ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this talk, Deepthi Kumar, co-CEO of O(1) Labs, the team behind Mina Protocol, makes the case for moving from trust based to proof based enterprise systems. She frames the central problem facing every business in the coming years: increasing reliance on systems, vendors, and AI agents that you cannot actually check. Her thesis fits in one line: make trust verifiable. Rather than handing over more promises about what systems can do, organizations should hand over more proofs. She notes that zero knowledge proofs have quietly gone mainstream beyond cryptography papers and private tokens, with Google shipping ZK age verification in Google Wallet, Microsoft integrating ZK based credentials into its identity offering, and the EU mandating ZK based digital identity for member states. Deepthi explains that ZK has historically been used for two purposes (privacy and scalability through ZK rollups), but proposes a third use case: verifiability, which is an inherent property of ZK rather than something bolted on. A SNARK at its core is verifiable computation. She argues this should be applied to enterprise workflows where policies govern high stakes operations, citing two converging forces driving the urgency: AI as an offensive weapon (with the first AI generated zero days being reported and threat actors using AI across attack lifecycles), and AI as an actor (agents acting on our behalf at a scale existing guardrails cannot match). The proposed shift is from a model where you trust systems to act, to one where the highstakes action is logged until a proof shows up validating that all policies were enforced. She describes ZK as a "knot tree" that cannot be bribed. The mechanics are three steps: encode existing policy into a ZK circuit running in parallel to existing enforcement, verify the proof against the expected statement, then execute the operation. Benefits include cryptographic receipts, per action audit trails (finer than sample checks), and composability across multi organization workflows through proof aggregation. She closes by emphasizing this is additive not replacement (preserving security heterogeneity), incrementally adoptable starting with one narrow high value flow, and applicable to institutional finance money movement, AI agent identity and delegation, and any vendor integration with policy enforcement requirements. 00:00 Introduction 00:10 Why You Cannot Check Your Vendors and Agents 00:54 Proof Over Promises 01:33 ZK Has Quietly Gone Mainstream 02:17 Google, Microsoft, and the EU on ZK 02:46 The Two Established Uses: Privacy and Scalability 03:42 Proposing Verifiability as the Third Use Case 04:17 Why Verifiability Is Inherent to ZK 05:05 Why Now: Two Forces Pushing in the Same Direction 05:50 AI on the Offense 06:26 AI as an Actor on Your Behalf 07:01 Shifting From Trust to Proof Authorization 07:47 ZK as a Knot Tree That Cannot Be Bribed 08:22 Treasury Transfer as a Concrete Example 09:24 Verifiable Workflow in Three Steps 10:03 Encoding Policy Into a ZK Circuit 10:44 Verifying the Proof Statement 11:27 Cryptographic Receipts 11:54 Per Action Audit Trails 12:19 Composability Across Multi Organization Workflows 13:44 Not Rip and Replace, Additive Layer 14:51 Why ZK Adoption Can Be Incremental 15:45 Applications: Institutional Finance Money Movement 16:27 AI Agents Proving They Followed Policy 16:53 Agent Identity and Delegation Chains 17:21 Enterprise Operations and Vendor Integrations 18:02 Key Takeaway: Add a ZK Layer to High Stakes Operations 19:01 Closing _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHConf 2026* ETHConf is a 3 day event for founders, industry leaders, and builders who are excited about the possibilities of building on top of Ethereum. Connect with 2,000+ top innovators in crypto, finance, technology, and policy at our inaugural three-day event packed with showcases, demos, partnerships, and conversations shaping the future of the global economy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHConf* X: https://x.com/ethconf Website: https://ethconf.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🎟️ Get your early bird tickets for ETHConf 2027: https://ethconf.com/2027#tickets 🎤 View the full ETHConf 2026 Speaker Schedule: https://ethconf.com/schedule _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · Jul 9, 2026

In this talk, Yi Sun, co-founder and CEO of Axiom, presents how zero knowledge proofs are becoming ready for production and serving as the key to forward looking Ethereum scaling. He frames the institutional moment Ethereum is having in 2026 around payments, tokenization, and trading, all gravitating to Ethereum for its security, neutrality, and reasonable scalability. The core scaling challenge is that naively raising the gas limit forces validators to take on higher hardware requirements, eroding the very decentralization that makes Ethereum attractive. Every validator currently has to re-execute every transaction, and Ethereum's unique answer is to prove execution with zero knowledge proofs so validators only verify proofs at constant cost rather than re-executing entire blocks. This decouples gas limits from validator hardware requirements. Yi explains the ZK virtual machine breakthrough of the last two to three years, which abstracts away cryptographic complexity and lets developers verify execution of arbitrary programs written in normal programming languages. He walks through Axiom's OpenVM across three institutional pillars: performance, security, and generality. On performance, OpenVM now proves Ethereum block execution in real time, with an average of 4.7 seconds across a full day of blocks (well within the 12 second slot time), and general purpose computation at 964 MHz, meaning if your application runs on a 1GHz processor it can be proven. Performance is also scaling rapidly, with OpenVM today being 75x faster than at the start of last year. On security, Axiom built a new proof system called Swirl with provable security based on mathematical theorems rather than conjectures, with post quantum design, 100 bits of provable security today, and 128 bits expected by year end. They've layered defense including audits with Cantina and ZK Security, a continuous AI auditor scanning updates for vulnerabilities, and formal verification in the Lean theorem checker as the only way to get correctness guarantees that cannot be hacked by AI. He closes with applications including the Lighter EVM partnership combining a high performance ZK verified perpetuals exchange with Ethereum programmability, and Scroll becoming a Type 1 ZK rollup through OpenVM integration. 00:00 Introduction 00:12 Ethereum's Institutional Moment in 2026 00:40 Why Institutions Choose Ethereum 01:18 The Validator Re-Execution Bottleneck 01:46 Ethereum's Unique Road to ZK Proven Execution 02:24 How ZK Decouples Gas Limits from Validator Hardware 02:50 The ZK Virtual Machine Breakthrough 03:26 Why ZKVMs Make ZK Accessible to Developers 03:53 ZK Becoming Institutional Ready 04:17 OpenVM's Three Pillars: Performance, Security, Generality 04:41 Proving Ethereum in Real Time 05:06 4.7 Second Average Proving Time 05:33 General Purpose Computation at 964 MHz 06:08 75x Performance Gains in One Year 06:35 How ZK Performance Translates to Ethereum Throughput 07:01 Why Security Matters More Than Performance Now 07:23 Swirl: A Proof System With Provable Security 07:46 Post Quantum Foundations 08:14 100 Bits Today, 128 Bits by Year End 08:46 Defending Against AI Powered Attacks 09:18 Continuous AI Auditor and Lean Formal Verification 09:50 Applications of OpenVM 10:19 Partnership: Lighter EVM 10:40 The Best of Both Worlds for Programmability 10:40 Powering Scroll as a Type 1 ZK Rollup 11:17 Why Developers Can Focus on Logic, Not Cryptography 11:51 Institutional Use Cases: Trading, Bridging, Rollups 11:51 Privacy: Confidential Payments and Identity 12:48 Two Takeaways _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ *ETHConf 2026* ETHConf is a 3 day event for founders, industry leaders, and builders who are excited about the possibilities of building on top of Ethereum. Connect with 2,000+ top innovators in crypto, finance, technology, and policy at our inaugural three-day event packed with showcases, demos, partnerships, and conversations shaping the future of the global economy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHConf* X: https://x.com/ethconf Website: https://ethconf.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🎟️ Get your early bird tickets for ETHConf 2027: https://ethconf.com/2027#tickets 🎤 View the full ETHConf 2026 Speaker Schedule: https://ethconf.com/schedule _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Marek Olszewski

ETHGlobal · Oct 9, 2025

Join Marek Olszewski at Pragma Denver 2025 as he unveils Self Protocol, a new identity and verification solution leveraging machine-readable biometric passports, zero-knowledge proofs, and Celo’s emerging Layer-2 architecture. Learn how Self Protocol addresses critical crypto challenges—like Sybil resistance, verifying you’re not on an OFAC list, and even confirming you’re human—without exposing private data. Marek demonstrates the mobile onboarding experience, explains the trusted execution environment (TEE) for secure proofs, and shows how developers can integrate Self Protocol’s SDK for dApps requiring age checks, region blocks, or other identity-based logic. If you’re searching for privacy-preserving identity solutions in Web3, this talk has you covered. 00:00 Introduction & What Is Self Protocol 00:49 Launch Day & Interactive “Guess the Country” Game 01:21 Key Unsolved Crypto Problems: Identity & Privacy 02:41 Addressing Sybil Resistance & Bad Actors 03:17 Rise of AI Agents: “Are You Even Human?” 04:21 Vision for Self Protocol & ZK-Based Verification 05:01 Biometric Passports & Machine-Readable Chips 07:04 Zero-Knowledge Proofs: No Counterparty Needed 09:04 Demonstrating the Mobile App Onboarding 10:30 Passport Scanning & Proof Generation Flow 11:04 Example Use Cases: Age Check, OFAC Check, More 12:27 Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) Explained 13:35 Deployment on Celo & Gas-Free Submissions 14:47 Self Protocol SDK for Builders & Custom Use Cases 15:22 Fun Implementations & Closing Remarks _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🇺🇸 *Pragma Denver* Pragma Denver 2025 was held on February 25th at ReelWorks in Denver, Colorado and was an in-person summit for builders and leaders in the web3 ecosystem. Watch the full Pragma Denver YouTube Playlist here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXzKMXK2aHh6mvMfVn2gIK2uhRiTHjIg9&si=Xyozrbw0ZvUW_65a ETHGlobal's Pragma series takes place in cities around the world, and is designed to be a different kind of event. Pragma is a one-stage conference with founders-only on stage, bringing together a small group of curated attendees and speakers to discuss the future of web3 and reflect on the past. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow Marek Olszewski* X: https://x.com/marek_ ✅ *Follow Celo* X: https://x.com/Celo ✅ *Follow ETHGlobal* X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Warpcast: https://warpcast.com/ethglobal Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ETHGlobal _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship?_ 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · Oct 9, 2025

Join Howard Wu, CEO of Provable at Pragma Denver 2025 to explore how private transactions can be both compliant and user-friendly in the next generation of blockchains. Learn how zero-knowledge proofs, view keys, and policy engines unlock flexible identity checks while preserving on-chain privacy. Discover how Alo – a permissionless, programmable, and privacy-preserving L1 – pioneers new use cases in payments, DeFi, gaming, and beyond. From advanced bridging mechanisms that mitigate malicious actors to novel identity attestation systems like ZPass, this talk dives into why encryption is as pivotal to Web3 finance as HTTPS was to Web 2 e-commerce. 00:00 Introduction & The Need for Compliant Privacy 01:14 Parallels to HTTPS & E-Commerce 02:14 Two Main Challenges in Encrypted Transactions 03:10 Overview of Alo as a Private L1 04:43 The Intersection of Permissionless, Programmable & Private 06:05 Compliance Primitives: View Keys & Policy Engines 07:40 Real-World ID: ZPass & Age/Governance Proofs 09:08 Enabling Timelocks, Escrows & Fraud Detection 10:04 Policy Makers & Best Practices (ARC 100) 11:15 Industry Validation & Perspectives 12:30 Key Use Cases: Private Stablecoin Payments 13:26 Identity & Credential-Based Transactions 14:22 Gaming & Information-Asymmetric Gameplay 15:30 Private DeFi & Dark Pools 17:10 How to Learn More & Future Outlook 18:40 Conclusion & Thank You _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🇺🇸 *Pragma Denver* Pragma Denver 2025 was held on February 25th at ReelWorks in Denver, Colorado and was an in-person summit for builders and leaders in the web3 ecosystem. Watch the full Pragma Denver YouTube Playlist here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXzKMXK2aHh6mvMfVn2gIK2uhRiTHjIg9&si=D7XfnBKvZL7sthbU ETHGlobal's Pragma series takes place in cities around the world, and is designed to be a different kind of event. Pragma is a one-stage conference with founders-only on stage, bringing together a small group of curated attendees and speakers to discuss the future of web3 and reflect on the past. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow Howard Wu* X: https://x.com/1HowardWu ✅ Follow *Provable* X: https://x.com/ProvableHQ ✅ *Follow ETHGlobal* X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Warpcast: https://warpcast.com/ethglobal Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ETHGlobal _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship?_ 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · Oct 9, 2025

In this ETHGlobal Taipei 2025 workshop, Remy Colon, co-founder of Self Protocol, demonstrates how to integrate Self—a privacy-focused identity verification protocol—into applications using biometric passports and zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs). The workshop covers the project’s vision, technical implementation (including frontend, backend, and smart contract integration), and available bounties for developers building with Self. Learn how to enable secure, anonymous identity checks while maintaining user privacy and compliance. 00:00 – Introduction to Self Protocol and identity verification 00:44 – Supported biometric passports and mock data generation 01:59 – Problems with traditional KYC and why Self solves them 03:52 – How biometric passports and ZKPs enable private verification 05:54 – Self mobile app demo: Scanning passports and generating proofs 08:01 – Use cases: Age verification, nationality checks, and airdrops 10:47 – ETHGlobal Taipei bounties for Self integrations 12:17 – Self SDK breakdown: Frontend, backend, and smart contracts 15:48 – Setting up the Self mobile app and mock passport data 19:34 – Frontend integration: QR codes and deep links 25:17 – Backend proof verification with Self SDK 31:30 – Smart contract verification for on-chain identity checks 37:52 – Handling passport attributes in Solidity 41:48 – Workshop wrap-up and resources for developers _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🇹🇼 *ETHGlobal Taipei* This workshop is specifically for ETHGlobal Taipei, a 3-day hackathon held April 4-6 2025, that brought together the most skilled web3 developers, designers and product builders from all around the globe for a weekend-long adventure to advance the Ethereum ecosystem! _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ Follow *Self Protocol* X: https://x.com/selfprotocol ✅ *Follow ETHGlobal* X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Warpcast: https://warpcast.com/ethglobal Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ETHGlobal _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship?_ 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · Oct 9, 2025

Eric Nakagawa, CEO and co-founder of Self Protocol, explains how zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) can revolutionize digital identity verification without compromising privacy. Learn how Self Protocol uses biometric passport NFC chips to create provable identities that verify age, nationality, and OFAC compliance without exposing personal data. Discover practical applications for Web3 projects including airdrops, DeFi compliance, and bot prevention, with live SDK integrations available now. This talk demonstrates how ZK identity solutions can solve real-world problems while maintaining user privacy and security. 00:00 - Introduction: The Problem with Traditional Identity Verification 01:22 - Current Identity Risks: Data Exposure & Centralization 02:56 - Sybil Attacks: The Fake Account Epidemic 04:00 - AI Bots: The Growing Threat to Web3 Authenticity 05:08 - ZK Proofs Explained Through "Where's Waldo" Analogy 06:23 - Introducing Self Protocol: Privacy-Preserving Passport Verification 07:28 - How Biometric Passport Chips Enable Trustless Verification 08:40 - Cryptographic Proofs of Government-Issued Documents 09:48 - Selective Disclosure: Age, Nationality & OFAC Checks 11:31 - Technical Walkthrough: QR Code Verification Flow 12:39 - Linking Provable Facts to Wallets Without Correlation 13:51 - Live Demo: SDK Availability for Hackathon Builders 14:59 - On-Chain vs Off-Chain Proof Implementation Options 15:30 - Use Cases: Airdrops, Social Media, and DeFi Compliance 16:29 - Case Study: ETH Denver Birthday Proof Contest 17:27 - Future Roadmap: Expanding Country Support & Speed 18:37 - ETH Global Hackathon: $10k in Prize Opportunities 19:39 - Closing: Bringing ZK Identity to the Entire Internet _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🇹🇼 *Pragma Taipei* Pragma Taipei 2025 was held on April 3rd at POPOP in Taipei, Taiwan and was an in-person summit for builders and leaders in the web3 ecosystem. Watch the full Pragma Taipei YouTube Playlist here: ETHGlobal's Pragma series takes place in cities around the world, and is designed to be a different kind of event. Pragma is a one-stage conference with founders-only on stage, bringing together a small group of curated attendees and speakers to discuss the future of web3 and reflect on the past. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ Follow Eric Nakagawa X: https://x.com/ericnakagawa ✅ Follow Self Protocol X: https://x.com/selfprotocol ✅ Follow Kartik Talwar X: https://x.com/TheRealKartik ✅ Follow ETHGlobal X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Warpcast: https://warpcast.com/ethglobal Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ETHGlobal _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship? 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · Oct 9, 2025

Learn how to build privacy-preserving identity verification with Self Protocol in this ETHGlobal Taipei 2025 workshop. Discover how biometric passports and zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) enable applications to verify user attributes (age, nationality, sanctions compliance) without exposing personal data. The Self team demonstrates on-chain and off-chain integration of their SDK, including QR code flows for mobile verification and smart contract templates for attestations. With $10K in hackathon prizes for innovative implementations, this workshop covers everything from passport NFC scanning to ZK proof verification on Celo. Ideal for developers building compliant DeFi, airdrops, or age-gated dApps with real-world identity solutions. 00:00 – Introduction: Self Protocol & Anonymous Identity Verification 01:27 – Problems with Traditional KYC: Security & Friction 02:06 – Biometric Passports: NFC Chips & Digital Signatures 02:43 – ZK Proofs for Age, Nationality, Sanctions Checks 03:55 – User Flow: Passport Scanning → ZK Proof Generation 04:30 – Developer Integration: QR Codes & Disclosure Options 05:42 – Hackathon Prizes ($10K): On-Chain vs. Off-Chain Tracks 06:21 – Frontend SDK: QR Code Component & Attribute Configuration 07:33 – Backend Verification: Smart Contracts vs. NodeJS 09:24 – Smart Contract Deep Dive: SelfVerificationRouter 11:58 – Proof Validation: Scope, Attestation IDs, & ZK Proofs 13:56 – Extracting Passport Data (Birthdate, Nationality) 15:54 – Critical Note: Matching Disclosure Requests to Verification 17:22 – Architecture: TEE Servers vs. Future Client-Side Proving 19:02 – Protocol Layers: Commitment Merkle Trees 20:23 – Resources: GitHub, Docs, and "Not to Self" Blog _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🇹🇼 *ETHGlobal Taipei* This workshop is specifically for ETHGlobal Taipei, a 3-day hackathon held April 4-6 2025, that brought together the most skilled web3 developers, designers and product builders from all around the globe for a weekend-long adventure to advance the Ethereum ecosystem! _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ Follow Self Protocol X: https://x.com/selfprotocol ✅ Follow ETHGlobal X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Warpcast: https://warpcast.com/ethglobal Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ETHGlobal _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship? 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Marek Olszewski

ETHGlobal · Oct 9, 2025

Marek Olszewski, co-founder of Celo and creator of Self Protocol, presents a deep dive into zkPassport and Self Protocol at Pragma Prague 2025. Learn how this decentralized identity solution leverages biometric passports, zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs), and blockchain to verify identity without compromising privacy. Discover how Self Protocol tackles Sybil resistance, prevents bad actors in DeFi, and distinguishes humans from AI—all while maintaining full decentralization. From NFC passport scanning to on-chain ZK attestations, this talk covers the technical architecture, challenges in production, and real-world applications for Web3 identity. 00:00 - Introduction to Self Protocol by Marek Olszewski 00:44 - Self Protocol Launch at ETH Denver Recap 01:27 - Solving Web3’s Biggest Problems: Sybil Resistance 02:03 - Preventing Bad Actors in DeFi with On-Chain Identity 02:43 - Proving You’re Human in an AI-Driven World 03:48 - Interactive Game: Guess the Country! 04:58 - Why Existing Identity Solutions Fall Short 06:00 - Centralized vs. Decentralized Identity Tradeoffs 06:36 - Why Passports Are Ideal for Decentralized Identity 07:50 - Biometric Passports & NFC Chip Security 08:32 - How Countries Authenticate Passports On-Chain 09:46 - Using ZK Proofs for Privacy-Preserving Verification 10:23 - Proving Citizenship Without Revealing Country 10:58 - Age Verification & OFAC Compliance with ZKPs 12:01 - Self Protocol’s Two-Step Onboarding Flow 12:39 - Scanning Your Passport & NFC Verification 13:14 - Generating ZK Proofs for On-Chain Registration 14:01 - How Self Protocol’s Merkle Tree Works 14:39 - Nullifiers & Commitments for Anti-Sybil 15:56 - Privacy: Hiding Data from Issuing Countries 17:17 - Demo: Proving Attributes to dApps with ZK 18:49 - Technical Deep Dive: ZKP Circuit Design 19:24 - Merkle Exclusion Proofs for OFAC Checks 20:09 - How Self Protocol Protects User Privacy 20:59 - Mobile App & Secure Secret Backup 21:40 - Offloading ZKP Generation to Trusted Hardware 22:59 - Challenges: Choosing a Proving System (R1CS vs. Groth16) 23:38 - Handling 5GB Proving Keys & Ceremony Complexity 24:47 - Why Off-the-Shelf ZK Tools Failed 25:20 - Can AI Help Write ZK Circuits? (Spoiler: Not Yet) 26:02 - Hackathon Use Cases: DeFi, Smart Wallets, Memecoins 26:34 - Closing Remarks & Self Protocol Documentation _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🇨🇿 *Pragma Prague* Pragma Prague 2025 was held on May 29th at Holešovice Market in Prague, Czech Republic and was an in-person summit for builders and leaders in the web3 ecosystem. This event was in collaboration with ETH Prague. Watch the full Pragma Prague YouTube Playlist here: ETHGlobal's Pragma series takes place in cities around the world, and is designed to be a different kind of event. Pragma is a one-stage conference with founders-only on stage, bringing together a small group of curated attendees and speakers to discuss the future of web3 and reflect on the past. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ Follow Marek Olszewski X: https://x.com/marek_ ✅ Follow Self X: https://x.com/SelfProtocol ✅ Follow Kartik Talwar X: https://x.com/TheRealKartik ✅ Follow ETHGlobal X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Warpcast: https://warpcast.com/ethglobal Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UCfF9ZO8Ug4xk_AJd4aeT5HA _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship? 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · Oct 9, 2025

Learn how to verify identities onchain using Self SDK in this ETHGlobal Cannes 2025 workshop with Remi Colin. Discover how to generate ZK proofs for age verification, nationality checks, and sanctions compliance without revealing sensitive data. This tutorial covers Self's biometric passport integration, mobile app flow, and SDK implementation for both onchain (smart contracts) and offchain (backend) verification. Includes live demos, bounty details ($10K prize pool), and developer tools for privacy-preserving identity solutions. 00:00 - Introduction to Self: ZK Proofs for Identity Verification 00:52 - Workshop Agenda: Protocol Context, Bounties & Hands-On Demo 01:33 - Problems with Traditional KYC (Privacy, Security, UX) 02:15 - Decentralized Identity Alternatives & Limitations 03:41 - Self's Solution: Biometric Passports + ZK Proofs 04:28 - Supported Attributes (Age, Nationality, Sanctions) 05:53 - Self Mobile App Flow: Registration & Disclosure 07:04 - Global Coverage & Document Support (map.self.xyz) 08:07 - Demo: Mock Identity Generation (Developer Mode) 09:22 - Proof Generation & Verification Architecture 10:51 - SDK Integration (QR Codes, Deep Links, Smart Contracts) 12:08 - Hackathon Bounties: $10K for Onchain/Offchain Apps 13:36 - Workshop Repo Walkthrough (Next.js + Solidity) 15:04 - Frontend Setup & Endpoint Configuration 16:38 - Demo: Mock Identity Proof Generation 18:31 - Customizing Disclosure Attributes (Age, Nationality) 20:48 - Backend Verification Logic (API Endpoints) 23:13 - SDK Parameters (Scope, Endpoint Types, User ID) 25:33 - Smart Contract Verification Setup 27:26 - Deploying Verification Contracts (Foundry/Hardhat) 29:57 - Scope Generation Tool (tools.self.xyz) 31:22 - Privacy Features: Proof Unlinkability 34:12 - Onchain Verification Demo (Contract Interaction) 37:36 - Reading Verified Attributes from Smart Contracts 40:51 - SDK Summary (Frontend, Backend, Mobile Coming Soon) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🇫🇷 *ETHGlobal Cannes* This workshop is specifically for ETHGlobal Cannes, a 3-day hackathon held July 4-6, bringing together the most skilled web3 developers, designers and product builders from all around the globe for a weekend-long adventure to advance the Ethereum ecosystem! Watch the full ETHGlobal Cannes 2025 playlist here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXzKMXK2aHh5N2DCwhcEshNW9C8knZ1T-&si=1dGpCcY1vvompWPr _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow Self* X: https://x.com/selfprotocol ✅ *Follow ETHGlobal* X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Warpcast: https://warpcast.com/ethglobal Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ETHGlobal _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship?_ 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHGlobal · Oct 9, 2025

Howard Wu, CEO of Provable, discusses the challenges of current online identity and age verification methods, highlighting privacy risks such as oversharing personal data, lack of revocation, and data breaches. He introduces zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) as a privacy-preserving solution, enabling users to prove attributes (e.g., age, residency, group membership) without revealing sensitive information. Wu presents ZPass, a verifiable credentials system leveraging ZKPs for selective disclosure, and KYA (Know Your Address), which uses ZKML for on-device facial verification to prove ongoing humanity and identity ownership. These tools aim to enable compliance and privacy for onchain and web3 applications, supporting private stablecoins and payments while minimizing data exposure. Wu emphasizes the need for regulatory engagement and evolving compliance tech to match privacy advancements. 00:00 Introduction 00:35 The Problem with Current Identity Verification 02:24 Privacy Risks and Data Exposure 02:46 Zero-Knowledge Proofs as a Solution 03:44 Selective Disclosure and ZPass Overview 04:19 Use Cases: Age, Residency, Compliance, Attributes 06:18 Combining Multiple Proofs and Broader Compliance 07:25 How ZPass Works: Issuance and Claims 08:19 Technical Flow: Passport Registration and Onchain Proofs 09:49 Limitations of Existing Approaches 10:53 From Identity to Proving Humanity: Live Identity 11:41 Introducing KYA: Know Your Address 12:24 How KYA Works: On-Device ZKML Verification 13:43 Privacy Advantages of ZPass and KYA 14:02 Enabling Private, Compliant Payments 14:22 KYA Demo and User Experience 14:40 Compliance, Rule Engines, and Risk Scoring 15:49 Regulatory Gaps and Policy Engagement 16:39 Conclusion and Further Resources _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🇺🇸 *Pragma New York* Pragma New York 2025 was held on August 14th at Vesper Events in Brooklyn, New York and was an in-person summit for builders and leaders in the web3 ecosystem. Watch the full Pragma New York YouTube Playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXzKMXK2aHh5TRLdUXjnhUVfdbBtu6z2j ETHGlobal's Pragma series takes place in cities around the world, and is designed to be a different kind of event. Pragma is a one-stage conference with founders-only on stage, bringing together a small group of curated attendees and speakers to discuss the future of web3 and reflect on the past. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ Follow Howard Wu X: https://x.com/1HowardWu ✅ Follow Provable X: https://x.com/ProvableHQ ✅ Follow ETHGlobal X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Warpcast: https://warpcast.com/ethglobal Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UCfF9ZO8Ug4xk_AJd4aeT5HA _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship? 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ETHBerlin · Sep 4, 2024

ETHBerlin04 May 24-26, 2024, CIC Innovation Campus Keynote: Puja Ohlhaver, Mikhail Nikulin - The Silent Strings of Proof of Personhood Experiments in PoP (where each person has a single, unique identity) have increasingly been touted as a mechanism for tracing information provenance, distributing UBI, and facilitating governance over systems of AI. This talk chronicles Idena's experiment in Proof of Personhood from launch in August 2019 to a crisis in May 2022. ETHBerlin04 - https://ethberlin.org A Department of Decentralization event - https://dod.ngo The video discusses the concept of "proof of personhood" and its implications for democratic governance, economic distribution, and the authenticity of information in the age of generative AI. The speaker shares their experience with a study conducted on Idena, a blockchain protocol that aims to verify unique human identities to enable democratic processes and potentially govern AI. They critique the protocol based on a research paper titled "Compressed to Zero, the Silent Strings of Personhood," highlighting both its ambitions and challenges. Idena's founder explains that it was the first blockchain with a one-person-one-vote consensus algorithm designed to prevent bots and account trading through identity staking. The goal was to create a decentralized network operated by individuals, countering centralization issues seen in proof-of-stake systems. However, as Idena grew, suspicious patterns emerged suggesting automation or human farms where individuals were paid to perform validation ceremonies without understanding or controlling their private keys. This raised concerns about the integrity of the proof of personhood concept and whether it can be compromised by such practices.

Remco Bloemen

ETHGlobal · Oct 9, 2023

Join Remco Bloemen from Worldcoin at Pragma Paris 2023 as he shares major updates on the future of decentralized identity and civil resistance in Web3. In this talk, Remco outlines how Worldcoin is building the largest financial and identity network that gives ownership to everyone. He explains the urgent need for onchain proof of personhood in the age of AI and AGI, and how Worldcoin is solving this with the Orb, World ID, and the World App. Remco walks through how privacy-preserving biometric verification works, why iris-based uniqueness was chosen, and how World ID ensures anonymous authentication using zero-knowledge proofs. He announces that World App has passed 2 million users, with over 600,000 smart wallets deployed on Optimism. He also shares valuable scaling insights from their migration to the Superchain, including gas optimization, calldata cost management, and zkSNARK efficiency in L2 environments. This talk concludes with the official launch of the World ID SDK, which is now open source and available to developers worldwide. Remco invites builders to integrate World ID into apps that require one-person-one-account guarantees—such as airdrops, voting systems, and more—and highlights how over 350 projects and 1,000+ developers are already building on top of Worldcoin’s protocol. 00:00 Introduction and Worldcoin’s mission 00:47 The challenge of AGI and identity online 01:20 Why we need a new onchain human primitive 02:02 World App reaches 2M+ users globally 02:41 Introducing World ID and privacy guarantees 03:17 How the Orb works and protects privacy 04:01 Anonymous zk-based authentication explained 05:13 Use cases for airdrops and onchain voting 05:56 350+ projects already building on World ID 06:40 Migration to Optimism and smart wallet rollout 07:25 Lessons from L1 vs L2 gas and calldata costs 09:19 Compression tricks and zk proof optimization 10:35 World ID SDK is now open and live _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🇫🇷 *Pragma Paris* Pragma Paris took place at the Pavillion Vendome in Paris on July 20, 2023, and was an in-person summit for builders and leaders in the web3 ecosystem. Watch the full Pragma Paris 2023 playlist here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXzKMXK2aHh42f0yI-hyeOCbNZpvV2fIT&si=Ez6ych6OAdn_sq1D ETHGlobal's Pragma series takes place in cities around the world, and is designed to be a different kind of event. Pragma is a one-stage conference with founders-only on stage, bringing together a small group of curated attendees and speakers to discuss the future of web3 and reflect on the past. Ever since we first introduced our new event series Pragma in Tokyo of the spring of 2023, we have been fostering a curated, global community of individuals who deeply care about web3. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow Worldcoin* X: https://x.com/worldcoin ✅ *Follow ETHGlobal* X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Warpcast: https://warpcast.com/ethglobal Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ETHGlobal _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship?_ 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _