One of the bigger trends in the blockchain universe is the need for privacy and confidentiality for transactions on public blockchains. That has given rise to the emergence to a technology known as zero-knowledge proofs (ZKP). A ZKP is a cryptographic method by which one party can prove to another party the possession of knowledge without the necessity of simply revealing it. That way a layer of confidentiality can be added to public blockchains by not disclosing the transaction history whilst providing full verifiability of their validity. ZKPs are one of the most powerful tools cryptographers have ever devised. However, they are difficult to understand. In this talk, we are going to

1. understand the essence of ZKPs by looking at intuitive examples without getting into the nitty-gritty maths

2. learn the underlying principles of ZKPs

3. become acquainted to the different variants of ZKPs

4. understand their privacy-preserving impact for the ecosystem of public blockchains