Vitalik Buterin Introduces Circle STARKs Protocol for Blockchain Security and Efficiency

cryptonews.com:

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has introduced a cryptographic protocol called Circle STARKs to enhance blockchain security and efficiency.

This protocol leverages smaller fields in cryptography, offering improved proving speeds and reduced computational costs without compromising security.

Circle STARKs present a significant advancement in the blockchain industry, promising robust security and enhanced efficiency.

Exploring circle STARKshttps://t.co/WoVeucLXS6

Thank you to @StarkwareLtd friends for the kind support in understanding these concepts!

See also my implementation at https://t.co/qJP3lnaS8m

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) July 23, 2024

In a detailed blog post titled “Exploring Circle STARKs,” Buterin explains that the most crucial trend in STARK protocol design over the past two years has been the shift toward using smaller fields.

Traditional Scalable Transparent ARguments of Knowledge (STARKs) typically operate over 256-bit fields. While secure, these larger fields tend to need to be more efficient.

Circle STARKs, on the other hand, utilize smaller fields such as Mersenne31, resulting in substantial improvements in proving speed and computational efficiency.

For instance, the new protocol can verify up to 620,000 Poseidon2 hashes per second on an M3 laptop, a considerable enhancement over previous implementations.

Despite these advantages, using smaller fields comes with inherent security challenges. Small fields have a limited number of possible values, making them potentially vulnerable to brute-force attacks.

Circle STARKs addresses this issue by implementing multiple random checks and using extension fields.

This approach expands the set of values attackers must guess, creating a computational