zkSummit12
ZK12 is happening on October 8th 2024 in Lisbon. Join us to meet with top thinkers and builders to discuss the latest in zero knowledge research, zk use-cases, cryptographic primitives, privacy and maths.
This one-day event will consist of a mixture of topic oriented talks & workshops. Apply now!
The event is brought to you by Zero Knowledge Podcast, a show hosted by Anna Rose which explores zero knowledge systems and the decentralized technology powering Web3 and the community building it.
See all videos of previous summits on our Youtube Channel. More information, check the zkSummit website and follow @zeroknowledgefm on Twitter.
ZK Hack Mini Finale + ZK Jobs Fair
Spring’s here. And as ZK Hack Mini host Kobi Gurkan announced at the start of the event, there was something in the air. New ZK tech to learn, people to meet, puzzles to solve and prizes to win!
ZK Hack Mini - Workshops, Puzzles & Prizes
More than 200 strong came together from all corners of the ZK community to learn how to verify STARKs with Winterfell in week 1 of the inaugural ZK Hack Mini event. As the final STARK proved true, we quickly advanced to building post-quantum VDF’s with STARK-based Miden-VM under the guidance of Bobbin Threadbare. Watch Winterfell here and Miden here.
After a week’s toil on puzzle 1 behind us, William Borgeaud and Brendan Farmer shared the innermost workings of Plonky2, which we now know is made of one part PLONK, one part FRI and a whole lotta’ magic! Jordi Baylina rounded things off for us with a simple offering - the red PIL - which proved to be an unsettling and life-changing truth indeed! The Polynomial Identity Language rabbit hole goes deep my friends, deeeeeep! Watch Plonky2 here and PIL here.
“It took me all week, but I finally solved it! Great puzzle. I learned a ton” said one participant after submitting the first puzzle late into the first round. “Submitted! It was really fun, I got stuck trying to interpolate for like a day…” exclaimed another, after managing to submit their working solution and write-up after a few days of hard work, clearly relieved to have found the key which unlocks the mystery laid out before them. “Until now, this puzzle is the hardest. Thanks a lot for those tips @kobigurk.” Yes, thanks Kobi, really. Your patience, support and underwater spirits inspired us all!
What’s Next - More Prizes, Afterparty & ZK Jobs Fair
TODAY! Tuesday March 15th we will host the final session of the series. We will crown the winners of Puzzle 2 and overall, followed by a Panel Discussion where we’ll hear the latest news and updates from some top names in the ZK community.
Don’t forget to register! 👉 ZK Hack Mini - Panel Discussion & Afterparty Job Fair 👈
Then, we’ll meet up for an Afterparty with ZK Jobs Fair in Gather (sign-up)! 🎉🥳🎊 Join us! ZK +1’s are welcome! We'll have areas dedicated to the puzzles, a poker table, and featured teams looking to hire including Polygon, Anoma, Penumbra, O(1)Labs, Twilight and Least Authority - teams that are all working on the cutting edge of #zkTech. Check out all the jobs on the ZK Jobs Board.
As well as ZK Hack teams - there to mingle with the ZK community: Aleo, Horizen, Geometry & Trapdoor Tech.
Panelist lineup - State of ZK
- Anna Rose - ZKValidator and ZK Podcast (@annarrose)
- Tarun Chitra - Gauntlet (@tarunchitra)
- Pratyush Mishra - UC Berkeley/Aleo (@zkproofs)
- Kobi Gurkan - ZK Hack (@kobigurk)
Don’t forget to register! 👉 ZK Hack Mini - Panel Discussion & Afterparty Job Fair 👈
A big thanks to all the guest speakers, sponsors and everyone who participated and worked on the most challenging ZK Hack puzzles yet!
See you next time!

ZK Hack Mini is a 2-week virtual event featuring workshops and advanced puzzle solving competitions. Participants learn about key ZK concepts and tools, and compete to find bugs in protocols in our puzzle competition for glory and loot.
If you’d like to share or revisit Puzzle 1, Puzzle 2, the workshops, any previous event puzzles, get access to github repos, additional learning resources, the official puzzle solutions, or ask for help, just follow the links provided or ask us in the official ZK Hack discord.
This event was organized by ZK Validator, which supports privacy and zero-knowledge tech and research across multiple blockchain networks, and Zero Knowledge Podcast, which explores zero knowledge systems and the decentralised technology that will power the emerging Web3 and the community building it.

Build the next big thing at the ZK Hackathon!
This coming fall, Zero Knowledge Podcast and the Zero Knowledge Validator will be holding the first ever Zero Knowledge Hackathon — and hopefully we can do this in person!
We want to get a sense for attendance interest and how to structure this event, so please fill out this short 6 question survey, provide us with your feedback and we will keep you updated with the progress ZK Hackathon.
Aim of the ZK Hackathon
Up until now, the focus of zero knowledge implementation has been primarily on private transactions and scaling solutions (like zkRollups) — both awesome and powerful uses of ZKPs but we believe there are actually many more use cases that have yet to be imagined and implemented! This is what we aim to explore with the ZK Hackathon. We want to bring together the best and brightest from the zk community to start working on new projects, ideas and use cases for ZKPs!
Survey once again is here https://zkvalidator.typeform.com/to/syKUVS4I — be sure to fill this out to be reminded about dates and locations! Hope to see you there!
Annoying but necessary caveat: given unpredictable changes in travel rules, in the case that we are unable to host the event, we will be ready to look for alternative formats to make it happen. We do fully understand that Fall 2021 may be too early for some people to start travelling overseas, so we already have the plan to hold a second ZK Hackathon in the US or Canada later in 2022.
If you would be interested in sponsoring the ZK Hackathon, please email events@zkvalidator.com
zkSummit1 - ZK0x01
ZK0x01 was the first ever IRL zkSummit event hosted in Berlin in March 2018.
Top thinkers and builders met to discuss the latest in zero knowledge research, zk use-cases, cryptographic primitives, privacy and maths.
Check out the zkSummit playlist for event talks!
See all videos of previous summits on our Youtube Channel. More information, check the zkSummit website and follow @zeroknowledgefm on Twitter.