$0

in prizes to prove (or disprove!) Reed-Solomon proximity gaps conjectures.

An initiative by the Ethereum Foundation to advance the foundations of modern zkVMs.

About

Recent progress in succinct non-interactive proof systems (SNARKs) has given rise to important open problems at the intersection of coding theory and cryptography. Modern SNARK systems rely on properties of Reed–Solomon codes—specifically proximity gaps, correlated agreement, and mutual correlated agreement—that are not yet fully understood.

The Proximity Prize offers $1,000,000 in awards to researchers who resolve the grand challenges below. Breakthroughs in these areas will directly enable more efficient SNARK systems and strengthen the cryptographic foundations of zero-knowledge applications.

The Challenges

The prize targets two grand challenges formalised in our companion paper, Open Problems in List Decoding and Correlated Agreement (Arnon, Boneh, Fenzi, 2026).

The grand MCA challenge

We are given a Reed–Solomon code $\mathcal{C} := \mathrm{RS}[\mathbb{F}, \mathcal{L}, k]$ defined over some smooth evaluation domain $\mathcal{L} \subseteq \mathbb{F}$. The code has constant rate, and in particular the rate $\rho(\mathcal{C}) := k / |\mathcal{L}|$ is one of $\{1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16\}$. For a given $\varepsilon^*$, say $\varepsilon^* = 2^{-128}$, determine the largest $\delta^*_{\mathcal{C}} \in [0, 1]$ such that
$$\varepsilon_{\mathrm{mca}}(\mathcal{C},\, \delta^*_{\mathcal{C}}) \leq \varepsilon^*,$$
assuming $|\mathbb{F}|$ is sufficiently large so that such a $\delta^*_{\mathcal{C}}$ exists.

The grand list decoding challenge

We are given a Reed–Solomon code $\mathcal{C}$ as in the grand MCA challenge. For a given $\varepsilon^*$, say $\varepsilon^* = 2^{-128}$, and a constant $m$, determine the largest $\delta^*_{\mathcal{C}} \in [0, 1]$ such that
$$|\Lambda(\mathcal{C}^{\equiv m},\, \delta^*_{\mathcal{C}})| \leq \varepsilon^* \cdot |\mathbb{F}|,$$
assuming $|\mathbb{F}|$ is sufficiently large so that such a $\delta^*_{\mathcal{C}}$ exists.
Read the full paper →

Prize Judges

Dan Boneh

Dan Boneh

Stanford University

Giacomo Fenzi

Giacomo Fenzi

EPFL

Gal Arnon

Gal Arnon

Bocconi University

For inquiries:

proximityprize@ethereum.org