ZKM is excited to relaunch our Monthly Hello World Newsletter! We understand the importance of staying connected with our community, and what better way to do so than through the relaunch of our newsletter? The ZKM team has been diligently working behind the scenes to bring you a newsletter that not only informs but also engages with a little razzle dazzle.
We know it’s been a while, so let’s run through it:
Whilst our heads are deep in research and development, we’re simultaneously striving to build our presence. We were formerly invited to attend, speak, and cohost various events digitally and IRL.
CEO Kevin Liu speaking on the panel at Epic We3 Eth Infra Day
Kevin Liu, Co-founder and CEO of ZKM, attended KBW23 to connect with some of the brightest minds in the industry to discuss, redefine, and celebrate the future of blockchain. ZKM was a proud sponsor of the Epic Web3 Eth Infra Day, a one-day technical event for builders dedicated to Ethereum Infrastructure. Above, you can watch the insightful panel addressing the push and pull between security and performance rollups.
Later during KBW23, ZKM proud co-hosted Block Buzz Meetup powered by Leland Ventures. An event packed with industry heavyweights, Kevin starred in the panel discussion “Unlocking the Potential of Zero Knowledge” where he highlighted our unique zkVM leaving the crowd inspired about the future of blockchain.
From Korea to NY, Kevin is on a roll! Alongside zkPass, Sparx Labs, Rayo Capital, Liberty DAO, Mastercard, and Black Mountain Investment Group, we collectively flocked to the Master Card workspace in NYC to talk about real world adoption and current developments of crypto. We introduced ZKM in a keynote presentation that led to buzzing conversation and new connections with web3 frens.
Chief Scientist, Ming Guo, and Researcher, Lucas Piexoto, were exclusively invited to the 10th edition of the Zero Knowledge Summit, zk10. This year’s edition brought together the best thinkers and builders to discuss the latest in ZK research, use-cases, cryptographic primitives, privacy and maths — right in the ballpark of what these two ZKM members love to dive deep into!
As the ZKM community grows, so does our team. We are glad to welcome Alice Liu, Education Lead, and Ben Wynn, Community Lead.
Alice has dedicated herself to improving the digital community through a strong push in educational resources. Tasked with structuring and strategizing what would become the ZKM Education Hub, with the collective goal of providing free and open-source educational materials not only about ZKM but also the broader blockchain ecosystem. Say hi to Alice (aliceliu) on Discord!
Ben leads a crucial role as the main communication line between our team and our highly valued Discord community. Ben dedicates much of his time to getting to know each community member, with the goal of forming unique connections and building a strong community for ZKM. Be sure to say GM to Ben (0x1164) in the chats!
We’re starting to pick up the pace; testnet is imminent and contributions are crucial. October witnessed the launch of ZKM’s first campaign: the Early Contributor Program (ECP). While the R&D team is working away, ZKM begins to engage and grow the community, focusing first on the education of zkVMs.
ZKM welcomed participants to the Early Contributor Program (ECP) to illuminate the path to understanding and harnessing the groundbreaking potential of zero-knowledge technology and the general purpose zkVM we are building. Set to have a series of cohorts, we first launched the ECP Cohort: Community Education where participants flocked to zkm.io/ecp to learn how our zkVM will work and then to demo the first version of our zkVM for the very first time. As a result of this 3-week campaign, over 3000 people flooded into our community discord channel, and our early contributors generated a whopping 59.7k proofs through the zkVM demo.
Kevin and Alex of Epic Web3 dive deep into the future of Layer 2s and finding the ideal investor for your startup. Kevin shares his insights as previous CPO of Metis, and explains his transition to CEO of ZKM, the newest EcoNode within the MetisDAO Foundation Ecosystem. There is still a lot of work to be done in order to scale blockchain for mass adoption, listen in to hear how the MetisDAO Ecosystem is working to execute on what is needed to get to the next phase of blockchain.
Dev Rel Lead, Pavel Sinelnikov, joins zk.Link, Starknet, Linea, and Mystiko in the Web3 Space Discord Server to present a ZKM Keynote followed by an insightful panel with the co-stars. Touching on a multitude of topics within ZK development in blockchain, the show was a major success with over 200 attendees dialing in and a roaring Q&A that followed the panel discussion.
ZKM is making moves faster than ever! As we near testnet, ZKM is continuing its mission of educating the community. November has indeed been jam packed with announcements and activity; our community has skyrocketed and onboarded over 10,000 members
At ZKM, we are on a mission to revolutionize the digital world by bringing privacy, security, and efficiency to the forefront. The ECP is instrumental in fostering a community of forward-thinking developers who actively participate in shaping the future of open-source zero knowledge technology. The activities of Cohort 1: Community Education proved there is interest and demand for firmer engagement within our community. As our community grows and ZKM gets closer to testnet, we need to adapt and evolve, hence the name of Cohort 2: Community Evolution.
New Features Evolving: ZKM Contributor Board and POINTS System Launched
ECP Cohort 2: Community Evolution brings to light ZKM’s new Contributor Board and POINTS System. This system is designed to recognize and reward community contributions in a tangible way. Whether you’re coding, troubleshooting, or generating ZKM content, you’ll earn POINTS that reflect your effort and engagement. Anyone can join by simply heading to points.zkm.io
Within the release of this second cohort, the first cohort is still open and running for those who wish to follow the entire experience — find and run the github demo here, and submit your proof in our Discord here.
November also saw the launch of our Education Hub, located in our official Discord and led by our Senior Cryptographer Jeroen Van De Graff (a PHD and veteran in his field). This open space is dedicated to learning about zero-knowledge technology and how it applies to verifiable computation.
As stated in our previous article: The Education Hub has its own category within the ZKM Contributor Board, along with its own campaign running time separate from the General and Developer Contributor Boards. Education campaigns will end 1 week after the final lecture of the course is published, and POINTS and NFT Course Completion Certificate will be distributed on the Monday of the following week. Because the course is self-paced and asynchronous, bounties specific to each course will be renewed so that anyone can jump in anywhere at any time with no disruption to opportunities.
ZKM expands its team just a little bit more! We are thrilled to welcome Milica Vulic as Developer Education Lead.
Milica holds a M.Sc in Computer Science, with an extensive background in programming. Tasked with structuring the ZK focused content for developers within the ZKM Education Hub, Milica’s dedicated goal is to make ZK education for developers and onboarding as seamless as possible. Give her a nice GM in the discord chats (0xmilica)!
DevConnect aims to bring together Ethereum’s most important builders, researchers, and its community. ZKM dove in head first, sending Pavel, Dev Rel Lead, and Milica, Developer Education Lead on a mission to collaborate with ZK developers and spread the good word of ZKM. Let’s recap our experience at Devconnect:
Buidl Hour with MetisDAO Foundation and H.E.R. DAO
Buidl Hour by MetisDAO Foundation partnered up with H.E.R. DAO developer community to bring forward a specially curated event for blockchain developers. What’s so special about this event? Not only did we have panels, keynotes, and workshops, we ran Social Tables! Rather than presenting a one-sided presentation, we want to have a conversation. Milica led her round table discussion “Where do you see zkVMs in the Ecosystem?” The event witnessed a great turnout and we are grateful for the community support and insightful conversations we had there.
Milica Speaks at Cryptİst: The Turkish Zero-Knowledge Community Summit
Cryptist is an annual, day-long, Zero-Knowledge community event in Istanbul to learn, connect, and share amongst the Turkish ZK community.
Inviting the most successful young developers of the Blockchain ecosystem to think and produce on zero-knowledge technology, Milica took the stage along side Craig Johnson of Aleo, Corner Ohara Rollkit of Celestia, and George Wiesse of Powdr Labs with moderator Kaan Uzdogan of the Ethereum Foundation to talk all about ZK adaptations necessary to move forward in ZK.
Pavel Dishes Facts at Aleo zkHouse
Pavel Sinelnikov (third to the right) speaks about zkVMs compared to zkEVMs
zkHouse by Aleo is a four-day inclusive and interactive experience for zero-knowledge enthusiasts of all levels to explore the latest cryptography research, hardware, and app development. Pavel takes the stage by storm alongside Alex Pruden of Aleo and Gnana Iaskshmi of Starknet with moderator Viviane Ford of Aleo to talk about “The Virtual Machine Duel: zkVM vs zkEVM.” Pavel emphasizes the privacy and scalability that both types of VMs can ensure, and what kind of developments he is keen to follow in the realm of ZK technology.
DevConnect wrap-up
Among all the hustle and bustle of DevConnect, ZKM claims success in our goals for attendance of this conference! ZKM attended countless events and sends gratitude to all those we connected with. If you got pics left over from DevConnect, tag us on twitter!
ZKM values our community to the highest degree and with much respect. Thank you to ZKM Discord member dharniel for connecting with our team and giving your insights in what you would like to see more of from ZKM. We appreciate all suggestions with consideration- without members like you, we wouldn’t be who we are becoming. Please reach out to Marketing and Growth Lead, Cat Anderson (daskittycat), or Community Lead, Ben Wynn (0x1164) on discord anytime, we are here to listen and deliver!
ZKM Most Active Contributors
Your contributions make a difference. At ZKM, we recognize the importance of collaborations not only between industry players, but also with our community.
Thank you to our most active contributors! All participants of the Contributor Board can claim their Early Contributor NFT Badge in Discord. The most active monthly contributors will receive an invite to the exclusive Contributor’s Discord channel — Congrats and welcome! If you haven’t received your badge, please reach out to Ben (0x1164) in Discord.
Wow, you made it through the newsletter- we know it is long! ZKM has been hard at work the past three months and we look forward to providing monthly updates through our Hello World newsletter from now on.
While the world gets cozy for the upcoming holiday, we are strategizing for 2024. Here’s a few things to look forward to in December and the upcoming year:
That’s all folks! Thanks for reading.
Originally published at https://www.zkm.io.
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