LibraryPrivacy2019Design paperCorpus record
Sonic: Zero-Knowledge SNARKs from Linear-Size Universal and Updatable Structured Reference Strings
Sonic. Mary Maller, Sean Bowe, Markulf Kohlweiss and Sarah Meiklejohn.
Sonic uses a structured reference string that is universal: one setup can serve many circuits, and it can be updated so the toxic waste is harder to keep.
A reading of the public document. Not a copy of it, and not a claim about a later network that reused the name.
If a project says the setup is universal, ask whether a new circuit needs a new ceremony.
- Evidence
- Primary paper
- Re-measured
- No
- Assumptions
- 3
- Records linked
- 2
Code
Source, repository, and what is actually hosted
- ePrint 2019/099https://eprint.iacr.org/2019/099
- The source URL is not a GitHub repository. No code remote is invented.
- Full text is not mirrored. Public availability is not a licence to copy the file onto this site.
- Add to a reading list
01 Claim ledger
What the paper is allowed to say
Each row is a sentence already in the study. The status is the same on every row: a model claim, not a live measurement.
Claim 01 · Paper model
The defect
Groth16 needs a new trusted setup for every circuit. A chain that wants many programs cannot hold a ceremony for each one.
Claim 02 · Paper model
The rule
Sonic uses a structured reference string that is universal: one setup can serve many circuits, and it can be updated so the toxic waste is harder to keep.
Claim 03 · Paper model
How it is put together
The reference string is not tied to one program. Updates let a new participant destroy the previous trapdoor if they are honest. Proofs are larger and slower than Groth16. That is the trade.
Claim 04 · Paper model
Where the claim stops
Universal does not mean no setup.
02 Three cuts
Observation, model, falsifier
A desk does not stop at the summary. Each claim is cut three ways, using only this study's own assumptions and checks. Nothing here is a new figure.
01 The defect
Observation
What the study says
Groth16 needs a new trusted setup for every circuit. A chain that wants many programs cannot hold a ceremony for each one.
Model
What has to hold
Universal does not mean no setup.
Falsifier
What would retire it
Does a new program need a new setup?
02 The rule
Observation
What the study says
Sonic uses a structured reference string that is universal: one setup can serve many circuits, and it can be updated so the toxic waste is harder to keep.
Model
What has to hold
Universal does not mean no setup.
Falsifier
What would retire it
Can the reference string be updated?
03 How it is put together
Observation
What the study says
The reference string is not tied to one program. Updates let a new participant destroy the previous trapdoor if they are honest. Proofs are larger and slower than Groth16. That is the trade.
Model
What has to hold
An update helps only if the new participant was honest and deleted their randomness.
Falsifier
What would retire it
Can the reference string be updated?
04 Where the claim stops
Observation
What the study says
Universal does not mean no setup.
Model
What has to hold
Universal does not mean no setup.
Falsifier
What would retire it
Does a new program need a new setup?
03 Sequence
One action, as an operating tape
- 01Run one setup.
- 02Compile a new circuit against that string.
- 03Update the string when a new party joins, if the protocol says so.
- 04Does a new program need a new setup?
04 Load-bearing
The argument, and where a pitch drops it
Why it is still on the desk
The cut
If a project says the setup is universal, ask whether a new circuit needs a new ceremony.
Why it carries weight
If this cut is skipped, the paper's name is being used without the mechanism that makes the name mean anything.
Where it is dropped
Universal does not mean no setup.
After the text
The cut
PLONK and later universal SNARKs cite this line. The ceremony design of a particular chain is a separate document.
Why it carries weight
If this cut is skipped, the paper's name is being used without the mechanism that makes the name mean anything.
Where it is dropped
Sonic is not PLONK. PLONK came after and changed the polynomial protocol.
05 Register
What has to be true
06 Divergence
What happened after the paper
PLONK and later universal SNARKs cite this line. The ceremony design of a particular chain is a separate document.
A later client, parameter set, or reward formula is a different object. Cite this paper for the mechanism. Cite a primary release for the network. This desk has not re-run the proof.
07 Pre-mortem
What to check before you use the idea
- 0 of 3 marked on this browser. A mark is a reading note, not a pass, a rating, or a recommendation.
08 Anatomy
The paper, in the order a builder needs
The problem it names
Groth16 needs a new trusted setup for every circuit. A chain that wants many programs cannot hold a ceremony for each one.
What the design proposes
- The reference string is not tied to one program.
- Updates let a new participant destroy the previous trapdoor if they are honest.
- Proofs are larger and slower than Groth16. That is the trade.
How the mechanism is specified
- Run one setup.
- Compile a new circuit against that string.
- Update the string when a new party joins, if the protocol says so.
What this page does not treat as proven
Why the desk still reads it
If a project says the setup is universal, ask whether a new circuit needs a new ceremony.
09 Lexicon
Terms, opened into the record
- Universal SRS
- A setup string that many circuits can share.
- Update
- A new contribution that should destroy the old trapdoor.
10 Repository
Every linked record on this page
Underlined words open a page that already exists: a concept, a protocol profile, a failure record, or another paper. If a word is not underlined, this desk does not have a record for it.
Papers
This is Blockchain Lab's reading of a public design paper. It is not the paper, not a copy of it, and not an offer of tokens, equity, custody or a partnership. Later network behaviour can diverge from the text. Nothing here is investment, legal or technical advice.
Research status: Design paper. Last reviewed: 1 October 2026. This is a reading of a public paper, not investment, legal or security advice.