Privacy by design in a world with universal SNARKs
Duration: 00:24:47
Speaker: Zachary Williamson
Type: Breakout
Expertise: Beginner
Event: Devcon
Date: Jun 2026
ZK-SNARKs are an innovative method of verifying that a computation has been performed correctly. They form the backbone of many proposed scaling and privacy solutions for Ethereum. PLONK is a new ZK-SNARK construction, developed by AZTEC and Protocol Labs, that is 'universal'; only one 'trusted setup' is required, and different ZK-SNARK programs do not require additional trusted setups to be performed. This construction is the first universal ZK-SNARK construction that is practical enough for use in smart-contracts. In this talk, we will provide an overview of how ZK-SNARKs can be used to solve Ethereum's scaling and privacy challenges, and how PLONK opens up a world of zero-knowledge dapps.