aalto1 untyped-item.component.html

Zero knowledge rollups in trusted execution environments

Loading...
Thumbnail Image

URL

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

School of Science | Master's thesis

Department

Mcode

Language

en

Pages

55

Series

Abstract

The scalability limitations of blockchains such as Bitcoin and Ethereum have led to the development of off-chain solutions known as Rollups where transactions are processed in batches off-chain while relying on the underlying blockchain only for storage or for final verification. This created two families of rollups: Optimistic rollups, which offer low costs but require several days to confirm the transactions and Zero Knowledge (ZK) rollups, which are confirmed within minutes at the expense of higher costs. In this work, we propose a Zero Knowledge prover for rollups that leverages Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) to implement a dual-proof mechanism that allows for a flexible trade-off between cost and confirmation time. ZK-proofs ensure correctness and transaction validity, while TEE remote attestation proofs provide a lightweight and cost-effective alternative for validation of the batches. By adjusting the frequency at which each type of proof is verified, our system is able to reduce operational costs up to 65% compared to conventional ZK-rollups, while maintaining finality of transactions within a few minutes. We implemented our system using Winterfell, a high-performance STARK prover, and Intel TDX Trusted Execution Environment. The result of this thesis is a practical rollup prover proof-of-concept that balances efficiency, cost, and security, laying the groundwork for new blockchain solutions.

Description

Supervisor

Gunn, Lachlan

Thesis advisor

Choudhary, Gaurav
Gunn, Lachlan

Other note

Citation

Endorsement

Review

Supplemented By

Referenced By