ZPrize · Part 1 of 2

zkSecurity partners with ZPrize to make you win hundreds of thousands of dollars!

ZK/SEC August 27, 2023 1 min announcement · zk

zprize

There's one big competition in ZK, and it is called ZPrize. Every year, ZPrize rewards contestants who come up with the most performant implementations for a series of challenges. The goal is to push the limits of what's possible with ZK, and to make sure that the best implementations are open-source and available to everyone.

This year, zkSecurity is proud to announce it'll play the role of one of the three external architects for the competition, hosting the High Throughput Signature Verification ZPrize category.

For this prize, participants will attempt to produce the most performant implementation of a signature verification circuit using Varuna, the latest update of Aleo's proof system. The goal is to be able to verify as many proofs of signatures as possible in a given time frame. Contestants will target ECDSA on the secp256k1 curve (the Bitcoin and Ethereum curve) and keccak256 hash function (the Ethereum hash function). In addition, they will have access to the latest version of the Varuna proof system, which includes lookups.

Verifying ECDSA signatures will involve the two hot problems of arithmetic circuits: non-native arithmetic (arithmetic in fields that are different from the circuit field) and bitwise operations (e.g. XOR, ROT, etc.). Optimizing these low-level primitives should impact all sorts of applications (and non-SNARK-friendly cryptographic algorithms).

We're currently looking to obtain feedback on the current prize specification which you can find on the discord channel (you might have to register here before). We're excited to see people compete and push the limits of what's possible with ZK!

Keep reading

Latest

Zero Knowledge Episode 414: zkGolf, AI, Clean and Optimising ZK Circuits

Mathias and Giorgio join Anna Rose and fellow zkSecurity teammates Nico and Kobi on the Zero Knowledge podcast to talk about Clean, zkGolf, and what happens when AI agents compete to build better circuits with proofs of correctness.

ZK/SEC · October 21, 2026

Checking the Checkers and Auditing the Ironwood FV

Cryptographic software is error-prone and failures are catastrophic, therefore formal verification is a powerful and increasingly practical tool for greatly improving the assurances of our cryptographic software. But who verifies the formal verification? Formal verification itself is software too, what is proved, under which assumptions and its relation to the real-world implementation lie beyond the scope of the machine-checked proof. In this post, we want to give some insights into our three-week audit of the Ironwood formalization and some of the common pitfalls that formal verification more broadly can encounter.

Mathias Hall-Andersen · October 05, 2026

Archetype x zkSecurity - Proof is in the Pudding: zkML

In Session 11 of "Proof is in the Pudding," we look at what it takes to prove model inference. We cover transformer computation, sumcheck, GKR, lookup arguments, quantization, and KV caching, then discuss scaling and possible uses for verifiable ML.

ZK/SEC · September 30, 2026

Recommended

A Year of ZK Security

A year after launching, we've grown and evolved alongside the world of zero-knowledge proofs, uncovering bugs and learning the ins and outs of ZK technology. From circuit audits to developing our own tools like Circomscribe, it’s been a wild ride. We've discovered how easy it is to misstep with ZK code, especially as these systems grow complex and impact financial security. As zkVMs gain popularity, we're excited about the challenges ahead and are expanding our expertise. Want to dive into the world of ZK with us? Check out our latest projects and even take on our zkBank challenge!

David Wong · May 30, 2024

Uncovering and Fixing an Inflation Bug in Aleo

In November 2024, we found a significant inflation bug in the Aleo mainnet that could have allowed token minting without proper checks. We immediately informed the Aleo team, who swiftly addressed the issue with no detected exploitation. This post dives into the inner workings of Aleo and explains how transitions and records operate, providing insight into how the vulnerability was discovered and resolved. It's an intriguing look at blockchain security, zero-knowledge proofs, and the importance of thorough type checks to ensure robust protocol integrity.

Suneal Gong · February 19, 2025

Public report of Aleo's consensus (Bullshark)

We recently audited Aleo's blockchain consensus and found it to be impressively well-documented and high-quality. Our collaboration with Aleo's cooperative team helped us uncover several key issues, and the insights from this audit were well-received. In the blog, we dive into Aleo's Bullshark consensus protocol, explaining its step-by-step process and unique pipelining techniques. We also explore how leaders ensure commitments in even rounds and discuss essential aspects like quorum intersection and garbage collection. Whether you're a blockchain enthusiast or just curious about cutting-edge consensus protocols, this post has got some fascinating details to offer!

ZK/SEC · January 02, 2024

More to explore

The First ZK Exploits Happened, and They Weren't What We Expected

The first two known exploits against live ZK circuits happened in the past week. Both stem from the same root cause. They were not subtle underconstrained bugs, but rather Groth16 verifiers (generated by snarkjs) with an incorrect setup (just missing the last step). One was exploited by white-hat hackers for ~$1.5M, the other was drained for 5 ETH.

Stefanos Chaliasos, Hao Pham · February 27, 2026

Public report of Sui's zkLogin audit

We just finished an audit of the Sui Foundation's zkLogin application and we're sharing what we found: the code is well-documented, tested, and specified. The zkLogin is set to make user authentication on the blockchain secure but simple, replacing cryptographic keys with familiar SSO methods like Google or Facebook while preserving user privacy. We also dive into the technical details behind JWT verification, non-native arithmetic for RSA, and vector programming. Plus, learn about the trusted setup process for zkLogin, ensuring maximum security through a decentralized multi-party ceremony. If you're curious about the intricate mechanics behind zkLogin, this is a must-read.

ZK/SEC · November 07, 2023

Playing with LaBRADOR: Building Compact Lattice-based Proofs with Recursion

In this post, we explore LaBRADOR, a transparent, lattice-based proof system that achieves sublinear proof sizes through recursion. Built on the Module-SIS assumption, LaBRADOR lets a prover efficiently demonstrate knowledge of short vectors satisfying dot product constraints, general enough to express R1CS. The protocol’s key ideas include amortized openings, outer commitments, and a strategy to shrink the witness after each round of recursion. Together, these techniques make LaBRADOR a powerful, scalable framework for post-quantum zero-knowledge proofs.

Georgios Raikos · November 13, 2025