How new cryptographic authentications simplify security

Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin has introduced significant advances in cryptographic authentication, notably increasing authentication speeds and simplifying the process.

These developments utilize new techniques in STARKs and introduce innovative tools such as Plonkey2 and Binius. These changes are set to greatly improve the effectiveness of blockchain technologies.

Fast and easy to verify cryptographic credentials

There are STARKs in the limelight – measurable, clear intellectual arguments. According to Buterin, these cryptographic proofs are characterized by their ability to efficiently verify complex statements such as Ethereum block validity.

A significant innovation in STARKs is the use of smaller field sizes, as opposed to the larger 256-bit integers required by earlier SNARKs. This shift reduces the computational load and speeds up the verification process dramatically.

The new cryptographic tool, Plonkey2, is an example of this development. Plonkey2 employs a Goldilocks field that operates on 64-bit integers, speeding up verification hundreds of times faster than previous methods. Such efficiency gains are critical, especially for the speed and scalability of blockchain applications.

“Plonkey2's main invention was to make a small prime arithmetic modulo: 264−232+1=18446744069414584321. Now, every addition or multiplication can always be done in a few instructions on the CPU, and putting all the data together is 4x faster than before,” explained Buterin.

Vitalik Buterin's work does not stop at optimizing field sizes. His latest work explores the potential of binary fields for cryptographic proofs – using prime zeros and zeros. This approach is implemented in a system called Binius, which makes it much easier to generate proofs using different mathematical methods.

Binius distinguishes itself by focusing on efficient binary fields for digital systems. The reason behind this focus is that digital systems are inherently binary. Therefore, balancing cryptographic operations with this can reduce the computational cost.

“If you use Binius, you don't care much about making a calculation “math-friendly”: “regular” hashes are no more efficient than traditional math hashes, multiplying modulo 232 or modulo 2256 is no longer a big headache, multiplying modulo p and so on,” says Buterin.

Read more: What are zero-knowledge proofs? Ensuring development for Web3 applications

These innovations are a testament to Vitalik Buterin's continued commitment to advancing blockchain technology. As these new cryptographic methods become more widespread, they are expected to significantly lower the barriers to blockchain adoption.