research: submit Soroban-ZK-Std Stellar Wave project profile — closes #67

CONTRIBUTORS.md

@@ -89,3 +89,21 @@ Replace `YOUR_GITHUB_USERNAME`, `Your Name`, `YOUR_X_HANDLE`, and the role/proje
 - **Reviewer** — Rated and reviewed submitted projects
 - **Developer** — Contributed code to the platform
 - **Maintainer** — Core team maintaining the project
+$content = Get-Content CONTRIBUTORS.md -Raw
+$newEntry = @'
+
+<div style="display:inline-block;width:130px;vertical-align:top;text-align:center;margin:8px">
+  <a href="https://github.com/spiffamani">
+    <img src="https://github.com/spiffamani.png" width="80" style="border-radius:50%" alt="spiffamani" />
+    <br />
+    <sub><b>spiffamani</b></sub>
+  </a>
+  <br />
+  <a href="https://github.com/spiffamani"><img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/-GitHub-181717?logo=github&logoColor=white&style=flat-square" alt="GitHub" /></a>
+  <br />
+  <sub>Researcher — Soroban-ZK-Std</sub>
+</div>
+
+'@
+$content = $content -replace '<!-- CONTRIBUTORS-END -->', "$newEntry<!-- CONTRIBUTORS-END -->"
+Set-Content CONTRIBUTORS.md $content

research/soroban-zk-std-submission.md

@@ -0,0 +1,126 @@
+# Soroban-ZK-Std — Stellar Wave Research Submission
+
+## Project Selected
+
+- **Project:** Soroban-ZK-Std
+- **Wave source:** `georgegoldman/Soroban-ZK-Std` — Stellar Wave Program repository
+- **Domain:** ZK Cryptography / Infrastructure / Developer Tooling
+- **Repository:** https://github.com/georgegoldman/Soroban-ZK-Std
+- **Category:** Infrastructure
+
+## Why This Project
+
+Soroban-ZK-Std is one of the most technically ambitious projects in the Stellar Wave
+ecosystem. While Stellar Protocol 25 ("X-Ray") introduced native host functions for
+BN254 pairing checks and Poseidon hashing, no developer-friendly SDK existed to
+actually use them. Soroban-ZK-Std fills that gap — making Stellar the premier home
+for Zero Knowledge proof systems. This is foundational infrastructure that unlocks
+private stablecoins, shielded RWA transfers, ZK-voting, and trustless governance
+directly on Stellar.
+
+## What The Project Does
+
+Soroban-ZK-Std is a high-performance, modular, no_std cryptographic standard library
+optimized specifically for the Soroban Virtual Machine on Stellar. It provides the
+mathematical primitives required to build and verify Zero Knowledge proofs on-chain,
+including Groth16 proof verification — the most widely used ZK proof system in
+production blockchain applications today.
+
+The library is structured into three distinct layers:
+
+1. **zk-core** — Pure mathematics. Elliptic curve logic for the BN254 curve,
+   field arithmetic over both the base field (Fp) and scalar field (Fr), constant-time
+   modular operations, 512-bit schoolbook multiplication, Fermat-based inversion,
+   and scalar multiplication via the double-and-add algorithm. All operations are
+   constant-time to prevent side-channel attacks — a hard requirement for any
+   production cryptographic library.
+
+2. **zk-soroban** — Stellar integration. Traits that extend the Soroban environment,
+   host-function mappings for the native `bn254_multi_pairing_check` and
+   `poseidon2_permutation` host functions introduced in Protocol 25, and XDR
+   conversion utilities.
+
+3. **verifier-sample** — Integration testing. A sample Soroban contract used to verify
+   WASM binary size and gas costs against the 64KB WASM limit and 400M instruction
+   budget enforced by the Soroban VM.
+
+## Technical Approach and Stellar Integration
+
+The project directly leverages two Protocol 25 (CAP-0075) host functions:
+
+- **`bn254_multi_pairing_check`** — Native BN254 pairing verification, used in Groth16
+  proof verification for linear combinations of G1 points.
+- **`poseidon2_permutation`** — Native Poseidon2 hash function, 47% faster than
+  software-only alternatives, used in ZK circuit commitment schemes.
+
+By calling these as host functions rather than implementing them in WASM, the library
+achieves dramatic gas savings — keeping complex ZK verifiers well within the 400M
+instruction budget. The use of `ethnum` for assembly-optimized 256-bit arithmetic
+reduces WASM binary size by approximately 22KB, saving roughly 30% of the total
+64KB contract space budget.
+
+The scalar multiplication implementation (G1 double-and-add over 254 bits) runs at
+approximately 17M instructions — leaving ample headroom for full Groth16 verification
+pipelines. The library is strictly `no_std`, uses no panics, and returns `Result<T, ZkError>`
+throughout, making it safe for use in production Soroban contracts.
+
+## Use Cases Enabled
+
+- **Shielded RWA Transfers** — Private tokenized assets with selective regulatory disclosure
+- **Configurable Privacy** — Institutional payments with ZK-proven compliance
+- **ZK-Voting** — Anonymous on-chain governance for Stellar-native DAOs
+- **Commitment Schemes** — Cryptographic commitments for trustless protocols
+- **Groth16 Proof Verification** — The standard ZK-SNARK system used by Zcash, Tornado Cash, and most ZK-rollups
+
+## Verified On-Chain / Repository Artifacts
+
+- **Repository:** https://github.com/georgegoldman/Soroban-ZK-Std
+- **Crate:** `zk-core` at `crates/zk-core/` — pure BN254 field and curve arithmetic
+- **Crate:** `zk-soroban` at `crates/zk-soroban/` — Soroban host function bindings
+- **Sample contract:** `contracts/verifier-sample/` — WASM size and gas validation
+- **Workspace:** Rust workspace with `wasm32-unknown-unknown` target, `opt-level="z"`, LTO enabled
+
+Verification:
+- https://github.com/georgegoldman/Soroban-ZK-Std/blob/main/crates/zk-core/src/lib.rs
+- https://github.com/georgegoldman/Soroban-ZK-Std/blob/main/Cargo.toml
+
+## Performance Benchmarks (March 2026)
+
+| Operation | Instruction Cost |
+|-----------|-----------------|
+| Field add (Fp) | ~50 instructions |
+| Field mul (Fp) | ~500 instructions |
+| Field invert (Fp) | ~50,000 instructions |
+| G1 point double | ~28,000 instructions |
+| G1 point add | ~38,000 instructions |
+| G1 scalar mul (254-bit) | ~17,000,000 instructions |
+| Soroban budget | 400,000,000 instructions |
+
+## Independent Research Assessment
+
+Soroban-ZK-Std represents a genuine infrastructure gap being filled in the Stellar
+ecosystem. The ZK tooling space on EVM chains (circom, snarkjs, arkworks) is mature,
+but Stellar had no equivalent before this project. The library's strict adherence to
+`no_std`, constant-time operations, and the 64KB WASM constraint demonstrates deep
+understanding of the Soroban execution environment.
+
+The project is actively developed with clear contribution standards, a CI pipeline,
+and bounty-based issue tracking — indicating a healthy open-source trajectory. As
+Groth16 verification (#29 in the issue tracker) and Multi-Scalar Multiplication (#23)
+are completed, the library will be production-ready for ZK application developers
+building on Stellar.
+
+## Submission Details
+
+- **Hub endpoint:** https://usestellarwavehub.vercel.app/api/projects
+- **Category:** Infrastructure
+- **Tags:** `zk, groth16, bn254, soroban, cryptography, no_std, stellar-wave, privacy, infrastructure`
+
+## Submission Confirmed
+
+Live submission completed successfully on March 28, 2026.
+
+- **Hub URL:** https://usestellarwavehub.vercel.app
+- **Status:** SUBMITTED (pending admin approval)
+- **Account:** spiffamani
+- **Submitted:** 28/03/2026