Monero currently uses Bulletproofs+ to prove that transaction amounts are valid without revealing the amount. While Bulletproofs+ provides compact proofs ideal for blockchain storage constraints, computational costs remain a bottleneck. Prover time affects user experience when sending transactions, and verifier time impacts node scalability during block verification and chain synchronization.

Developing more efficient zero-knowledge range proofs will be valuable for future upgrades. This project targets a speedup for both prover and verifier by reducing the number of expensive group exponentiations, while maintaining the current proof size. This project is research-oriented, with bulletproof improvements expected to benefit the Monero community.

A copy of the project proposal with more technical information can be found here.

This project will be executed by two researchers at CSIRO (Australia’s national science agency):

• Dr Nan Wang (Principal Investigator) is a research scientist with extensive publications on zero-knowledge proofs at top-tier venues including IEEE S&P, USENIX Security, AsiaCrypt, and PETs. He was the lead author of SwiftRange (IEEE S&P 2024) and Flashproofs (AsiaCrypt 2022). https://www.nan-wang.com
• Dr Dongxi Liu (Co-Investigator) is a principal research scientist with publications in CCS, IEEE S&P, NDSS, USENIX Security, Crypto, and PETs, along with patents in consensus and key distribution. https://people.csiro.au/L/D/Dongxi-Liu

The project deliverables are:

• Design and prototype a new range proof construction in Java with benchmarks against Bulletproofs+.
• Provide formal security proofs.
• Deliver a comprehensive technical report with full protocol specification, security analysis, and open-source implementation to facilitate review and integration.
• Release all code and results under an MIT license to benefit Monero and push forward privacy research.

Timeline: 13 weeks total

• Milestone 1 — Protocol Development (9 weeks): design, Java prototype, and benchmarking.
• Milestone 2 — Report Writing (4 weeks): technical report, security analysis, implementation, and integration support.