In 2001, at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Eli Ben-Sasson @EliBenSasson was grappling with a fundamental question:

How can we achieve large-scale zero-knowledge proofs without relying on any trusted setup?

To answer it, he invented zk-STARKs (Scalable Transparent Arguments of Knowledge) — a system that requires no trusted setup, offers higher efficiency, and provides stronger security.

It laid the foundation for decentralized trust computation.