Benchmarking various ZK proof themed implementations

We want to benchmark:

• hash functions, both on CPU and inside SNARKs
• algebra implementations (fields, elliptic curves, etc)
• circom / Groth16 implementations
• different proof systems
• approaches to lookup tables in SNARKs
• various zkVMs
• etc

Note: Right now, this is very much WIP...

Hash functions

Some examples of relevant hash functions

• Poseidon
• Poseidon2
• Reinforced Concrete
• SHA256
• Keccak256
• Blake2
• Blake3

Algebra backends

• Arkworks
• Constantine
• Gnark
• Zikkurat
• mcl

circom / Groth16 provers

• SnarkJS
• RapidSnark
• Ark-circom
• Gnark
• Bellperson

Proof system

• Groth16
• PLONK
• Spartan
• Nova
• STARK+FRI
• etc etc

Lookup tables

• plookup
• logarithmic derivatives
• cached quotients
• Lasso
• etc (there a lot of variations)

zkVMs

• Cairo (StarkWare)
• Risc0
• MidenVM
• TritonVM
• Lurk (LISP zkVM)
• etc