a16z Crypto Rebuilds Jolt Proof System With Post-Quantum Security And Faster Performance

Insider Brief

• A16z Crypto released Lattice Jolt, a post-quantum proof system that it says produces faster, smaller proofs while using less memory.
• Lattice Jolt processed more than 2 million RISC-V cycles a second on a laptop CPU and exceeded 10 million with Apple Metal GPU acceleration.
• The system replaces elliptic-curve cryptography with the lattice-based Akita commitment scheme and produces proofs smaller than 100 kilobytes.

A16z Crypto has released a lattice-based version of its Jolt proof system that it says can resist attacks from future quantum computers while producing proofs two to three times faster than the technology it replaces.

The open-source system, called Lattice Jolt, is a zero-knowledge virtual machine, or zkVM. These systems allow a computer to prove that it correctly ran a program without requiring another computer to repeat the entire calculation. They are used in blockchains, privacy tools and other applications where participants may not trust one another.

According to a blog post from a16z Crypto, the new version replaces the elliptic-curve cryptography previously used in one part of Jolt with cryptography based on mathematical lattices. Lattices are repeating arrangements of points in many dimensions. Certain problems involving these structures are believed to be difficult for both conventional and quantum computers to solve.