Patient interviews from the ZK research edge.
Zero Knowledge Podcast follows the research edge of zero knowledge, decentralized systems, and blockchain architecture through patient technical interviews. Recent episodes move from verifiable SQL databases and privacy-first Cosmos history to Lean Ethereum, post-quantum signatures, formal verification, and ZKVM design.
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Zero Knowledge Podcast is a technically fluent interview show about zero-knowledge research, cryptography, privacy systems, and decentralized infrastructure. It is built around patient conversations rather than quick takes. Recent episodes show a clear editorial habit: begin with the people and project history, then work down into the protocol layer where assumptions, constraints, and tradeoffs become visible. The show can handle dense material without turning it into hype. A conversation with Shyam and Emanuele from Provably frames verifiable databases as a practical way to prove facts about SQL data without exposing the underlying records. That episode moves from KZG commitments and SQL-specific proof systems to wallet-local private transaction data, business totals, and on-chain data markets. Another episode catches up with Dev Ojha on Osmosis, Cosmos, and privacy, using ecosystem history to ask where decentralized systems actually found their center after boom-and-bust cycles. The Lean Ethereum miniseries gives the feed a more serialized shape. Justin Drake sets up the vision: post-quantum cryptography, faster finality, enshrined ZK, and formal verification across Ethereum's core. Benedikt Wagner and Dmitry Korvatovich explain why hash-based signatures need SNARK aggregation when BLS-style aggregation is no longer available. Giacomo Fenzi and Antonio Sanso move into the security theory around post-quantum SNARKs, proximity gap conjectures, and Poseidon. Thomas Couragé and Emile discuss Lean VM as a minimal ZKVM designed for post-quantum signature aggregation. Will Cochran and Raul Crippolani focus on devnets, specs, bandwidth constraints, and the human coordination needed to make protocol changes real. Alex Hicks closes the arc with formal verification, Lean modeling, translation limits, and high-assurance software. Across these conversations, the show keeps returning to the same practical question: what has to be proven, trusted, minimized, or coordinated for decentralized systems to keep working. It is best suited to people who are comfortable with cryptographic vocabulary but still appreciate a careful interviewer stopping to ask what a mechanism replaces and why it matters. The value is not just access to researchers. It is the way the show turns highly specialized protocol work into a traceable conversation about design choices.
Made for: Built for crypto engineers, protocol researchers, serious Ethereum followers, and technically curious listeners who want more than market commentary. It suits people willing to sit with cryptographic detail when the payoff is a clearer view of system design.
What sets it apart: The show stands out by letting researchers explain unfinished technical work in detail while still asking grounding questions about layers, use cases, and implementation limits. Its recent Lean Ethereum run gives listeners a rare serialized path through post-quantum cryptography, ZKVMs, networking, and formal verification.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
It connects cryptographic research to the engineering, coordination, and user risks that determine whether privacy systems work in practice.
Zero Knowledge Podcast follows cryptographic research from proof design through the awkward work of making networks, databases, and wallets behave.
This is the show that makes you audit "trust the database" before it audits your wallet.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A grounded look at proving facts about databases without exposing data, with practical examples and a clear look at the protocol behind it.
Sham and Emanuele keep the discussion grounded by staying close to how the system works. The episode explains how to prove facts about a database without exposing the underlying data, then moves into SQL proof systems and the practical user flow.
A grounded look at Osmosis, Cosmos, and Dave Oja's path back into privacy work.
The episode tracks Dave Oja from the Osmosis origin story into Cosmos with a clear sense of where the ecosystem has been and what it has left to prove.
A careful look at where proof ends and trust still begins in the ZK stack.
Formal verification is the main thread here, but the discussion keeps widening into a practical question about trust across the ZK stack. Alex Hicks and Nico move from Lean Ethereum's vision to what can actually be machine checked, and where the ecosystem still relies on models,…
A grounded look at how Ethereum upgrades move from ideas into real clients and the network stack.
Lean Ethereum's fifth episode moves past the design talk and into the work that makes upgrades real: devnets, specs, client coordination, and the peer-to-peer changes needed for much larger post-quantum signatures.
A focused look at why Lean VM is being shaped for a narrow post-quantum role on Ethereum.
Zero Knowledge keeps Part 4 of its Lean Ethereum series on the technical side of the room. The discussion stays on Lean VM, the smallest ZKVM in the project, and on the tradeoffs behind choosing a VM instead of a fixed circuit.
A clear look at the math and security behind Lean Ethereum's post-quantum path.
Lean Ethereum spends time on the part of post-quantum Ethereum that usually stays buried: how the SNARKs work, where the security claims actually sit, and what recent research says about the gap between proof and trust.
A careful look at quantum-safe Ethereum signatures, with real cryptographic stakes.
This second Lean Ethereum episode stays on the question of how a quantum-safe Ethereum consensus might actually work. Nico speaks with Benedikt Wagner and Dmitry Korvatovich about LeanSig, a hash-based multi-signature scheme meant to replace BLS in a quantum-secure setting, and…
A clear technical map of Ethereum hardening that makes the next chapters easier to follow.
Lean Ethereum frames Ethereum as a system that can be tightened up without pretending the layers are separate problems. Justin Drake moves through consensus, data, and execution as one chain of design choices, and the case for post-quantum cryptography, faster finality, and…
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Provably starts with a tight database problem.
Osmosis becomes the entry point.
Formal verification is the finish line in this one.
Lean Ethereum gets practical.
Lean VM keeps getting simpler.
Nico hosts this Lean Ethereum installment with Giacomo Fenzi and Antonio Sanso.
Lean Ethereum gets its second installment, and this one digs into the awkward bit.
Lean Ethereum opens a six-part miniseries.
Lattices meet folding, with strings attached.
Quantum is not a neat upgrade ticket.