ChainCatcher news, the cryptography company Zama has released the latest version of its research progress, including TFHE-rs (v0.8), Concrete (v2.8), and Concrete ML (v1.7). The TFHE-rs v0.8 released by Zama features encrypted arrays and improved multi-GPU support.The released Concrete v2.8 introduces interoperability with TFHE-rs and automatic module tracking capabilities. Concrete ML v1.7 includes transformer model fine-tuning and DNA applications.In November, Zama will release fhEVM v0.6, with the core highlight being the new fhEVM coprocessor, allowing developers to deploy confidential smart contracts directly on Ethereum.

ChainCatcher news, according to The Block, Polygon Labs and Fabric Cryptography have launched custom ZK chips to accelerate the development of AggLayer.It is reported that Polygon Labs is currently collaborating with the crypto hardware manufacturer Fabric Cryptography to introduce its Verifiable Processing Unit (VPU) into the AggLayer ecosystem. AggLayer is an interoperability layer currently being developed by Polygon Labs and other core contributors, aimed at facilitating unified liquidity and security across the entire chain network.

ChainCatcher news, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin proposed a new computing model called "glue and coprocessor architecture," aimed at significantly enhancing technical efficiency and security. He detailed the advantages of this architecture in a blog post on September 2, categorizing computing tasks into two types: flexible general "glue" components and efficient dedicated "coprocessors." Vitalik pointed out that this separation allows conventional operations to be handled in adaptive environments, while intensive tasks are completed by dedicated hardware, thus optimizing overall performance. He specifically mentioned that the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and the field of artificial intelligence (AI) could benefit from this, for instance, by improving Ethereum's efficiency through dedicated modules for structured operations and processing complex AI models on GPUs or ASICs by optimizing code. Furthermore, Vitalik believes that the architecture has broad application prospects in cryptography and open-source hardware (such as RISC-V chips), which could enhance security and lower the barriers to entry. His proposal is expected to promote technological innovation, bringing more efficient and secure solutions to the computing field and reducing the entry barriers for small tech companies.

ChainCatcher news, Sui developer Mysten Labs co-founder Kostas Kryptos stated on social media that he is creating a modern cryptography and AI innovation center in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and will attempt to "occasionally" invite well-known figures in the field.Currently, he has planned to release unique ideas surrounding ZKP, MPC, FHE, differential privacy, Web3 UX, Anon Credentials, on-chain AI, audit AI, DePIN data compression and parallelization, new key management, identity, voting, and verifiable execution.He stated that the goal is to "gradually elevate the technological level across the Middle East and North Africa region and discover the emergence of technologically competitive startups."

ChainCatcher news, at the 2024 Hong Kong Web3 Carnival, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin delivered a keynote speech titled "Reaching the Limits of Protocol Design" at the "Web3 Scholars Summit 2024" hosted by DRK Lab. He stated that current technologies such as ZK-SNARKs, MPC, and FHE have efficiency and security issues. Specifically, the Ethereum slot block time is 12 seconds, the "normal" block verification time is about 400 milliseconds, and the ZK-SNARK proof time is approximately 20 minutes. Ethereum's goal is to achieve real-time proof. Regarding the current inefficiency issues, Vitalik suggested solutions such as "Parallelization + aggregation trees," using SNARK algorithms and hashes to improve efficiency, and employing ASIC for ZK hardware acceleration.In addition, Vitalik mentioned that "protocols based on advanced cryptography such as ZK-SNARKs, MPC, FHE (Fully Homomorphic Encryption), and BLS aggregation have developed rapidly, but they also face efficiency and security issues. The efficiency problem can be addressed through parallelization and aggregation trees, improving efficiency (using SNARK algorithms and hashes), and ASICs; the ZK-SNARK circuit vulnerability issue can be resolved by security committees and multi-provers, and in the future, AI verification may be used to address this. We need to reach the limits of protocols with cryptography while optimizing efficiency and enhancing security."Vitalik pointed out that the current signature aggregation efficiency is about 30,000 signatures per slot, with high node requirements. The desired goal is to support as many validators as possible with low node requirements, making the protocol relatively simple.

ChainCatcher news, Vitalik Buterin elaborated on his views regarding the recent debates surrounding techno-optimism, AI risks, and avoiding extreme centralization methods in the 21st century, as well as blockchain and cryptography, in his latest blog post "My techno-optimism."In it, Vitalik stated that artificial intelligence is fundamentally different from other technologies and deserves special caution. In Ethereum, they intentionally try to ensure that many parts of the stack are decentralized: ensuring that no single codebase controls more than half of the proof-of-stake network, attempting to resist the dominance of large staking pools, improving geographical distribution, etc. Essentially, Ethereum is trying to realize an ancient liberal dream of a market-based society. To some extent, this is effective: the dominance of the Prysm client has dropped from over 70% to below 45%. But this is not an automatic market process: it is the result of human will and coordinated action.Blockchain enables the creation of economic and social structures with a "shared hard drive" without relying on centralized actors. Cryptocurrencies allow individuals to store funds and conduct financial transactions, much like using cash before the internet, without relying on trusted third parties that may arbitrarily change the rules. They can also serve as a backup anti-counterfeiting mechanism, making attacks and spam costly for users who do not have or do not wish to reveal their true identities.Account abstraction, especially social recovery wallets, can protect our crypto assets and potentially protect other types of assets in the future, without overly relying on centralized intermediaries. Zero-knowledge proofs can be used for privacy protection, allowing users to prove things about themselves without revealing private information. For example, encapsulating a digital passport signature in a ZK-SNARK to prove that you are a unique citizen of a certain country without disclosing which specific citizen you are. Technologies like this can allow us to maintain the benefits of privacy and anonymity while still obtaining security assurances and combating spam and bad actors.

ChainCatcher news, according to Fortune magazine, the crypto chip company Fabric Cryptography announced the completion of a $6 million Pre-Seed funding round, led by Metaplanet, with participation from Nil Foundation, Inflection, Novawulf, and Era. The company's co-founder and CEO Michael Gao declined to provide valuation information for this funding round, only revealing that the chips they are designing have already received an order worth $50 million and signed a letter of intent for a deal worth approximately $100 million with a potential buyer.It is reported that Fabric Cryptography is a startup focused on developing hardware for advanced cryptographic algorithms, particularly dedicated computer chips for zero-knowledge proof technology. Last week, Fabric Cryptography also reached a collaboration with ZK technology developer Nil Foundation to launch a decentralized marketplace for cryptographic and outsourced proof generation.

ChainCatcher message, encryption security expert @officer_cia tweeted that users should immediately uninstall the FTX application, as an automatic update has been released to prevent this situation. As far as we know, multiple pkeys from FTX have been leaked.Additionally, according to feedback from multiple community sources, FTX is suspected to have been hacked, and several project communities have warned users that the FTX App may currently have the potential to leak private keys and other important information. (Source link)