Aztec - Reading Assignment

[wtraveller]

1: Gas cost, long processing time, and no interoperability
2:It is the core of AZTEC TRx they are needed for interoperability ,conversion of tokens, swapping etc.
3:Validation of proof to specific contract validation, process state updates inside note registries from the result of validated proofs.
4:Value, input and outputs
5: Using stealth addresses and a third party frelaying TRx and obscuring gas fees

[Leanne]

1. This is due to a combination of on-chain verification gas costs, slow proof construction, and a lack of interoperability between assets.

2. The core of any AZTEC transaction is a Note. The user’s balance of any AZTEC asset is made up of the sum of all of the valid notes their address owns in a given Note Registry.

3. First to delegate the validation of proofs to specific validation contracts and secondly to process state update instructions inside note registries that result from the successful validated proofs.

4. Aztec enables confidential transactions out of the box. The inputs and outputs of any transactions are represented as encrypted numbers and the value hidden from public view.

5. Combining stealth addresses and a trusted party to relay transactions achieves full anonymity. Using a trusted third party hides the payment of gas and provides full anonymity.

[AsHappyAslarry]

1. Why are traditional zkp systems unworkable on Ethereum?
   The validation of traditional Zero-knowledge systems on Ethereum is unworkable. This is due to a combination of on-chain verification gas costs, slow proof construction, and a lack of interoperability between assets. The lack of interoperability and inability for proof construction to run on a clients browser make these systems unsuitable for use in real world financial applications.
2. What is a ‘Note’ and why is it necessary?
   AZTEC follows a UTXO model similar to that of Bitcoin. The core of any AZTEC transaction is a Note. The state of notes are managed by a Note Registry for any given asset.
3. What are the two functions of the Aztec Cryptography Engine?
   ACE has two primary functions; first to delegate the validation of proofs to specific validation contracts and secondly to process state update instructions inside note registries that result from the successful validated proofs.
4. What piece(s) of information are shielded on Aztec ‘out-of-the-box’?
   AZTEC enables confidential transactions out of the box . The inputs and outputs of any transactions are represented as encrypted numbers and the value hidden from public view.
5. How does Aztec plan to shield the remaining pieces of information?
   Future updates to the protocol will allow the relay of transactions whilst obscuring the payment of gas in a decentralised manor. At that point fully private transactions will be possible

[Kyle]

1. Why are traditional zkp systems unworkable on Ethereum?

This is due to a combination of on-chain verification gas costs, slow proof construction, and a lack of interoperability between assets

2. What is a ‘Note’ and why is it necessary?
   AZTEC follows a UTXO model similar to that of Bitcoin. The core of any AZTEC transaction is a Note. The state of notes are managed by a Note Registry for any given asset.

3. What are the two functions of the Aztec Cryptography Engine?

first to delegate the validation of proofs to specific validation contracts and secondly to process state update instructions inside note registries that result from the successful validated proofs.

4. What piece(s) of information are shielded on Aztec ‘out-of-the-box’?

The inputs and outputs of any transactions are represented as encrypted numbers and the value hidden from public view.

5. How does Aztec plan to shield the remaining pieces of information?

Combining stealth addresses and a trusted party to relay transactions achieves full anonymity. Using a trusted third party hides the payment of gas and provides full anonymity. Future updates to the protocol will allow the relay of transactions whilst obscuring the payment of gas in a decentralised manor.

[Mucha-B]

1. Why are traditional zkp systems unworkable on Ethereum?

• The validation of traditional Zero-knowledge systems on Ethereum is unworkable. This is due to a combination of on-chain verification gas costs, slow proof construction, and a lack of interoperability between assets. The lack of interoperability and inability for proof construction to run on a clients browser make these systems unsuitable for use in real world financial applications.

2. What is a ‘Note’ and why is it necessary?

• AZTEC follows a UTXO model similar to that of Bitcoin. The core of any AZTEC transaction is a Note. The state of notes are managed by a Note Registry for any given asset.
• The user’s balance of any AZTEC asset is made up of the sum of all of the valid notes their address owns in a given Note Registry .

3. What are the two functions of the Aztec Cryptography Engine?

• To achieve this interoperability, all AZTEC assets share a common trusted setup and their state is managed by a single smart contract, the AZTEC Cryptography Engine or ACE. ACE has two primary functions; first to delegate the validation of proofs to specific validation contracts and secondly to process state update instructions inside note registries that result from the successful validated proofs.

4. What piece(s) of information are shielded on Aztec ‘out-of-the-box’?

• Transaction inputs and outputs.

5. How does Aztec plan to shield the remaining pieces of information?

• Combining stealth addresses and a trusted party to relay transactions achieves full anonymity.

[Speedster]

1. Traditional zkp systems are unworkable on Ethereum. This is due to a combination of on-chain verification gas costs, slow proof construction, and a lack of interoperability between assets. The lack of interoperability and inability for proof construction to run on a clients browser make these systems unsuitable for use in real world financial applications. One of the largest costs inside a Zero-knowledge system is the range proof.
2. The Note is the feature that allows a users balance of Aztec assets to be summed. The users balance of any Aztec assest is the sum of all the valid notes that they own in the Note Registry.
3. The two functions of the ACE are: first to delegate the validation of proofs to specific validation contracts and secondly to process state update instructions inside note registries that result from the successful validated proofs.
4. The two pieces of information shielded by AZTC are:The inputs and outputs of any transactions and the value hidden from public view.
5. Combining stealth addresses and a trusted party to relay transactions achieves full anonymity. Using a trusted third party sounds like coinjoin?

[MBF-Lifestyle]

!; Traditional zkp systems are unworkable on Ethereum because of the on chain verification gas cost slow proof construction as well as the lack of interoperability between assets.
2:A note is the core of the AZTEC transaction needed to state the value owned by a user on a specific Note Registry.
3: The 2 functions of the Aztec Cryptography engine are delegate proof validation contracts as well as updates related to the successfully validated proofs in the note registries
4: Transaction inputs and outputs are shielded on Aztec out-of-the-box.
5: Aztec plans to shield the remaining pieces of information by combining the stealth addresses as well as the hidden transaction graphs

[mikesjones]

Why are traditional zkp systems unworkable on Ethereum?

" This is due to a combination of on-chain verification gas costs, slow proof construction, and a lack of interoperability between assets. The lack of interoperability and inability for proof construction to run on a clients browser make these systems unsuitable for use in real world financial applications." the gas fees have gotten so much worse from the time this was written.

What is a ‘Note’ and why is it necessary?

A NOTE is the core of any transaction in AZTEC, it has a UTXO model similar to Bitcoin. “The state of NOTES are managed by a NOTE registry for any given asset.”

What are the two functions of the Aztec Cryptography Engine?

ACE has two primary functions; first to delegate the validation of proofs to specific validation contracts and secondly to process state update instructions inside note registries that result from the successful validated proofs.

What piece(s) of information are shielded on Aztec ‘out-of-the-box’?

AZTEC enables confidential transactions out of the box . The inputs and outputs of any transactions are represented as encrypted numbers and the value hidden from public view."

How does Aztec plan to shield the remaining pieces of information?

" Using a trusted third party hides the payment of gas and provides full anonymity. Future updates to the protocol will allow the relay of transactions whilst obscuring the payment of gas in a decentralised manor. At that point fully private transactions will be possible."

[CryptoVic]

1. Why are traditional zkp systems unworkable on Ethereum? The validation of Zero Knowledge Proofs are unworkable on the public Ethereum blockchain and are due to a combination of on chain verification gas costs, slow proof construction, and a lack of interoperability between assets.
2. What is a ‘Note’ and why is it necessary? A note is the core of an AZTEC transaction. AZTEC’s note model stores balances in a “Note Registry” which follow’s a UTXO model similar to Bitcoin. AZTEC is designed to solve interoperability issues between dApps interacting with zkp and managed with a common trusted set up, with a smart contract.
3. What are the two functions of the Aztec Cryptography Engine?

• To delegate the validation of proofs to specific validation contracts.
• To process state update instructions inside note registries that result from validated proofs.

4.What piece(s) of information are shielded on Aztec ‘out-of-the-box’?

Privacy: That inputs and outputs of a tx remain hidden from the public or third parties and represented as encrypted numbers. Using normal Ethereum addresses are not anonymous, but anonymous tx’s are possible through stealth addresses. AZTEC does not require the sender of the tx to be a party in the tx. Combining stealth addresses and a trusted party achieves full anonymity.

5. How does Aztec plan to shield the remaining pieces of information? Future updates to the protocol will allow one to obscure the payment of gas in a decentralized manor. At that point “fully private transactions will be possible.”

[Alko89]

1. Due to a combination of on-chain verification gas costs, slow proof construction, and a lack of interoperability between assets.
2. The core of AZTEC transactions, they represent the amount of any AZTEC asset by a user in a given Note Registry. They follow a UTXO model similar to Bitcoin.
3. To delegate the validation of proofs to specific validation contracts and to process the state update instructions inside note registries.
4. Inputs and outputs.
5. Using stealth addresses, using a trusted third party to hide payments of gas in a decentralized manor.

[tanja]

1 high on-chain verification gas cost, slow proof constructions, lack of assets interoperability,

2 The core of any AZTEC transaction is a Note.

3 Delegate_Validation_Of_Proof and Update_State_After_Proof_Ok “ACE has two primary functions; first to delegate the validation of proofs to specific validation contracts and secondly to process state update instructions inside note registries that result from the successful validated proofs.”

4 transaction inputs and outputs are shileded

5 Combining stealth addresses and a trusted party to relay transactions achieves full anonymity. Using a trusted third party hides the payment of gas and provides full anonymity. Future updates to the protocol will allow the relay of transactions whilst obscuring the payment of gas in a decentralised manor.

[biffen96]

Why are traditional zkp systems unworkable on Ethereum?
Due to a combination of on-chain verification gas costs, slow proof construction, and a lack of interoperability between assets

What is a ‘Note’ and why is it necessary?
The ‘Note’ is the encrypted value of an asset

What are the two functions of the Aztec Cryptography Engine?

• Delegate validation of proofs to specialized contracts
• Update the state of notes

What piece(s) of information are shielded on Aztec ‘out-of-the-box’?
The values of inputs and outputs are hidden, but not sender and receivers

How does Aztec plan to shield the remaining pieces of information?
Full privacy could be achieved by combining stealth addresses, hidden transaction graphs and a trusted party to relay transactions

[cherrybluemoon]

1. Why are traditional zkp systems unworkable on Ethereum? The validation of traditional Zero-knowledge systems on Ethereum is unworkable. This is due to a combination of on-chain verification gas costs, slow proof construction, and a lack of interoperability between assets.
2. What is a ‘Note’ and why is it necessary? The core of any AZTEC transaction is a Note. The state of notes is managed by a Note Registry for any given asset.The user’s balance of any AZTEC asset is made up of the sum of all of the valid notes their address owns in a given Note Registry.
3. What are the two functions of the Aztec Cryptography Engine? ACE has two primary functions; first to delegate the validation of proofs to specific validation contracts and secondly to process state update instructions inside note registries that result from the successful validated proofs.
4. What piece(s) of information are shielded on Aztec ‘out-of-the-box’? The inputs and outputs of any transactions are represented as encrypted numbers and the value hidden from public view.
5. How does Aztec plan to shield the remaining pieces of information? Combining stealth addresses and a trusted party to relay transactions achieves full anonymity. Using a trusted third party hides the payment of gas and provides full anonymity.

[MarcisB]

1. Why are traditional zkp systems unworkable on Ethereum?

• Expensive verification;
• Slow proof construction;
• Lack of interoperability between assets.

2. What is a ‘Note’ and why is it necessary?

• It keeps track of balance by adding and removing “Notes” of standard denominations to an account.
• This simulates UTXO model on Ethereum, which is an Account model blockchain.

3. What are the two functions of the Aztec Cryptography Engine?

• It delegates proof validation to specific contracts (for each asset?);
• It processes note registry updates as successful proofs are made.

4. What piece(s) of information are shielded on Aztec ‘out-of-the-box’?

• Transaction inputs,
• Outputs,
• Amount.

5. How does Aztec plan to shield the remaining pieces of information?

• By using stealth addresses and a trusted third party to relay transactions.

[matty.t]

1. This is due to a combination of on-chain verification gas costs, slow proof construction, and a lack of interoperability between assets. The lack of interoperability and inability for proof construction to run on a clients browser make these systems unsuitable for use in real world financial applications.

2. Notes are the core of any AZTEC transactions. It is necessary as it makes up the UTXO of the user.

3. ACE has two primary functions; first to delegate the validation of proofs to specific validation contracts and secondly to process state update instructions inside note registries that result from the successful validated proofs.

4. The inputs and outputs of any transactions are represented as encrypted numbers and the value hidden from public view.

5. Combining stealth addresses and a trusted party to relay transactions achieves full anonymity. Using a trusted third party hides the payment of gas and provides full anonymity.

[looperdave]

Aztec seeks to deploy further functionality on top of the Ethereum blockchain to allow for an anonymous private transactions. Previously this has not been possible for several limitations with the Ethereum protocol. Primarily, Ethereum necessitates the use of its native token, Ether, to pay :“gas fees”. This does n ot fit into the zero knowledge proof model, because some entity must pay the gas. Secondly, the construction of the zero knowledge proofs required to introduce privacy are very time consuming and consume a lot of computational power to construct. Lastly, a challenge of interoperability of the blockchain models exists which cannot be reconciled on the base layer of Ethereum.
Aztec uses “notes” in its accounting based model system. This is very similar to Bitcoin, and very different from Ethereum. Under the Aztec protocol, these “notes” included in the transaction are actually values. I like to think of them as currency notes. These are used in the computation and maintenance of the ledger much like BTC uses UTXO’s, yet give the transactions an anonymity as allow for an account based ledger system that resembles Ethereum. This helps to bridge the gap as the DApps deployed by Aztec on the Ethereum blockchain need to have this type of construction for various functionality benefits.
In order to execute all of this complicated stuff, Aztec uses its version of a virtual machine called the Aztec Cryptography Engine. This Engine serves two functions. Firstly, it delegates the validation of the proofs to smart contracts, which helps to reduce bloat. Secondly, it uses the Engine to calculate and update the changes to the “state updates” of the notes that form the core of the transactions.
In the Aztec scheme, ALL aspects of the transaction are hidden, including inputs and outputs, and furthermore, the transaction graph is also obscured to prevent any possible traceability. The ONE thing that could be an use in a tracing exercise, is that GAS FEES must be accounted for. At the present time, the gas fees are paid by a trusted third party, delegated by the contracts, but in the future and implementation will be used to RELAY the Gas fees, thereby removing the need for trust and further obfuscating the PAYER of the gas.

[mr_nv]

• Why are traditional zkp systems unworkable on Ethereum?
  Due to a combination of on-chain verification gas costs, slow proof construction, and a lack of interoperability between assets.
• What is a ‘Note’ and why is it necessary?
  The core of any AZTEC transaction is a Note.
• What are the two functions of the Aztec Cryptography Engine?
  Delegate the validation of proofs to specific validation contracts and, To process state update instructions inside note registries that result from the successful validated proofs.
• What piece(s) of information are shielded on Aztec ‘out-of-the-box’?
  AZTEC enables confidential transactions out of the box. The inputs and outputs of any transaction are represented as encrypted numbers and the value hidden from public view.
• How does Aztec plan to shield the remaining pieces of information?
  Future updates to the protocol will allow the relay of transactions whilst obscuring the payment of gas in a decentralised manor. At that point fully private transactions will be possible.

[Petr_Krulis]

1. due to a combination of on-chain verification gas costs, slow proof construction, and a lack of interoperability between assets.
   2.Notes are the core of AZTEC transactions, they represent the amount of an AZTEC asset which is owned by a user on a specific Note Registry. They are basically a Bitcoin UTXOs equivalent.
   3.first to delegate the validation of proofs to specific validation contracts and secondly to process state update instructions inside note registries that result from the successful validated proofs.
   4.The inputs and outputs of any transactions are represented as encrypted numbers and the value hidden from public view.
2. Future updates to the protocol will allow the relay of transactions whilst obscuring the payment of gas in a decentralised manor. At that point fully private transactions will be possible.

[Emmerich]

1. The verification of a transaction costs too much, the proof time is to slow and assets are not interoperable.

2. Notes are the trade units of AZTEC and necessary for interoperability between digital assets. Assets get converted to Notes and Notes get converted back to assets.

3. To delegate who gets to validate transactions and to update the Note Registry with these validated transactions (keep score).

4. The amount by default.

5. The receiver can be shielded using stealth addresses and by using a trusted third party to relay transactions the sender does not have to be part of the transaction at all. Further updates to the protocol will obscure the gas price making things completely anonymous.

[enrico]

1. Why are traditional zkp systems unworkable on Ethereum?
   This is due to a combination of on-chain verification gas costs, slow proof construction, and a lack of interoperability between assets.

2. What is a ‘Note’ and why is it necessary?
   The core of any AZTEC transaction is a Note. The state of notes are managed by a Note Registry for any given asset.

3. What are the two functions of the Aztec Cryptography Engine?
   first to delegate the validation of proofs to specific validation contracts and secondly to process state update instructions inside note registries that result from the successful validated proofs.

4. What piece(s) of information are shielded on Aztec ‘out-of-the-box’?
   The inputs and outputs of any transactions are represented as encrypted numbers and the value hidden from public view.

5. How does Aztec plan to shield the remaining pieces of information?
   Combining stealth addresses and a trusted party to relay transactions achieves full anonymity.