Partnerships category highlight: Infrastructure for ZK

Carlos Lira

Oct 20, 2024 — 2 min read

Aligned is a ZK verification layer for Ethereum that makes Zero-Knowledge (ZK) proof verification fast and cheap. We believe that verifiable computation is a necessary evolutionary step for the software that powers our world, and we are working to help Ethereum become the global open coordination network that will make this possible.

ZK is a powerful cryptographic primitive that allows one party (the prover) to prove the validity of a statement (e.g. the output of any arbitrary computation) to another party (the verifier) without revealing the underlying information or requiring the verifier to re-execute the computation. It has found adoption as a blockchain scaling solution, notably by enabling ZK-Rollups on Ethereum.

ZK technology is advancing quickly and we are proud to partner with projects that share our vision of giving developers the infrastructure needed to build the next generation of ZK-powered applications.

Gevulot

Proving (generating proofs) is computationally expensive. Our partner Gevulot is building the ZkCloud: an internet scale compute network for zero-knowledge proofs. This decentralized proving layer helps bring down the cost of proof generation. Combining efficient proving markets and zk verification layers is fundamental for reducing costs, making the ecosystem more robust, and providing the foundations for the future of zk.

Clients generating proofs using Gevulot will be able to seamlessly verify them through Aligned, creating a comprehensive proof pipeline for verifiable applications.

Ingonyama and Accseal: hardware acceleration for ZK

Once again: proving is computationally expensive. We are excited to be working with Ingonyama and Accseal, two projects which are solving this problem through innovative approaches to hardware acceleration for proving. Ingonyama is focused on GPU acceleration through their ICICLE library for ZK. Meanwhile, Accseal has designed and produced the first generation of ASIC chips purpose-built for ZK. Both projects are making proving faster, and Aligned is ensuring that these proofs can be easily and cheaply verified.

Sindri

Finally, we are partnering with Sindri, which is focused on bringing the developer experience of traditional apps to the world of ZK.

Sindri’s serverless cloud infrastructure makes it easy for developers to deploy ZK proving resources, helping them bring their apps to users faster. We’re working with them to ensure that the proofs their users generate can be verified on Ethereum at the lowest cost and highest speed possible.

Together, Aligned and our partners are creating a performant and user-friendly ZK technical stack that will help bring ZK apps and services to the market.

We’re eager to partner with more projects that share this vision of a faster, better, cheaper, and more user-friendly ZK infra stack. Reach out to us if you want to explore how we can empower ZK developers together.

A Series On Hash Functions

The development and use of integrity/zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs has accelerated over the past few years. The introduction of general purpose ZK virtual machines, which allow us to write and prove Rust code, has made developing verifiable applications easier and faster. We have blockchains like Mina that prove every block

Aligned Monthly Recap - October '24

Another big month of updates for Aligned! Check out this thread for a recap of our highlights: ✅ Aligned Builders Hackathon ✅ Events (Istanbul Hacker Alignment and Aligned Istanbul Hackerhouse) ✅ New Partnerships ✅ X Spaces, Community calls, and Technical Sessions ✅ Let’s start with our Aligned Builders Hackathon! 🚀 🔹 This hackathon was announced at

Reflections on the first Aligned Builders Hackathon

What an incredible journey it’s been! The first Aligned Builders Hackathon has officially come to a close, and we’re beyond impressed by the talent and commitment from all our participants. From experienced developers to first-timers diving into ZK proofs and Rust, every team brought something unique to the

ZK-News - 28th October-3rd November '24

✨ ZK-Newsflash! ✨ Here are the highlights of what happened in the ZK space last week, 28th October - 3rd November. The Aligned Partnerships Recap is out! 🚀 Alignoors, we're thrilled to share our Partnerships recap. 30 projects are fully aligned. The journey is incredibly exciting. It's a privilege