Crypto Stories: A Primer on Zero-Knowledge Proofs with Elena Nadolinski and Howard Wu

Summary: Elena Nadolinski (@leanthebean), an engineer interested in the privacy space, and Howard Wu (@1HowardWu), co-founder of Dekrypt Capital, talk to Erik on this episode about zero-knowledge proofs and privacy.<br><br>They talk about why privacy is important in general and the benefits of privacy in the crypto world. They explain what a zero-knowledge proof is and Howard talks about some of the more recent developments in cryptography. <br><br>They get into how ZKPs are being used today and the promise they hold for future applications. <br>Elena and Howard also get into the differences between privacy coins.<br><br>Quotable lines from this episode:<br><br>"Privacy is one of those things where people don’t appreciate it until they don’t have it."<br> -HW<br><br>"Just because a friend of mine and I shared a coffee, doesn’t mean I get to have the right to see all of their transactions. If we were to live in a world where all we used were cryptocurrency blockchains to do all our computations, I would basically be able to see all the transactions of all time from all the people I’ve ever interacted with." -EN<br><br>"How do you ensure the integrity of a computation, especially one you outsource to a server elsewhere?" - HW<br><br>"Zero-knowledge proofs basically allow you to say 'I can’t tell you the secret but I can prove to you that I know the secret.'" - HW<br><br>"Scalability is like the offense on a football team and privacy is like the defense on the football team. They’re both equally important but the quarterback is much more sexy than the defense." -HW<br><br>Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. <br><br>Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.<br><br>Venture Stories is brought to you by Village Global, is hosted by co-founder and partner, Erik Torenberg and is produced by Brett Bolkowy.