Gotta Hash 'Em All! Speeding Up Hash Functions for Zero-Knowledge Proof Applications
Nojan Sheybani, Tengkai Gong, Anees Ahmed, Nges Brian Njungle, Michel Kinsy, Farinaz Koushanfar

TL;DR
This paper introduces HashEmAll, FPGA-based implementations of ZK-friendly hash functions that significantly outperform CPU versions, enabling more efficient zero-knowledge proof applications with scalable, resource-aware designs.
Contribution
The paper presents HashEmAll, a novel FPGA-based framework for ZK-friendly hashes, achieving substantial speedups and resource efficiency for practical ZKP applications.
Findings
Latency-optimized HashEmAll outperforms CPU by at least 10x, up to 23x.
Designs consume less power and are compatible with accessible FPGAs.
Enables scalable ZKP applications like large Merkle Trees.
Abstract
Collision-resistant cryptographic hash functions (CRHs) are crucial for security, particularly for message authentication in Zero-knowledge Proof (ZKP) applications. However, traditional CRHs like SHA-2 or SHA-3, while optimized for CPUs, generate large circuits, rendering them inefficient in the ZK domain. Conversely, ZK-friendly hashes are designed for circuit efficiency but struggle on conventional hardware, often orders of magnitude slower than standard hashes due to their reliance on expensive finite field arithmetic. To bridge this performance gap, we present HashEmAll, a novel collection of FPGA-based realizations for three prominent ZK-friendly hashes: Griffin, Rescue-Prime, and Reinforced Concrete. Each offers distinct optimization profiles, with both area-optimized and latency-optimized variants available, allowing users to tailor hardware selection to specific application…
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Taxonomy
TopicsCryptography and Data Security · Cryptographic Implementations and Security · Cryptography and Residue Arithmetic
