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New hash functions for Ethereum, SNARKs, and STARKs

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New hash functions for Ethereum, SNARKs, and STARKs

Duration: 00:27:28

Speaker: Dmitry Khovratovich

Type: Talk

Expertise: Intermediate

Event: Devcon 4

Date: Oct 2018

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.

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About the speakers

DK

Dmitry Khovratovich

Principal Cryptographer

PhD, security researcher at the University of Luxembourg (2006-2010,2012-2018), Microsoft Research (2010-2012), Evernym Inc. (2016-present).Designer of Equihash and Argon2.Author of the first attack on the full AES. Broke 10+ other designs.Dmitry is an award winner of: LuxBlockHackathon 2017; Password Hashing Competition (2014-2015); Best Paper Award Asiacrypt 2010; Best PhD Thesis (2012); Best Scientific Publication in Luxembourg (2011).Security advisor and smart contract consultant for over 50 projects

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