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RISCZERO Proof Support on NEBRA UPA

Jeff

Oct 20, 2024 — 3 min read

TL;DR

We are partnering with RISC Zero to bring NEBRA UPA powered RISC ZERO zkVM proofs onchain. RISC ZERO developers can enjoy 10x and more cheaper proof verification cost on Ethereum and Its L2s. Additionally, RISC ZERO zkVM developers can compose RISC ZERO zkVM proofs with external proofs such as World ID.

How NEBRA can reduce RISC ZERO developers’ onchain cost by 10x?

The RISC Zero zkVM can prove the correct execution of arbitrary code, allowing developers to build ZK applications in mature languages like Rust and C++. The release of the RISC Zero zkVM marked a major breakthrough in enabling ZK software development: the zkVM made it possible to build a ZK application without having to build a circuit and without writing in a custom language.

Notably, RISC Zero is over 70% of the top 1000 Rust crates work out-of-the-box in the zkVM. Being able to import Rust crates is a game changer for the ZK software world: projects that would take months or years to build on other platforms can be solved trivially on our platform.

The last mile of the RISC Zero developers’ journey is settling the proof onchain. Today, the onchain proof verification cost is prohibitive: developers need to spend more than 250,000 gas, which is equivalent to 20 US dollars on Ethereum or 2 dollars on Ethereum L2s.

NEBRA UPA is the first Universal Proof Aggregation protocol that scales and composes zero-knowledge proof verification on Ethereum/EVM chains. NEBRA UPA achieves this using recursive SNARKs with cryptographic security.

There are 3 key properties of NEBRA UPA:

Universality: NEBRA UPA can aggregate proofs from any circuit. This means that in the same batch, NEBRA UPA aggregates proofs from different sources, such as zkEVMs, zkDIDs, and zkCoprocessors. Universality brings an "economy of scale" to NEBRA users, allowing them to enjoy cheap amortized verification costs without needing to generate a huge number of proofs.
Permissionless: NEBRA UPA is an onchain protocol, meaning that anyone can submit proofs to NEBRA.
Censorship resistance: NEBRA UPA is censorship resistant by adopting a forced-inclusion design similar to Ethereum L2s. You can trigger a forced inclusion to include your proofs if our off-chain worker refuses to put your proof in the aggregated proof. Additionally, we would be slashed if a forced inclusion occurs.

By using NEBRA UPA, RISC Zero developers can lower their proof verification costs from 250,000 gas to roughly 18,000 gas, translating to approximately 10x onchain verification cost savings.

Why RISC Zero?

RISC Zero is the pioneer of building RISC-V zkVMs. RISC Zero zkVM is high performance. As one of the most mature zkVMs, there are a number of applications and primitives showcasing RISC Zero’s capabilities, including:

Zeth: prove the correct construction of an entire Ethereum block or an entire Optimism block
Bonsai Pay: send Ethereum to someone's gmail address
JSON: prove the contents of some entry in a JSON file, while keeping the rest of the data private
Where's Waldo: prove that Waldo appears in a JPG file, while keeping the rest of the image private
ZK Checkmate: prove that you see a mate-in-one, without revealing the winning move
ZK Proof of Exploit: prove that you could exploit an Ethereum account, without revealing the exploit
ECDSA signature verification: prove the validity of an ECDSA signature

In addition, RISC Zero developers can enjoy the upcoming Bonsai prover network to streamline the development process. NEBRA UPA will be supporting both developers who are deploying stand-alone RISC Zero zkVM or Bonsai Prover Network.