Issue #80
Paper of the Week:
Paper Title: A Direct Construction for Asymptotically Optimal zkSNARKs.
TLDR:
The first direct construction of a zero-knowledge argument system for general computation that features a linear-time prover and a constant-time verifier (after a single linear-time public setup) in terms of the number of field and group operations.
The scheme utilizes a universal linear-size structured reference string (SRS) that allows a single trusted setup to be used across all computation instances of a bounded size.
For computations of size n, the prover’s cost is dominated by 35 multi-exponentiations of size n and our verifier’s cost is dominated by 34 pairings.
To achieve the stated asymptotics, a nearly-optimal zkSNARK is constructed with a logarithmic verifier in the random oracle model.
Next, this work shows how to achieve a constant-time verifier using proof composition.
Along the way this work designs (1) a new polynomial commitment scheme for evaluation-based representations of polynomials, (2) an asymptotically optimal inner-product argument system, (3) an asymptotically optimal multi-Hadamard-product argument system, and (4) a new constraint system for NP that is particularly well-suited for our bundle of techniques.
Authors: Abhiram Kothapalli*, Elisaweta Masserova*, and Bryan Parno*,
Affiliations: * Carnegie Mellon University.
Security:
1. Paper Title: Transaction Characteristics of Bitcoin.
Summary: This paper presents a comprehensive study on the transaction characteristics of Bitcoin.
Authors: Befekadu G. Gebraselase*, Bjarne E. Helvik*, and Yuming Jiang*,
Affiliations: * Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
Privacy:
No papers.
Scalability:
1. Paper Title: Payment Trees: Low Collateral Payments for Payment Channel Networks.
Summary: A protocol for scalable payments within a PCN with logarithmic individual collateral and linear total collateral.
Authors: Maxim Jourenko†, Mario Larangeira*†, and Keisuke Tanaka*
Affiliations: * Tokyo Institute of Technology and † Input Output Hong Kong.
Proofs:
1. Paper Title: On Succinct Arguments and Witness Encryption from Groups.
Summary: New techniques for constructing designated-verifier SNARGs and laconic arguments for NP where the proof consists of just two elements or even just one element in a standard (rather than bilinear) generic group, at the cost of settling for non-negligible soundness or completeness error.
Authors: Ohad Barta*, Yuval Ishai*, Rafail Ostrovsky†, David J. Wu‡,
Affiliations: * Technion, † UCLA, and ‡ University of Virginia.
Consensus:
No papers.
Tokenomics:
1. Paper Title: Bitcoin Trading is Irrational! An Analysis of the Disposition Effect in Bitcoin.
Summary: This work empirically validates the prevalence of the disposition effect in Bitcoin.
Authors: Jürgen E. Schatzmann*‡ and Bernhard Haslhofer†,
Affiliations: * University of Salzburg, † Austrian Institute of Technology, and ‡ University of the Sunshine Coast.
2. Paper Title: Towards Understanding Flash Loan and Its Applications in DeFi Ecosystem.
Summary: This paper takes the first step to systematically measure the financial application behind Flash Loan mechanism on the Ethereum.
Authors: Dabao Wang*, Siwei Wu*, Ziling Lin*, Lei Wu*, Xingliang Yuan†, Yajin Zhou*, Haoyu Wang‡, Kui Ren*,
Affiliations: * Zhejiang University, † Monash University, and ‡ Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications.
3. Paper Title: On the profitability of selfish blockchain mining under consideration of ruin.
Summary: This paper aims at quantifying the profitability of mining when the possible event of ruin is also considered.
Authors: Hansjörg Albrecher* and Pierre-O. Goffard†,
Affiliations: * University of Lausanne and † Université Lyon.
4. Paper Title: Sovereign Digital Currencies: The Future of Money and Payments?
Summary: This paper focusses on how technology might reshape money and payments going forward. It considers the policy issues and choices associated with cryptocurrencies, stablecoins and sovereign digital currencies and emphasises there is no single model for sovereign digital currency design.
Authors: Dirk A. Zetzsche*, Ross P. Buckley†, Douglas W. Arner‡, Anton N. Didenko†, and Lucien J. van Romburg‡,
Affiliations: * Universite du Luxembourg, † University of New South Wales, ‡ The University of Hong Kong.
Conferences, Journals, & CFPs:
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