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Note that all times listed are in UTC. A Google Calendar with all the sessions on it can be found here.


Opening Address

14:00-14:30 UTC on Tuesday 8th June 2021 – Add this session to your Google Calendar

Jack Gavigan (@JackGavigan) is the Executive Director of the Zcash Foundation. He has been involved with Zcash since early 2016, when he became an advisor to the Electric Coin Company. He subsequently joined the company as COO shortly before the launch of Zcash in October 2016. In 2018 he relinquished the role of COO to focus on regulatory relations. He took up the position of Executive Director at the Zcash Foundation in February 2021.


User Defined Assets

14:40-15:25 UTC on Tuesday 8th June 2021 – Add this session to your Google Calendar

The idea of allowing users to issue digital assets on the Zcash blockchain (similar in nature to ERC-20 tokens on Ethereum) pre-dates the launch of Zcash. Different names have been used to refer to this concept, including user-defined assets, user-issued tokens, and Zcash shielded assets. In this panel we will discuss the potential use cases, advantages and pitfalls or adding this functionality to the Zcash blockchain.

This panel discussion will be chaired by Jack Gavigan.


A Conversation with ZOMG

15:35-16:20 UTC on Tuesday 8th June 2021 – Add this session to your Google Calendar

ZOMG is a community-elected grants committee whose purpose is to fund projects that advance the usability, security, privacy, and adoption of Zcash. ZOMG was created by community members of the Zcash cryptocurrency in ZIP 1014, working within the Zcash governance process. ZOMG’s funds come from the decision in ZIP 1014 to allocate a portion of all newly created Zcash — over a four year period — to be spent on major grants. In this session, four of the five members of the inaugural ZOMG committee will discuss the progress they’ve made so far, and the lessons they’ve learnt.


Fireside Chat with Andrew Miller, Michelle Lai and Zooko Wilcox

16:30-17:00 UTC on Tuesday 8th June 2021 – Add this session to your Google Calendar

Andrew, Michelle and Zooko will discuss the state of the Zcash eco-system, sharing their perspectives as chairman of the Zcash Foundation, a member of the Zcash Open Major Grants committee, and the founder and CEO of the Electric Coin Company.


The State of UX in the Zcash Ecosystem

17:10-17:55 UTC on Tuesday 8th June 2021 – Add this session to your Google Calendar

In this session, Pili and Geffen will update the community about how the mobile and desktop environments for Zcash have been evolving, and the part ECC and the Foundation have played. Additionally, we will talk about how NU5 affects the ecosystem and talk about where we are going next!


Hiring for Zero-Thousand Dollars: Building the Outside Contributor Community

18:05-18:35 UTC on Tuesday 8th June 2021 – Add this session to your Google Calendar

Building an open-source developer community is like posting a job offer for zero-thousand dollars. Despite this challenge, the ECC wallet team has made relentless efforts to foster a stronger community around Zcash. As a result, we have received more contributions in the last few months than in the last few years, combined! This session covers the lessons learned along the way. First, we will contrast what has failed against what has worked. Then, we will conclude by outlining our ideas around incentive plans and developer appreciation, going forward.


HSMs & Hardware Wallets

18:45-19:30 UTC on Tuesday 8th June 2021 – Add this session to your Google Calendar

The crypto sector has seen widespread adoption of hardware-based security solutions for protection of private keys. Exchanges and custodians typically use hardware security modules designed for enterprise use, while hardware wallets from companies like Ledger and Trezor are popular for personal use. While transparent Zcash addresses are compatible with solutions that support Bitcoin, the lack of support for shielded addresses is an obstacle to broader adoption of shielded Zcash. In this panel, we have assembled a group of individuals with experience and expertise in building and using hardware-based security solutions, to discuss how we can improve the level of hardware-based support for shielded Zcash.

This panel discussion will be chaired by Jack Gavigan.


The Orchard Shielded Pool, feat. Halo2

19:40-20:40 UTC on Tuesday 8th June 2021 – Add this session to your Google Calendar

NU5 brings the third shielded pool, Orchard, to the Zcash protocol. Orchard is similar in a lot of ways to Sapling, but for some very important differences: the new Halo 2 recursive zk-SNARK proof system, based on new cyclic curves Pallas and Vesta; Actions instead of Spends or Outputs; and more. This session will lay out what Orchard brings to Zcash, how it differs from Sapling, and how Halo 2 removes the trusted setup for parameters and sets up Zcash for using recursive proofs in future upgrades.


Reworking the NUP

20:50-21:20 UTC on Tuesday 8th June 2021 – Add this session to your Google Calendar

The Network Upgrade Pipeline (NUP) was created to introduce synchronization points for Zcash protocol developers and to ensure that future network upgrades continued to meet our historic standards for safety and quality. We’ve had several successful network upgrades and learned a lot about the NUP and ways it could be improved especially when coordinating across additional node and protocol development teams. This session will review the rationale for the NUP and provide an overview of how it’s evolved over the years. We’ll then explore ways we can further improve the NUP and make it work for multiple development teams while preserving the same standards and controls that have produced several successful network upgrades in the past.


FROST

21:30-22:00 UTC on Tuesday 8th June 2021 – Add this session to your Google Calendar

In this talk, we will introduce FROST and the motivations for its design. We will review the security model under which FROST is secure, and how this security model compares to practical deployments of threshold signatures. We will discuss how FROST is compatible with existing Schnorr-based schemes, as well as next steps for FROST to be deployed in Zcash.


Update on Zcash Implementations & Protocol

22:10-22:55 UTC on Tuesday 8th June 2021 – Add this session to your Google Calendar

In this session, Jack and Teor will talk about recent changes in the zcashd and Zebra Zcash node implementations. We’ll cover key features, including the Canopy and NU5 network upgrades. We’ll also talk about how the teams have been collaborating, and the benefits of having multiple node implementations.


Recent Advances in Zero-Knowledge

14:00-14:45 UTC on Wednesday 9th June 2021 – Add this session to your Google Calendar

In this session Mary will be surveying some of the SNARK literature that has come out in the past couple of years. The talk will mostly be high level with an intention of comparing and contrasting different schemes.


From Theory to Deployment: Security Evaluation of State-of-the-Art Zero-Knowledge Proof Systems

14:55-15:40 UTC on Wednesday 9th June 2021 – Add this session to your Google Calendar

The field of cryptography is undergoing a rapid evolution, where the time from publishing a paper to having an implementation has gone down to weeks, or even days. Even more, those implementations are being used in widely deployed systems, sometimes holding billions of dollars in value. More than ever, it is critical for both researchers and developers to work together to ensure the security of these systems. We will try to outline some of the challenges in evaluating the security of the schemes and protocols along their lifetime from theory to deployment, and explore ways that the community can close this gap.


SNARKs on Other Ecosystems

15:50-16:35 UTC on Wednesday 9th June 2021 – Add this session to your Google Calendar

This panel brings together representatives from Tezos, Aztec Network, Ethereum and Celo to discuss the expansive innovations in zk tech beyond Zcash.


Auditing Cryptography

16:45-17:30 UTC on Wednesday 9th June 2021 – Add this session to your Google Calendar

Within cryptocurrency and blockchain solutions, the concepts of decentralization, security, scalability and privacy are all enabled by cryptography. If we are to believe that these technical solutions are reliable, we are relying on the cryptography they utilize. Audits of both the types and implementations of cryptography by industry professionals are critical to advancing these solutions. We’ll discuss what it means to audit cryptography, how best to approach it and what we see as the future of cryptography audits.


Interoperability Between Chains

17:40-18:25 UTC on Wednesday 9th June 2021 – Add this session to your Google Calendar

With the rise of DeFi there has been a growing need for “transporting” digital assets between chains to take advantage of yield-earning opportunities. This has led to the invention and implementation of “interoperability protocols” that enable digital asset holders to move their assets from one chain to another. These protocols often differentiate themselves based on their trust/security models and cost efficiency. This panel will host a discussion with some of the leading developers of interoperability protocols to tease apart their differences, see what they have in common, explore the possibilities of User Defined Assets for Zcash, and discover what (if anything) Zcash needs or can offer to bring its world-class privacy technology to other chains.


Network Privacy

18:35-19:20 UTC on Wednesday 9th June 2021 – Add this session to your Google Calendar

Shielded Zcash provides excellent privacy from chain analysis, but what are the risks from network and traffic analysis? Our panelists will consider the treat model, examine solutions that do and don’t work, and how the tech might evolve.


Governance Across Ecosystems

19:30-20:15 UTC on Wednesday 9th June 2021 – Add this session to your Google Calendar

Cryptocurrencies are powered by open source software and open consensus mechanisms. Without a gatekeeper or chosen decider, how do communities maintain and improve cryptocurrency networks, update that software, or adjust critical consensus rules? In this panel we’ll do some comparative analyses of governance practices and norms across different cryptocurrency communities.


Everyone has Something to Hide: Measuring Privacy

20:25-21:10 UTC on Wednesday 9th June 2021 – Add this session to your Google Calendar

Since the Snowden revelations in 2014, we have seen a significant shift in attitudes towards privacy online. The adoption of GDPR in Europe, and the CCPA in California have accompanied technological innovation that allows users the potential to have better privacy than before. During this session we reflect on how we measure online privacy today, and discuss strategies for maximizing privacy online going forward.

This panel discussion will be directly followed by Closing Comments by Jack Gavigan, from 21:10-21:25.

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