Title: Using PCP Techniques to Improve Blockchain Scalability and Privacy

Presented By: Eli Ben-Sasson

Abstract:

By the early 1990's it was clear that PCPs can (i) exponentially speed-up verification of the correct execution of general computation [Babai et al. 1991-2], and (ii) do so with zero knowledge [Kilian 1992, Micali 1994]. Both aspects - scalability and privacy - are sorely needed in decentralized blockchains. The main bottleneck in deploying PCP techniques has been the concrete time and space complexity of proving and verifying statements. This talk will survey recent improvements regarding PCPs and Interactive Oracle Proofs (IOPs) - their more efficient (and more interactive) version [Reingold et al., Ben-Sasson et al., 2016], which bring IOPs closer to blockchain deployment.