The First Axiom Open Source Program

The first iteration of the Axiom Open-Source Program concluded on June 15, 2023. Follow us on Twitter to learn about future versions of the program.

Axiom is built upon recent advances in zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs), which will have profound impacts on the blockchain space and beyond. To develop the underlying ZKP technology in an open and transparent way, we have open-sourced all of our ZK circuit code at github.com/axiom-crypto under a permissive MIT license. In the spirit of further developing community contributions to ZK, we are introducing the Axiom Open Source Program.

About the Program

Axiom is looking for individuals or teams to research, design, and implement open-source ZK circuits for cutting edge cryptographic or computational primitives. Because of the difference in computational model between zero-knowledge proofs and traditional computers, we expect most primitives to present interesting design and optimization challenges. The relative youth of the space also means that most implementations will be first of their kind in ZK. Example primitives include:

• Data structures and algorithms: Verify execution of common algorithms and data structures, ranging from tries to Bloom filters.
• Computational primitives: Verify regex parsing or execution of a ZK-adapted virtual machine.
• Cryptographic operations: Verify execution of cryptographic primitives such as hash functions (SHA-256, Blake2b), polynomial commitment schemes (KZG, IPA), and signature verification schemes (Ed25519, RSA).
• Numerical computation and machine learning: Verify operations ranging from basic mathematical functions (fixed point arithmetic, logarithms and exponents, eigenvalues/eigenvectors) to machine learning algorithms (PCA, regression, page rank, neural networks).

No prior experience in zero-knowledge proofs is necessary. We will offer direct mentorship, training, and guidance on:

• The theory behind modern zero-knowledge proofs
• Designing and implementing ZK circuits in the halo2 proving system
• Using and building on top of ZK circuit primitives in our halo2-base, halo2-ecc and axiom-eth libraries.
• Optimization and verification techniques for ZK circuits
• Running ZK circuits in production

All work produced through this program will be open-source, and a primary goal of this program is to onboard more contributors to open-source projects in ZK. Apply by February 28. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis.

Expectations and Goals

We expect program participants to commit at least 10 hours per week for a minimum of 12 weeks. The program will be conducted fully remotely over Telegram and Zoom. By the end of the program, we expect participants to have:

• Produced a ZK primitive in a fully documented open-source repo or PR to an existing repo.
• Produced documentation or a blog about the design and implementation of their circuits.
• (Optional) Produced a demo application to illustrate the usage of their circuits.

We will offer support for compute and direct grant funding to teams or individuals as appropriate.

About Axiom

Axiom is a ZK coprocessor for Ethereum which provides smart contracts trustless access to historic on-chain data and arbitrary expressive compute. As part of our mission to unleash the power of zero-knowledge proofs for crypto applications, we are building some of the most performant zero-knowledge proof libraries. More information about Axiom is available at axiom.xyz, and our ZK circuit code is open-source at github.com/axiom-crypto.