enabling external developers to utilize it in their own projects.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The other project is\u00a0Jolt<\/strong>, which proposes a particular type of zero-knowledge virtual machine (zkVM) that incorporates Lasso’s innovations.<\/p>\n

Currently, Jolt exists as a research paper, but a16z plans to release a coded version in due time, also under an open-source license.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Given that many of a16z’s portfolio companies rely on ZK technology, the firm hopes its contributions will enhance these companies’ chances of success and subsequently improve its own financial position.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Moreover, open-source contributions can bolster a16z’s standing within the developer community, differentiating the firm when competing for lucrative deals.<\/p>\n

While ZK proofs possess applications beyond blockchain, they have garnered considerable attention due to their efficacy in blockchain scaling.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Thaler explained that ZK proofs “scale blockchains by kind of doing the hard work off-chain, and only having the blockchain verify the proofs.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

This approach ensures that the work was completed correctly without overwhelming all the nodes in the blockchain network.<\/p>\n

Lasso and Jolt to Speed Up Scaling in Web3<\/h2>\n

Presented as an enhancement to the fundamental components of ZK-SNARKs, Lasso is classified as a ZK “lookup argument” by a16z.\u00a0<\/p>\n

ZK-SNARKs are a crucial building block underlying numerous ZK-based crypto projects.\u00a0<\/p>\n

a16z claimed that Lasso \u201cprovides roughly a 10x speedup over the lookup argument in the popular, well-engineered halo2 toolchain; we expect improvements of around 40x when optimizations are complete.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to Lasso, a16z is releasing the open-source code for Jolt, its new approach to building zero-knowledge virtual machines (zkVMs).\u00a0<\/p>\n

zkEVM is a relatively new type of zk-Rollup that is EVM-compatible.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One type of zkVM, known as zkEVMs, has emerged as the driving force behind the latest class of Ethereum “layer 2” scaling chains.\u00a0<\/p>\n

zkEVMs allow for enhanced Ethereum process functionality (smart contracts and dApps) while also lowering gas costs and increasing Ethereum network throughput.<\/p>\n

“Relative to existing SNARK VMs, we expect Jolt to achieve similar or better performance \u2013 and importantly, a more streamlined and accessible developer experience,” the firm said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Read the full article here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Prominent VC firm\u00a0Andreessen Horowitz (a16z)\u00a0has unveiled two open-source software projects focused on\u00a0zero-knowledge (ZK)\u00a0proofs. These projects aim to accelerate the core technology behind ZK proofs, a promising type of cryptography that can help scale blockchains by increasing transaction throughput, reducing costs, and enhancing privacy, the firm\u00a0said in a recent announcement.\u00a0 The first project is\u00a0Lasso, which introduces […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47308,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[243],"tags":[83],"class_list":["post-47307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crypto","tag-featured"],"yoast_head":"\nVenture Firm a16z Dives into ZK Technology Research with 'Jolt' and 'Lasso' Projects | iFintechWorld<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Prominent VC firm\u00a0Andreessen Horowitz (a16z)\u00a0has unveiled two open-source software projects focused on\u00a0zero-knowledge (ZK)\u00a0proofs.These 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