A Look Back at 2025 on the ZK Podcast
... and a look forward to 2026
In last week’s episode, I shared a short recap of what we covered on the Zero Knowledge Podcast in the past year. We also shared what’s coming up, with new ZK Podcast episodes planned for 2026, an upcoming zkSummit event to be held next May in Europe, and our Whiteboard Sessions Season 3 wrapping up this week (with some possible bonus material coming in the new year!).
As we mentioned in our previous post, one big initiative we have planned for 2026 is ZKMesh+: a unified subscriber space that brings together perks and early access to the ZK Podcast, ZK Hack, zkSummit, the State of ZK reports, the addendums, and all of the newsletters we produce.
Head to zkmesh.substack.com to subscribe (and pledge!) if you’d like to support us in the new year!
2025 in Review
2025 was a packed year — one where ZK expanded into new territories, was implemented in products across major companies and governments, new use cases emerged, and adoption went far beyond what we could have expected at the start of the year. As mentioned in our end-of-year episode, below are the themes we covered in 2025!
ZK Themes in 2025
Deep research topics — highlights included lattices and Ligero-style protocols. We also released related ZK Whiteboard Sessions to complement those episodes.
Quantum computing — episodes explored how quantum machines work, how they intersect with cryptography, and what quantum computers means for blockchain security.
ZKID systems — we looked at the rise of ZK-powered identity tools, digital government IDs, and new designs for privacy-preserving credentials.
Emerging applications — we showcased the folks exploring ZK for watermarking, ZK perps, ZK TLS, ZKML, and more.
ZK credentials and reputation — including a long-awaited conversation with Ian Miers on zk-creds, zk-promises, and the future of anonymous verifiable reputation systems.
Infrastructure and ETH proofs — we discussed zkVM benchmarking projects, standardization efforts, and featured Justin Drake’s announcement of the EF Proximity Proof Prize.
Adjacent cryptography — TEEs, TLS Notary, local-first architectures, auditing with AI, and an interview with Rachel Lin on iO and the magic (and danger) of cryptographic assumptions — still one of my favourite episodes of the year.
And even with all that, there’s still plenty left to cover in the new year. For example, the resurgence of Zcash and the privacy-payments narrative, zk-infrastructure optimisations, privacy discussions in the age of AI, and the next generation of ZK applications being developed today.
As we close out the year, ZK and privacy are back in the public conversation — and it looks like this momentum will continue into 2026.
I want to share a huge thank-you to the ZK Podcast production team, the ZK Hack crew, our co-hosts, the Whiteboard Sessions contributors, our advisors, our guests, and of course the broader ZK community — the researchers, cryptanalysts, builders, hackers, founders, armchair enthusiasts, and the OGs — for always pushing ZK forward.
Have a great holiday and a great new year. See you in 2026!
- Anna
Great retrospective. ZK in 2025 felt like the year the conversation finally shifted from “why it matters” to *“how it gets deployed at scale.” The progress around efficiency, developer tooling, and real-world use cases makes it clear this isn’t theoretical anymore, it’s foundational infrastructure in the making.
Looking forward, ZK feels less like a niche and more like a core primitive for privacy, scalability, and verifiable trust across Web3. Appreciate the reflection and the signal this brings to where the space is heading.
Can't Wait For More Content!