Jolt zkVM switches to lattices for faster, post-quantum proofs

LayerZero researchers and engineers, collaborating with teams at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Southern California, have released LatticeJolt, a new version of their open-source zkVM that shifts its cryptographic foundation from elliptic curves to lattices. This change delivers a faster, post-quantum system while maintaining the architecture that previously made Jolt the simplest and fastest zkVM available. “Lattice Jolt shows that lattice-based SNARKs can be both faster and more compact,” the team reports, positioning it as a potential alternative to currently dominant hash-based post-quantum SNARKs; LatticeJolt targets 128 bits of security based on the Module-SIS standard, the same assumption underlying the most widely deployed post-quantum key-establishment primitive, ML-KEM. Akita, a new polynomial commitment scheme using the Module-SIS lattice assumption, now underpins LatticeJolt, marking a…