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.
