Stanford Blockchain Week: Summary of ZK, Modularity, and Bitcoin Ecosystem Development Trends
The ZKP ecosystem is gradually becoming specialized, with different companies focusing on specific parts of the ZK process.Author: Paul Veradittakit
Compiled by: Deep Tide TechFlow
From August 26 to September 1, Stanford Blockchain Week takes place, a week-long series of conferences, summits, and events. In addition to the main academic conference, there are many other summits this year, including the Blockchain Application Stanford Summit (BASS) hosted by the Stanford Blockchain Club, the Starknet Summit in San Francisco, and academic workshops focusing on consensus, MEV, and DAOs, along with countless other ancillary events. In this article, we will explore three key trends from this week and what they mean for the development of the entire industry.
Trend 1: Optimization of Zero-Knowledge Proofs in Theory and Practice
Unsurprisingly, a significant portion of the conference focused on Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs). The optimization of existing ZKP solutions is a core theme of SBC itself, with one panel discussing breakthroughs in efficient folding schemes such as HyperNova and Protostar. In addition to these, other academic talks focused on applying zkSNARKs to more efficient batch Merkle proofs and formal verification of ZK circuits.
Moreover, the interest in advancing ZKP research is not limited to Stanford's academic community. During this week, several startups from the Stanford Blockchain Accelerator showcased new applications of zero-knowledge proofs across various fields. For example, Nexus Labs and Modulus Labs utilized ZKPs in verifiable computation, Ironmill and Succinct proposed use cases in new development tools and infrastructure, while Nocturne and Hinkal demonstrated applications for private transactions.
The ZKP ecosystem is gradually specializing, with different companies focusing on specific parts of the ZK process, whether connecting applications to provers, providing ZK proofs for specific verticals (such as Modulus's AI), or offering other enhanced integration tools. This specialization may indicate that the industry is evolving into a more modular and complex process, highlighting the increasing maturity of ZKP as a technology. Of course, all of this is occurring alongside steady academic breakthroughs (such as new folding schemes proposed at SBC), opening up new use cases for the technology and creating a symbiotic relationship between ZKP theory and practice.
Trend 2: Achieving "Plug-and-Play" Composability through Increased Modularity
In recent months, modularity has become a hot topic and growth trend, with different companies focusing on specific tasks within the blockchain technology stack (such as ordering, execution, data availability, etc.), rather than having a single large blockchain responsible for everything. However, modularity itself is not necessarily the end goal; rather, the aim is to create a more composable technology stack, a "plug-and-play" design space that allows developers to experiment and fine-tune the blockchain stack for any set of needs.
This "plug-and-play" spirit was embodied in Professor Ed Felton's talk about Arbitrum's Stylus at BASS, a project aimed at unifying the execution environment for EVM and WASM code, allowing smart contracts and WASM code to interact smoothly with each other. This enables the creation of WASM "libraries" from which EVM contracts can call functions, leading to a more composable development experience. Other interesting developments that enhance composability through modularity include Chainlink's CCIP, which aims to create industry-defined interoperability standards, and Celestia's talk discussing the history and future of modular blockchains.
It is noteworthy that many of the projects driving this trend at Stanford are larger and more mature companies (such as Arbitrum, Chainlink, Celestia, Starkware) that are already industry leaders. While there are also smaller companies like Stanford startup Caldera working on this trend, composability seems to be more of a focus for projects seeking to establish or solidify a leading edge in the ecosystem, attempting to attract developers to use their technology stack. This is a positive move for the entire blockchain industry, as increasing the emphasis on composability through a "plug-and-play" approach lowers the entry barrier for new developers while also allowing for more customizable technology stacks to be applicable to a wider range of use cases.
Trend 3: Renewed Focus on the Bitcoin Developer Ecosystem
The third interesting trend during Stanford Blockchain Week is a renewed focus on the development and future of the world's oldest blockchain. On Saturday afternoon during BASS, there was a dedicated emphasis on the Bitcoin ecosystem, both from a developer and technical perspective, as well as a cultural one. In addition to Stanford Professor David Tse's talk on the Babylon Bitcoin staking protocol, there were several panel discussions featuring speakers from Ordinals, Taproot Wizards, Bitcoin Startup Labs, Bitcoin Magazine, and others, discussing the innovative future of the Bitcoin ecosystem, especially in the wake of Ordinals.
Perhaps one of the most interesting and unique perspectives was presented by Erin Redwing, COO of Ordinals, who defended Bitcoin Ordinals art (such as Raresats), arguing that if Bitcoin is "digital gold," then the artworks inscribed via Ordinals are akin to "digital jewelry," just as most ordinary people interact indirectly with gold through "art and jewelry." The same reasoning applies to Bitcoin. Furthermore, the cultural and technological changes brought about by Ordinals and other new projects seem to have rekindled interest among many Ethereum developers in the Bitcoin ecosystem, bringing the design, tokenomics, and implementation expertise of Ethereum DApps to Bitcoin, potentially revitalizing Bitcoin's ancient ecosystem.
However, it is still too early to assert whether we are truly in a "Bitcoin Renaissance." As is well known, Bitcoin is a conservative ecosystem, and its community's attitude towards cultural and technological change is at best indifferent, if not hostile. Nevertheless, the potential developments within the Bitcoin ecosystem are still worth watching, even if only from the perspective of transaction volume and cultural recognition.
Conclusion
The three trends discussed above regarding ZK advancements, composability achieved through modularity, and the development of the Bitcoin ecosystem do not exhaustively describe all the research and innovations taking place at Stanford. From new research on consensus mechanisms laying the groundwork for future L1 or L2 solutions, to transaction and MEV modeling techniques that may enhance analytical tools, to new cryptographic primitives, Stanford Blockchain Week showcased the diversity and vitality of this industry. Unlike many other industry summits or academic conferences, SBC and its affiliated events cleverly synchronize and integrate industry with research, creating a vibrant alliance of startups, mature protocols, and academia, all dedicated to advancing the blockchain space and building a better decentralized future.
