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Poseidon: A New Hash Function for Zero-Knowledge Proof Systems (Grassi, Khovratovich, Rechberger, Roy, Schofnegger 2021)

Last modified: 2026-10-27

URL: https://eprint.iacr.org/2019/458

Summary

Designs Poseidon, an arithmetization-friendly hash function operating natively over large prime fields, using the HADES strategy (full and partial S-box rounds) to minimize the number of multiplicative constraints. In R1CS/Plonkish circuits Poseidon costs orders of magnitude fewer constraints than SHA-256, which is why it is widely used for Merkle trees, commitments and nullifiers inside SNARKs, e.g. for revocation or membership proofs in credential systems. (USENIX Security 2021.)

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