Zero Knowledge, Infinite Trust: The Evolution and Revolution of Blockchain Technology - Hardcover

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ELI BEN-SASSON is CEO and co-founder of StarkWare, an $8 billion blockchain technology company, and a pioneering cryptographer who co-invented the STARK cryptographic system―widely regarded as the gold standard solution for blockchain scalability. A co-inventor of the STARK, FRI, and Zerocash protocols and founding scientist of the Zcash Company, he previously held research positions at Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard, and MIT, and served as Professor of theoretical computer science at Technion in Israel.

NATHAN JEFFAY is a journalist who spent 20 years covering complex topics for mainstream audiences, including Middle East geopolitics during the Arab Spring and the coronavirus pandemic. He applies his expertise in making difficult subjects accessible to illuminate blockchain technology for general readers.

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“It’s rare to see technical brilliance explained with this much clarity and urgency. Fully recommend.”
―CAMILA RUSSO AUTHOR OF THE INFINITE MACHINE

For centuries, trust meant believing. You handed over everything important and hoped the institution on the other side would keep it all safe.

THAT ERA IS ENDING.

A new layer of the internet is being built where systems offer proof of trust and a contract doesn’t depend on a lawyer to enforce it. Where your identity can be verified without being exposed and an election can be audited without being manipulated.

BLOCKCHAIN IS THE FOUNDATION OF THAT WORLD. IT IS THE MOST SIGNIFICANT SHIFT IN HOW HUMAN BEINGS ORGANIZE TRUST SINCE THE INVENTION OF THE LEGAL SYSTEM. AND MOST PEOPLE STILL THINK IT’S ABOUT BITCOIN.

Eli Ben-Sasson co-invented the mathematical engine powering the next generation of blockchain networks. Now, he’s teamed up with celebrated journalist, Nathan Jeffay, to trace blockchain’s evolution from a radical experiment in digital money to the infrastructure of a more honest world, one where governments can’t quietly rewrite records, platforms can’t silently manipulate what you see, and the systems that run your life have to prove they’re playing fair.

THE TECHNOLOGY IS REAL, AND THE TRANSFORMATION IS ALREADY UNDERWAY. THIS BOOK IS YOUR GUIDE TO BOTH.

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We live in a digital age of profound distrust. We got here by handing over important aspects of our lives, including our money and social interactions, to a small number of powerful institutions. Each of us has been left weaker while those institutions―corporations and government agencies―have grown stronger. They insist on our faith even as their behavior gives us little reason to offer it.

Eli Ben-Sasson co-invented the STARK cryptographic system, widely regarded as the gold standard for blockchain scalability. Now, partnering with renowned journalist Nathan Jeffay, he reveals how mathematical certainty can replace institutional authority in our digital lives. Zero Knowledge, Infinite Trust moves beyond cryptocurrency speculation and political manifestos to examine how blockchain’s greatest promise lies in something far older: humanity’s timeless pursuit of integrity.

Through engaging storytelling and clear exposition, Ben-Sasson explains the disruptive novelty of blockchains. He then goes on to illuminate how Zero Knowledge Proofs and STARK technology are solving the critical challenges that have kept truly decentralized networks from achieving mass adoption. And the implications extend far beyond cryptocurrency; these innovations could transform the essential fabric of modern life, from securing personal data and digital identity to ensuring election integrity and protecting privacy in an age of increasing surveillance.

What makes Zero Knowledge, Infinite Trust so compelling is its historical perspective. Ben-Sasson situates these technological developments within humanity’s age-old quest for genuine transparency, drawing unsettling parallels between today’s centralized digital power and the control systems it was meant to replace. This is the story of how the internet broke trust, and how mathematics might restore it.

For tech professionals, business leaders, policymakers, and any global citizen concerned about digital privacy and corporate power, this book offers a roadmap for understanding, and participating in, the needed rebalancing of our digital world.