Announcing NRG#4 Selected Proposals

[Savio-Sou]

Overview

The 4th installment of the Noir Research Grants sets out to challenge the status quo of developing with Zero-Knowledge Proofs, seeding support for grassroot Noir developer tool projects to unlock intuitive access to performant cryptographic privacy for developers.

Arbitrum Foundation, Aztec Labs, Stellar Development Foundation, and World Foundation are collaboratively sponsoring US$200k in grants to push this goal forward, supporting seven selected teams to explore and build their visions in Noir tooling.

From the tremendous interest received, we are excited to share that the following project teams will be supported with the grant sponsorships to research and realize their ideas:

Main Track

Noirlings.app: Web-Based Interactive Playground for Learning Noir, Fast

Andee’s proposal sets out to develop an interactive web platform for developers to experiment building and better understand their Noir programs, lowering the barrier of entry to both experience and dive deep into Noir code.

Learn more reading the team’s full proposal: https://github.com/orgs/noir-lang/discussions/8559

Noir Circuit Optimizer: Constraint Reduction Tooling for Efficient Proof Generation

HashCloak’s proposal sets out to explore an optimizer for Noir programs, assisting Noir developers to improve their code efficiencies alongside manual benchmarks and code reviews.

Learn more reading the team’s full proposal: https://github.com/orgs/noir-lang/discussions/8590

Noir WebProof SDK

Kyoung Wan and his team’s proposal sets out to productionize an SDK for proving and verifying arbitrary web data from the browser, unlocking innovative while cryptographically secured Web2 <> Web3 use cases through Noir.

Learn more reading the team’s full proposal: https://github.com/orgs/noir-lang/discussions/8595

nrpm: Noir package manager

Chance’s proposal sets out to develop a package management suite, streamlining dependency management and experience working with libraries for Noir developers.

Learn more reading the team’s full proposal: https://github.com/orgs/noir-lang/discussions/8655

Rust CLI Benchmark for Noir Witness Generation

Sid’s proposal sets out to build a standalone benchmarking tool, making it easier for Noir developers to stress test and better understand performance of their Noir programs.

Learn more reading the team’s full proposal: https://github.com/orgs/noir-lang/discussions/8683

Arbitrum Stylus Verifier Track

Arbitrum Stylus Verifier | WakeUp Labs

WakeUp Labs’ proposal sets out to research and develop a Rust-based Barretenberg UltraHonk verifier for Arbitrum Stylus, unlocking the ability to deploy Noir apps on Arbitrum Stylus.

Learn more reading the team’s full proposal: https://github.com/orgs/noir-lang/discussions/8673

Stellar Soroban Verifier Track

UltraHonk Verifier for Soroban: Arkworks-Based Rapid Prototyping & BN254 Precompile Integration

Yugo and Changmin’s proposal sets out to research and develop a Rust-based Barretenberg UltraHonk verifier for Stellar Soroban, unlocking the ability to deploy Noir apps on Stellar Soroban.

Learn more reading the team’s full proposal: https://github.com/orgs/noir-lang/discussions/8509

What’s next

For selected project teams

Savio will reach out for scheduling NRG#4 project kickoffs with each of the selected teams respectively. Feel free to bring questions up on the initiative anytime.

For all project teams

Your enthusiasm for NRG#4 has been nothing short of astonishing. The top-tier quality shown in all your proposals have made the decision process harder than all previous NRGs to make. If your proposal was not selected, it is by no means a mapping of inadequacy, and you should be proud of your work!

NRG is just one of the many ways to kickstart your research with Noir. You are more than welcome to join the Noir Discord, brainstorm next steps, and share research progress with fellow Noir developers there.

Let us bring the world cryptographic privacy!

For all readers

Follow @NoirLang on X and stay tuned for the updates from the project teams and all things in the Noir ecosystem!

Acknowledgements

I would love to thank all researchers and developers that have submitted a proposal. The exceptional bar of quality shown has made the proposal selection a very tough choice. I very much look forward to working with you all in the Noir ecosystem.

Thank you to Arbitrum Foundation, Aztec Labs, Stellar Development Foundation, and World Foundation for the generous support sponsoring grants for the selected proposals of this campaign.

What’s next with NRG

NRG is an open platform first and foremost for all grassroot Noir research, where all are welcome to leverage it to host Noir research initiatives.

If you have questions and/or want support starting an NRG (e.g. have an idea but lacking resources, want to support NRGs but not sure how), do not hesitate to message Savio on Signal.

DISCLAIMER

The information set out herein is for discussion purposes only and does not represent any binding indication or commitment by Aztec Labs and its employees to take any action whatsoever, including relating to the structure, any potential operation and/or features of the Aztec protocol, the protocol roadmap or the Noir language. In particular: (i) nothing in these posts is intended to create any contractual or other form of legal relationship with Aztec Labs or third parties who engage with such posts (including, without limitation, by submitting a proposal or responding to posts), (ii) by engaging with any post, the relevant persons are consenting to Aztec Labs’ use and publication of such engagement and related information on an open-source basis (and agree that Aztec Labs will not treat such engagement and related information as confidential), and (iii) Aztec Labs is not under any duty to consider any or all engagements, and that consideration of such engagements and any decision to award grants or other rewards for any such engagement is entirely at Aztec Labs’ sole discretion. Please do not rely on any information on this forum for any purpose - the development, release, and timing of any products, features or functionality remains subject to change and is currently entirely hypothetical. Nothing on this forum should be treated as an offer to sell any security or any other asset by Aztec Labs or its affiliates, and you should not rely on any forum posts or content for advice of any kind, including legal, investment, financial, tax or other professional advice.