Building the most powerful privacy-enabling blockchain in the world



As the work continues to deliver the world’s most complete zero-knowledge blockchain we wish to share and elaborate on what we’re working on in 2020. In this article we briefly touch on the implementation of PLONK and its benefits. We present our updated roadmap page and explain how it ties into the work we’re doing with PLONK.





Quick Recap

One of the largest deliverables for 2020 is the complete overhaul of Dusk Network’s zero-knowledge proof system. The current Bulletproofs proof system is being replaced by the PLONK proof system. For those unaware: PLONK is the latest and most efficient zero-knowledge proof system known today. Pivoting from Bulletproofs to PLONK requires significant time and effort, because nearly all of our core processes rely on it.

To phrase it differently: every component, albeit Phoenix, Poseidon, Rusk VM or Proof of Blind Bid, requires the upgrade to PLONK, and/or PLONK gadgets. All components need to be individually upgraded, reviewed and tested.



Appreciating PLONK Benefits

Despite the fact it is a laborious process, we can already see significant improvement in network stability. This is mostly due to PLONKs constant proof sizes (which are a magnitude smaller than Bulletproofs’) and constant proof verification time.

The benefits accumulate across all places where it’s implemented. A practical example is the estimation of gas fees that is reliant on the careful estimation of the transaction size. The constant proof sizes created by the PLONK proof system make this process more reliable. And obviously, the more reliable the better.

Another example is the advantage it brings to smart contract operations requiring multiple ZK-proofs to be bundled together into a single transaction. Here, not only the gas fee is more predictable, the transactions (that includes multiple proofs) become magnitudes smaller in size, which brings multiple benefits: transactions are easier to pass on between nodes, blocks can carry more transactions, and there is only little pressure on blockchain storage.



Upcoming Milestones

The dynamic development roadmap provides a glimpse into what will be made available in the next wave of releases and can be found on our website. It outlines the upcoming milestones in priority order. Specifically, we note that additional milestones will be added during the year.

Dynamic Development Roadmap

Closing Remarks

Working with the latest technological advances in a fast-paced, dynamic environment asks for agile development processes that enable us to seize opportunities when they arise. This is why we tread carefully before publicizing our milestones.



Interested in the bigger picture? A simplified technical framework with basic explanations of all these major components can be found here.