The co-inventor of STARKs and the journalist who makes them make sense tell the story of blockchain, zero-knowledge proofs, and the coming Integrity Web.
In the history books of the future, the rise of the internet won’t merit a chapter of its own. True, the world changed entirely when technology suddenly connected billions of people. But the story of the internet will be so intertwined with that of another innovation -blockchain -that they’ll be told together as one.
We live in an age of profound distrust. The institutions that once gave us confidence in contracts, elections, and identity have been hollowed out by fraud, hacks, and manipulation, replaced by platforms that demand we simply take their word for it. But what if trust didn’t require faith in institutions at all?
Eli Ben-Sasson co-invented the STARK cryptographic system, widely regarded as the gold standard for blockchain scalability. Now, partnering with journalist Nathan Jeffay, he reveals how mathematical certainty can replace institutional authority in our digital lives. Zero Knowledge, Infinite Trust moves beyond cryptocurrency speculation and political manifestos to examine how blockchain’s greatest promise lies in something far older: humanity’s timeless pursuit of integrity and provable trust.
Through engaging storytelling and clear exposition, Ben-Sasson illuminates how Zero Knowledge Proofs and STARK technology are solving the critical challenges that have kept truly decentralized networks from achieving mass adoption. The implications extend far beyond cryptocurrency: these innovations could transform the essential fabric of modern life, from securing personal data and digital identity to ensuring election integrity and protecting privacy in an age of increasing surveillance.
What makes Zero Knowledge, Infinite Trust so compelling is its historical perspective. Ben-Sasson situates these technological developments within humanity’s age-old quest for reliable verification, drawing unsettling parallels between today’s centralized digital power and the control systems it was meant to replace. This is the story of how the internet broke trust, and how mathematics might restore it.
For tech professionals, business leaders, policymakers, and any global citizen concerned about digital privacy and corporate power, this book offers a roadmap for understanding, and participating in, the transformation of our digital world.
The primary function of blockchain today
Redefining the “source of truth”
Coordination at scale with integrity
The three pillars of blockchain’s impact, as introduced in Chapter 1
Not a journalist looking in from the outside. The co-inventor of STARKs telling his own story -from a kibbutz in Israel to the frontlines of blockchain infrastructure securing billions in transactions.
From IntegrityLand thought experiments to credit card bill analogies -complex ideas explained with clarity and craft. No computer science degree required. No jargon left unexplained.
Beyond the hype: blockchain as the trust layer of the internet -for finance, identity, AI verification, governance, and human dignity. This is a story about integrity, not just tech.
“Give me a slow, weak, but trusted blockchain, and we’ll enforce integrity on all computations on Earth.”
A mathematician who co-invented STARKs and built an $8 billion company, and the journalist who tells the story from the inside. Together, they make blockchain make sense.
Meet the Authors
Eli Ben-Sasson is a mathematician and blockchain innovator. He developed the mathematical theory that enables blockchain to serve a mass audience and was among the first to demonstrate that Zero Knowledge cryptography brings scale and privacy to blockchains. Eli is co-inventor of several foundational cryptographic protocols: STARK, FRI, and Zerocash.
He was a co-founder and founding scientist of Zcash, and is co-founder, CEO, and Chairman of StarkWare. He sits on the board of the Starknet Foundation, the nonprofit driving adoption of Starknet, a permissionless blockchain aiming to expand the Bitcoin economy.
Eli has published dozens of peer-reviewed academic papers in theoretical computer science and held research positions at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, Harvard, MIT, and Technion, where he was a Professor of Computer Science.
Nathan Jeffay is a journalist who fell into blockchain. He has covered geopolitics, wars, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Today Nathan works alongside Eli, telling the unfolding story of blockchain from the inside.
As head of StarkWare’s media desk, he focuses on explaining complex ideas clearly, honestly, and without hype. He is active in a range of projects for blockchain education, including podcasts, short movies, and news.
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Eli Ben-Sasson and Nathan Jeffay are available for keynotes, panels, fireside chats, and workshops on blockchain, zero-knowledge proofs, the Integrity Web, and the future of digital trust.
From corporate events and university lectures to industry conferences and media appearances, they bring the same clarity and storytelling that defines the book.
Available for virtual and in-person events worldwide. Workshop packages include custom materials and follow-up resources.
You already believe. But every time you try to explain crypto to your spouse, your parents, your friends — it goes nowhere.
This book does the explaining for you. No jargon. No manifestos. Just a compelling story that makes blockchain make sense to normal humans.
“So that you
own your life.”