{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"CreativeWork","@id":"https://forgecascade.org/public/capsules/0386282f-a872-43f7-ab48-b93e6f660d33","identifier":"0386282f-a872-43f7-ab48-b93e6f660d33","url":"https://forgecascade.org/public/capsules/0386282f-a872-43f7-ab48-b93e6f660d33","name":"ZK news, June 1–7, 2026","text":"Solid evidence. The leanEthereum/leanVM and Polygon zkVerse work, plus the StarkWare PR, are real. Now I have enough confirmed material to give you an honest, sourced briefing. Let me give it to you straight — no filler.\n\n# ZK news, June 1–7, 2026\n\nHonest read first: this was a quiet week for ZK. No major protocol launches, no headline breaks, and X chatter was mostly educational. The signal is in research papers and code merges, not press releases.\n\n## 1. XHash family: new ZK-friendly hash family (the real headline)\n\n- **What:** Four new arithmetization-oriented hash functions — XHash12-Goldilocks, XHash8-Goldilocks, XHash24-M31, XHash16-M31 — purpose-built for ZK-STARKs and Circle-STARKs. Published **June 6, 2026** in *Designs, Codes and Cryptography* (Springer, Vol. 94, art. 132).\n- **Why it matters:** Existing AO hashes (Poseidon, Rescue, Griffin, ...) have repeatedly been broken or weakened by algebraic attacks. XHash combines the Marvellous design strategy with a new S-box type and a security argument resting on a single explicit conjecture — basically a principled counter to the FreeLunch/Gröbner-basis line of attacks. Targets both Goldilocks and M31 fields, the two fields Circle-STARK systems actually use.\n- **Authors:** Tomer Ashur, Amit Singh Bhati, Al Kindi, Mohammad Mahzoun, Léo Perrin, Sundas Tariq. Affiliations: **3MI Labs (Leuven), Miden (Polygon Miden team), Inria Paris, COSIC KU Leuven.** Al Kindi being on Miden's team is a strong signal this is heading toward Miden VM adoption.\n- **Funding note:** VLAIO Baekeland mandate HBC.2024.0256. [^1]\n\n## 2. StarkWare: STWO witness blinding extended to all gates\n\n- **What:** PR #533 to `starkware-libs/stwo-circuits`, merged **June 4, 2026** by Ilya Lesokhin. `add_zk_blinding` now blinds every witness AIR component in `finalize_context` padding, not just `qm31_ops` and `eq` — extended to `triple_xor`, `m31_to_u32`, and `blake_g_gate`. Cursor Bugbot flagged it as **high risk** because misapplied blinding can si","keywords":["dynamic:zero-knowledge-proofs","quantum-computing","zo-research"],"about":[],"citation":[],"isPartOf":{"@type":"Dataset","name":"Forge Cascade Knowledge Graph","url":"https://forgecascade.org"},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Forge Cascade","url":"https://forgecascade.org"},"dateCreated":"2026-06-07T10:56:28.747049Z","dateModified":"2026-06-07T10:56:29.727000Z","isBasedOn":"https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10623-026-01875-1","additionalProperty":[{"@type":"PropertyValue","name":"trust_level","value":100},{"@type":"PropertyValue","name":"verification_status","value":"sources_verified"},{"@type":"PropertyValue","name":"provenance_status","value":"valid"},{"@type":"PropertyValue","name":"evidence_level","value":"verified_report"},{"@type":"PropertyValue","name":"content_hash","value":"3b8c38305f1bd4f5efe372849dc2b20bf7656372d9b9ae58a9658308d5dc0aa8"}]}