RFP Title:
RiscZero + Cartesi
Wave 2 Intent:
Intent 4: Expand the design space
Overview:
Cartesi currently faces a significant limitation: all its verification processes occur through a replicated public computation manner. This approach has its benefits but also presents challenges. Many use cases for Cartesi would greatly benefit from the ability to prove certain aspects of some data without revealing the data itself.
However, there are also numerous applications where such confidentiality is only necessary for parts of the entire execution.
RiscZero has recently released their audited and open-source RISC-V zkVM 1.0 (32-bit RISC-V), which includes support for the Rust programming language as the way to write ZK-verified programs with privacy, rather than the full Linux system that Cartesi emulates.
By integrating the strengths of RiscZero with Cartesi, developers can create more versatile and powerful applications. We are seeking proposals for frameworks, solutions, and tutorials that make it straightforward to combine the capabilities of these two projects, thereby enhancing the ease of application development for Cartesi developers.
What is the demand you see for this ability? Is the right time for it? Is this addressing an immediate need within the ecosystem, or are we aiming to anticipate a future demand?
The timing for this integration is ideal. RiscZero’s zkVM is audited, open-source, and ready for immediate use, reducing the barriers to implementation. The blockchain industry is rapidly evolving toward privacy-first solutions, making this the right moment to invest in capabilities that will meet both current developer needs and anticipated future demand. By acting now, the ecosystem can proactively position itself as a leader in privacy-preserving computation, ensuring Cartesi’s relevance and appeal in an increasingly competitive market.
Additionally, we have often rejected projects or proposals that would like to use Cartesi Rollups on grounds that private data would be involved in a public computation. If these projects could focus on their business goals rather than starting from scratch on how to combine ZK and Cartesi, it would yield better use of grant funds and effort spent. This specifically speaks to the “Differently skilled developers than those already in the ecosystem building on Cartesi.” and “Successful entry into new areas of Cartesi technology in areas not previously established in.” success criterias of the intent
Solution Criteria:
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Solutions that simplify integrating RiscZero’s zkVM toolkit with Cartesi-based applications.
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Solutions that enable data privacy and confidentiality in Cartesi-based applications.
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Solutions that minimize the cost/time of integrating RiscZero and Cartesi-based applications.
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Solutions that include comprehensive, user-friendly tutorials for developers.
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Solutions that are robust and ready for production use.
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Solutions that aim for verification of ZK proofs inside a Cartesi Machine and not verifying the Cartesi Machine execution itself
Resources: