Ecosystem Update

2/7/22

General Announcements

• Aleo has raised a $200M Series B from Kora, Softbank, and Tiger Global:
  • Twitter: https://twitter.com/AleoHQ/status/1490689308457684996
  • Blog Post: https://www.aleo.org/post/bringing-zero-knowledge-to-the-world
  • CoinDesk: https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/02/07/aleo-blockchain-raises-200m-for-privacy-minded-defi/
• The incentivized testnet is running for one more week, and is scheduled to end on February 15, 2359 hrs UTC

Core Engineering Updates

• Merges:
  • snarkVM
    • https://github.com/AleoHQ/snarkVM/pull/639 - Removes marlin pc (@howardwu)
    • https://github.com/AleoHQ/snarkVM/pull/640 - Refactor marlin and polycommit into algorithms, adds back nonnative gadgets (@howardwu)
    • https://github.com/AleoHQ/snarkVM/pull/643 - Adds additional parallel feature guards for testnet3 (@howardwu)
  • snarkOS
    • https://github.com/AleoHQ/snarkOS/pull/1600 - Replace chrono with time (RUSTSEC-2020-0159) (@niklaslong)
• In-Progress
  • snarkVM:
    • https://github.com/AleoHQ/snarkVM/pull/636 - Introduce a prototype program registry (@raychu86)
    • https://github.com/AleoHQ/snarkVM/pull/641 - Makes program ID public in each transition (@howardwu)
    • https://github.com/AleoHQ/snarkVM/pull/645 - Improve the quality of randomness in tests (@ljedrz)
  • snarkOS:
    • https://github.com/AleoHQ/snarkOS/pull/1601 - Add a case for ledger validation with different increments (@ljedrz)
    • https://github.com/AleoHQ/snarkOS/pull/1603 - Faster ledger reader updates (@ljedrz)
• Highlights
  • @pratyush working on some low-level cryptographic optimizations in snarkVM: https://github.com/AleoHQ/snarkVM/tree/lagrange-basis-poly-commit

Community Updates

• Community Grants Program is still undergoing construction. An updated format will be revealed to the community once it is complete.
  • We are still processing applications so please keep an eye out for a reply from us.
• The Ambassadors Program has begun, however Anthony is working with the community to figure out the best way to accommodate for the growing interest.
• There will be a Community Office Hours this Thursday from 1pm to 2pm ET. The topic is still being decided. You can find the info for joining here.
• We are working with a community member to develop some bot for better moderation of the Discord server. Some community members will be assigned moderator roles to help with this moving forward.
• Aleo will be sponsoring ETHDenver which is from Feb 11th to Feb 21st. We will be sponsoring two bounties during the conference (This will be made public on Feb 11th)
  • We are hosting an After Party on Feb 17th. Tickets for the event can be found here.
• There will be live Webinar with one of our grant partners, Pine Street Labs, in February. More details on this event will be shared when available.
  • They will be doing a live session on how to use the Aleo wallet library/SDK that they developed as part of their grant proposal.
• The next ZK Salon is currently in the works. We’re searching for external participants who might want to take part. The conversation will be around PoNW and how it relates to PoS.