Howard is the Founder of Aleo and CEO of Provable, an Aleo Labs company focused on developing products for compliant, confidential payments and creating tools for developers to deploy and manage applications on the Aleo blockchain.
His notable contributions to the fields of zero-knowledge proofs and elliptic-curve cryptography, including Zexe and DIZK, have been integrated into protocols such as Ethereum, Zcash, and Aleo.
Howard graduated from UC Berkeley where his research focused on cryptography, computer security, and verifiable computing. He is also a co-founder of Aleo, a layer 1 blockchain that combines general-purpose programmability with the power of zero-knowledge proofs.
How have developers responded to Aleo’s approach to simplifying the cryptographic complexity of zero-knowledge (ZK) technology, and are there particular use cases where the network has excelled?
The most notable use case is payments. In the financial sector, applications like B2B payments and payroll require privacy, which current blockchain transparency struggles to provide.
People generally don’t want their colleagues to see salary or bonus details. With Aleo, private payments make it possible to handle global payroll efficiently while keeping financial information confidential.
On Aleo, you get the best of both worlds: the privacy of traditional finance and the speed, flexibility, and lower fees associated with cryptocurrency. As we continue to enhance the network’s scalability, speed, and cost-effectiveness, we’re seeing increased interest in financial applications.
Can you walk us through Proof of Succinct Work and what sets it apart from traditional PoW models?
Proof of Succinct Work, or PoSW, is Aleo’s innovative approach to consensus that increases network security and efficiency.
Unlike Proof of Work (PoW), which relies on solving hash functions, PoSW tasks miners with solving puzzles that accelerate zero-knowledge (ZK) proving. This approach benefits Aleo and also contributes to the broader ZK space by advancing hardware acceleration for ZK proofs.
With Google Cloud now running a validator node on the Aleo Network, how do you strike a balance between decentralisation and enterprise partnerships?
Decentralisation is a priority for us. The Aleo Network has 25 active validators on mainnet, including Google Cloud, with plans to increase to 40 by year-end.
Google Cloud’s involvement improves network stability and transaction throughput, supporting the development of innovative privacy-focused dApps.
Beyond running a validator, Google Cloud offers additional support, such as One-Click Node Deployment in its marketplace, integration of Aleo’s blockchain data into BigQuery, and participation in the Google Cloud for Startups programme.
This collaboration provides developers with essential data and support to build on Aleo.
Which zero-knowledge applications stand out to you beyond cryptocurrency, and what broader potential do you see for this technology?
Zero-knowledge technology extends beyond crypto into areas like payments, healthcare, and identity. Aleo supports confidential transactions and smart contract programmability, which are essential for maintaining data privacy.
A practical example is identity verification. Typically, verifying your identity online requires sharing sensitive documents.
With ZK, you can generate a proof without exposing the entire document, reducing the risk of data breaches. Other emerging ZK use cases include gaming, DeFi, and healthcare.
From a compliance perspective, Aleo offers a unique level of private compliance. Payments can be decrypted with an account view key, allowing users to decide who can access transaction data. This feature supports compliance in regulated industries requiring detailed oversight.
What are Aleo’s priorities for 2025, and how do you see the network evolving over the next year?
We recently released our technical roadmap that will help make these use cases a reality. It outlines upgrades that strengthen the network’s stability and scalability and improve the developer experience, creating more opportunities for privacy-preserving applications to grow.
We anticipate a rise in privacy feature demand as more bridges and stablecoin issuers integrate with Aleo, attracting individual users and institutions from web2 and web3.