Anastasia Labs - ZK Accelerate : A User-Friendly Smart Contract Library for ZK contracts

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

Philip DiSarro

[GENERAL] Are you delivering this project as an individual or as an entity (whether formally incorporated or not)

Entity (Incorporated)

[GENERAL] Requested funds in ada

200000

[GENERAL] Please specify how many months you expect your project to last (from 2-12 months)

6

[GENERAL] Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated into English from another language

No

[GENERAL] Summarize your solution to the problem (200-character limit including spaces)

Develop a high-level library to empower developers to leverage the power of zero-knowledge proof in their DApps without wrestling with the complexity of zk-circuit construction and verification.

[GENERAL] Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?

No

[GENERAL] If YES, please describe what the dependency is and why you believe it is essential for your project’s delivery. If NO, please write “No dependencies.”

No dependencies.

[GENERAL] Will your project’s output/s be fully open source?

Yes

[GENERAL] Please provide here more information on the open source status of your project outputs

All outputs will be fully open-source under the MIT license.

[SOLUTION] Please describe your proposed solution

ZK Accelerate is an abstraction library to help developers leverage zero-knowledge technology in their decentralized applications. Applied zero-knowledge cryptography has a very high barrier to entry for developers.

[IMPACT] Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community

In light of the significant CPU usage already associated with some Plonk verification processes, our aim is to introduce design patterns that allow protocols to harness the concurrent verification of multiple proofs. For instance, the Plonk benchmark provided by perturbing plonk-benchmark illustrates that Plonk verification can consume up to 30% of CPU resources.

By developing wrapper libraries that enable protocols to efficiently validate multiple proofs simultaneously, we intend to mitigate the computational burden associated with such processes.

This approach not only enhances scalability but also optimizes resource utilization, thereby improving the overall performance of Cardano-based applications.

Our plan is to deliver essential design patterns.

1. Proof Aggregator for Complex Verification Using Plonk: This feature enables the segmentation of proofs across different UTXOs, facilitating their aggregation into a cohesive final proof.
2. Merkleized Proofs Across Many Transactions: Leveraging the withdraw-zero trick, this pattern allows for the verification of arbitrary computations across separate script executions, effectively creating merkleized smart contracts.
3. Tokenized Proofs: Utilizing NFTs as proof certificates, this innovation enables the reuse of verified proofs across protocols without necessitating repeated verification processes.

[CAPABILITY & FEASIBILITY] What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability? How do you intend to validate if your approach is feasible?

Anastasia Labs has rapidly established itself as a leading development firm within the Cardano Ecosystem. Our team consists of highly skilled developers who have made significant contributions to various community projects, including Lucid, Agora, Liqwid-Plutarch-Extra, and Aada Finance. Furthermore our developers have had experience developing and publishing end-to-end DApps including production projects such as WingRiders.

In addition to our project involvement, our team has been actively engaged in the developer experience domain. We have actively participated in educational panels focused on DApp Security Practices and Design Patterns, and our members have served as co-chairs of the IOHK developer experience working group.

Furthermore, our collaboration with Emurgo Academy has been instrumental in educating aspiring developers, with our team playing an essential role in this endeavor. We have also recognized and recruited the most exceptional talents from the academy's classes.

We have developed software development kits (SDKs) that facilitate the integration of existing dApps with other systems through off-chain code. Our team has also designed various protocols, including bridges and staking systems, while also actively contributing to open-source smart contract languages and their associated standard libraries.

Overall, Anastasia Labs has established itself as a highly capable and versatile development firm with a broad range of expertise within the Cardano Ecosystem.

[PROJECT MILESTONES] What are the key milestones you need to achieve in order to complete your project successfully?

Protocol Specification:

• Milestone Outputs: Detailed protocol specification document outlining the requirements and features of the design patterns.
• Acceptance Criteria: Approval of protocol specification by project lead.
• Evidence of Milestone Completion: Submission of protocol specification document.

Development of Proof Aggregator:

• Milestone Outputs: Functional prototype of Proof Aggregator feature.
• Acceptance Criteria: Successful demonstration of proof segmentation and aggregation capabilities.
• Evidence of Milestone Completion: Presentation of prototype and code upload to Github repository.

Implementation of Merkelized Proofs:

• Milestone Outputs: Development of Merkelized Proofs feature into wrapper library.
• Acceptance Criteria: Successful execution of withdraw-zero trick for arbitrary computation verification.
• Evidence of Milestone Completion: Presentation of wrapper library and code upload to Github repository.

Implementation of Tokenize Proofs:

• Milestone Outputs: Development of Tokenize Proofs feature in wrapper library.
• Acceptance Criteria: Successful issuance and utilization of NFT-based proof certificates.
• Evidence of Milestone Completion: Presentation of wrapper library and code upload to Github repository.

Testing:

• Milestone Outputs: Comprehensive testing and optimization.
• Acceptance Criteria: Successful completion of testing and identification of performance enhancements.
• Evidence of Milestone Completion: Submission of testing results to Github repository.

Project Closeout:

• Milestone Outputs: Project closeout report detailing project achievements, challenges, and lessons learned. Project closeout report summarizing key milestones and outcomes. Complete documentation released to stakeholders.
• Acceptance Criteria: Approval of project closeout report by stakeholders. Documentation accessible and understandable to intended audience.
• Evidence of Milestone Completion: Submission of project closeout report, project closeout video, and documentation to Github repository.

[RESOURCES] Who is in the project team and what are their roles?

Philip DiSarro, Compiler & Programming Language Research, https://twitter.com/phil_uplc

Philip is an expert in the field of Compiler Development & Programming Language Theory. He has made significant open-source contributions to the Cardano developer ecosystem. As a co-chair of the IOHK developer experience working group he worked to identify and resolve pain points that DApp developers experience in Cardano. He has a vast wealth of professional experience in smart contract security and auditing on Cardano; and was responsible for the identification and resolution of a large number of critical exploits in production open-source smart contracts. Recently, Philip has concentrated his efforts on designing and deploying effective zero-knowledge proof applications within the Cardano ecosystem.

Philip is a senior Haskell developer on the XSY team, a consultant and lecturer for Emurgo, and the CEO and co-founder of Anastasia Labs.

Jonathan Rodriguez, Functional Programming & TypeScript SDKs, https://twitter.com/solidsnakedev

Jonathan is a highly skilled smart contract developer specializing in Cardano, a blockchain technology that he is deeply passionate about.

His passion in smart contract development drives him to constantly polish his technical knowledge. In the pursuit of that knowledge he obtained the following certifications: Cardano Solution Architect, Cardano Developer Professional, and Associate Certificate.

With an extensive background in Haskell development, which is a critical language for Cardano, he possesses a thorough understanding of functional programming concepts.

His expertise extends to various aspects of the Cardano ecosystem, including the Cardano Toolchain, Transaction Structure, Plutus Smart Contracts, Native Tokens, DApp Connector, and other essential components. 

Jonathan is well-versed in conducting use case analysis and tokenomics, as well as interfacing with decentralized storage, server APIs, and integrating databases.

He is knowledgeable in establishing robust CI/CD (Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment) flows and integrating them into development processes. Additionally, he is skilled in conducting thorough unit testing to ensure the reliability and security of his smart contract solutions.

[BUDGET & COSTS] Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources

Robust Documentation of Design Patterns and Efficiency Tricks:

Engineering Hours for Documentation: 1 month

• Research and Documentation: 50,000 ADA
• Senior Architect Engineer x 2 months

Design Pattern Wrapper Libraries for Zero-Knowledge Patterns:

Engineering Hours for Development: 4 months

• Design and Implementation: 100,000 ADA
• Senior Architect Engineer
• Smart Contract Engineer

Testing Assurance:

Engineering Hours for Testing: 1 month

• Test Suite Creation: 50,000 ADA
• Senior Architect Engineer
• Smart Contract Engineer

Total Project Budget: 200,000 ADA

[VALUE FOR MONEY] How does the cost of the project represent value for money for the Cardano ecosystem?

This proposal aims to capitalize on the anticipated surge in ZK-based development once Plutus V3 is launched. By promoting the adoption of advanced design patterns and efficiency techniques, we anticipate a significant boost in development efficiency across the Cardano ecosystem.

This initiative not only accelerates the pace of innovation but also incentivizes existing DApps to upgrade, granting access to cutting-edge efficiency enhancements and ZK design patterns.