Zenith Wallet | Proposal

Aztec
,
1

Title: Zenith Wallet

Contact Details:

Summary

Zenith Wallet aims to provide seamless user interaction within the Aztec ecosystem by offering a privacy-focused, secure, and user-friendly wallet solution. Aztec’s unique features such as native account abstraction, private and public execution, and advanced cryptographic capabilities will be used by Zenith Wallet will simplify onboarding, facilitate seamless transactions, and integrate advanced functionalities like authwit support. Our mission is to become the primary gateway for users to interact with privacy-preserving blockchains, enhancing accessibility without compromising security or privacy.

Estimated Start and End Date

  • Start Date: October 8, 2024
  • Functional Testnet Version: December 15, 2024
  • Final Version Release: March 31, 2025

About Us

Our team comprises four seasoned professionals with extensive experience in blockchain technology, full-stack development, and UI design.

  • Nadeem Bhati - Blockchain Engineer
    • 7+ years in Web3 development
    • Currently part of the Status.im team
    • Former CTO at Virtual Labs and Protocol Engineer at Composable Finance
    • Specializes in zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) and cryptography
    • Proficient in Rust and Solidity
    • LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/nadeem-bhati
  • Saurish Darodkar - Blockchain Engineer
    • 4+ years in Web3 development
    • IIT-B postgraduate
    • Experience with wallets and decentralized exchanges (DEXs)
    • Expert in TypeScript and Go
    • LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/saurish-darodkar
  • Ekant Kapgate - Fullstack Engineer
    • 5+ years in fullstack development
    • Expertise in React, TypeScript, and Web3 integration
    • Previously worked on multiple blockchain-based projects
    • LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ekant-kapgate
  • Shumaila Chini - Designer
    • 4+ years in UI/UX design
    • Expert in Figma and Adobe Creative Suite
    • Focused on creating intuitive and engaging user interfaces
    • LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/shumaila-chini

Details

Technical Overview

Zenith Wallet will be a browser-based wallet extension. The wallet will interface directly with Aztec’s Private Execution Environment (PXE) and support both private and public transactions. Secure communication protocols will be established to interact with PXE, ensuring all sensitive data remains encrypted and secure.

Key Features

1. User-Friendly Onboarding

  • Seedless Authentication: Implement passkeys or biometric authentication to eliminate traditional seed phrases.
  • Key Generation: Automatically generate required keypairs behind the scenes.
  • Delayed Account Deployment: Deploy account contracts only when necessary to optimize gas fees.
  • Token Bridge Integration: Seamless in-wallet bridging of tokens using the Token Bridge API.
  • Fee Payment Mechanisms: Provide options for fee payment, including paymasters and dedicated fee tokens.

2. Account Contract Implementation

  • Aztec.nr Contracts: Write account contracts using Noir.
  • secp256r1 Key Scheme: Utilize the secp256r1 signature scheme for enhanced security.
  • Authwit Support: Implement support for authorization witnesses (authwits) for advanced authorization mechanisms.
  • Upgradability: Ensure account contracts are upgradable to adapt to future requirements.
  • Nonce Abstraction & Replay Protection: Implement secure transaction management.

3. Privacy and Security

  • Secure PXE Communication: Establish secure communication with PXE to prevent unauthorized data access.
  • No Data Collection: Avoid logs or analytics that could compromise user privacy.
  • User-Controlled Features: Allow users to disable features that might leak personal data (e.g., currency conversion APIs).

4. Contract Interactions

  • Intuitive Interface: Provide a seamless experience for private and public token transfers.
  • QR Code Protocol: Develop a protocol to facilitate private transactions using QR codes.
  • Batch Transactions: Support batching multiple actions into a single transaction.
  • Real-Time Information: Display account and network status (e.g., synced block number, balances).

5. Ecosystem Integration

  • WalletConnect Integration: Enable interaction with dApps using WalletConnect.
  • Community Collaboration: Work with the Aztec community to establish standards (e.g., for account contracts, authwits).

System Design Diagrams

Diagram 1: Onboarding and Transaction Processing

Sequence Diagram

Screenshot 2024-10-04 at 4.39.42 PM
Screenshot 2024-10-04 at 4.39.42 PM2444×1870 355 KB

Diagram 2: Account Management, dApp Interaction, and Privacy

Sequence Diagram

Screenshot 2024-10-04 at 4.54.29 PM
Screenshot 2024-10-04 at 4.54.29 PM3086×1842 415 KB

Grant Milestones and Roadmap

Milestone 1: Core Development Setup (Oct 8 - Oct 31, 2024)

Week 1 (Oct 8 - Oct 14):

  • Tasks:
    • Set up development environments and repositories.
    • Define architecture and detailed system design.
    • Begin preliminary UI/UX design sketches (to be developed later).
  • Team Involved: Nadeem, Saurish, Ekant, Shumaila

Milestone 2: Feature Development (Nov 1 - Nov 30, 2024)

  • Weeks 2-5:
    • Tasks:
      • Develop the Key Management Module.
      • Implement seedless authentication mechanisms.
      • Develop the Transaction Module for private and public transactions.
      • Establish secure communication protocols with PXE.
      • Start account contract development in Aztec.nr.
      • Integrate delayed account contract deployment logic.
      • Set up Aztec Node (Server) infrastructure.
  • Team Involved: Nadeem, Saurish, Ekant

Milestone 3: Testnet Preparation (Dec 1 - Dec 15, 2024)

  • Weeks 6-7:
    • Tasks:
      • Finalize account contract with authwit support.
      • Ensure compatibility with Aztec testnet.
      • Conduct comprehensive testing and debugging.
      • Release functional testnet version by December 15, 2024.
  • Team Involved: Nadeem, Saurish, Ekant, Shumaila

Milestone 4: Feature Enhancement (Dec 16, 2024 - Jan 31, 2025)

  • Weeks 8-12:
    • Tasks:
      • Implement multi-account support and quick syncing.
      • Develop backup and migration tools.
      • Enhance contract interaction functionalities (batch transactions, QR codes).
      • Collaborate with Aztec community to establish standards.
      • Optimize wallet performance and security.
      • Begin preparations for mainnet launch.
  • Team Involved: Nadeem, Saurish, Ekant

Milestone 5: Finalization and Mainnet Launch (Feb 1 - Mar 31, 2025)

  • Weeks 13-17:
    • Tasks:
      • Finalize all features.
      • Shumaila integrates UI components.
      • Conduct third-party security audits.
      • Prepare user guides and educational materials.
      • Release final version by March 31, 2025.
  • Team Involved: Nadeem, Saurish, Ekant, Shumaila

Grant Amount Requested

Total Grant Requested: $88,000

Grant Budget Rationale

Personnel Costs

Role Rate Duration Total
Blockchain Engineer (Nadeem) $2,000/week 12 weeks $24,000
Blockchain Engineer (Saurish) $1,750/week 12 weeks $21,000
Front-End Engineer (Ekant) $1,500/week 12 weeks $18,000
Designer (Shumaila) $1,500/week 5 weeks $7,500
Further Development and Support Funds - - $17,500
Total $88,000

Questions

  1. Standards Alignment:
  • Are there any specific standards or protocols under development for account contracts and authwits that we should align with? Guidance on this will help us maintain compatibility and interoperability within the Aztec ecosystem.
  1. Communication Channels:
  • What are the preferred channels for ongoing communication and feedback during the development process? Knowing the best way to reach out—whether via email, dedicated forums, or scheduled meetings—will help us coordinate effective
2 Likes
2

Hi Thanks for your proposal!

The Grant Amount Requested is different to the Grant Budget Rationale. I’d suggest sticking to the grant amount requested number :slight_smile:

To answer your questions:

specific standards or protocols under development for account contracts and authwits that we should align with

No real standards. The goal would be to work with the community to align on one!
Unsure what standards you mean in terms of Authwits. These are authorization witnesses that are generated when you sign the contents of a function. There could be some EIP 712 like scheme that you could align on to make human readable, but as far as the protocol is concerned, there don’t need to be any standards other than what is shown in our usage.

What are the preferred channels for ongoing communication and feedback during the development process?

Discord and Signal! We can do meetings as needed. There will also be ecosystem calls to meet and work with the community.

2 Likes
3

Thank you for your feedback on our proposal.

We appreciate the clarification on standards for account contracts and authwits. We’re eager to collaborate with the community to establish and align on any emerging standards that promote compatibility within the Aztec ecosystem.

Thank you for directing us to Discord and Signal for ongoing communication. We’ll join the relevant channels and look forward to participating in ecosystem calls and community discussions.

Due to new account constraints on the platform, we were unable to edit our proposal without removing essential content like links and images. We’ll stick to the grant amount requested number and adjust the rationale accordingly. We would appreciate the opportunity to amend our proposal to reflect this.

We appreciate your consideration and are excited about the opportunity to contribute to the Aztec ecosystem.

2 Likes
4

Couple other questions as I evaluate proposals more deeply:

  1. You talk a lot about establishing secure connection. How are you planning to implement this? I think it might be very hard to do it in the first 2-5 weeks
  2. Authwit support in milestone 3 seems to be quite late since without authwits (similar to approval on ethereum), interacting with composable contracts become quite difficult. Is there a clear rationale why authwit support is so delayed?
  3. Instead of traditional browser extensions, would you be interested in considering other types such as website or embedded wallets/iFrames etc?
5
  1. You talk a lot about establishing secure connection. How are you planning to implement this? I think it might be very hard to do it in the first 2-5 weeks

We’ll establish a shared secret between the wallet extension and the PXE during initial setup on the user’s device, allowing us to sign messages using HMAC for authentication. Since both the extension and PXE run locally under the user’s control, we can securely exchange this secret without needing complex key exchange protocols like Diffie-Hellman, simplifying the implementation and reducing overhead.

  1. Authwit support in milestone 3 seems to be quite late since without authwits (similar to approval on ethereum), interacting with composable contracts become quite difficult. Is there a clear rationale why authwit support is so delayed?

You’re right, authwit support is crucial for interacting with composable contracts. November is already packed with building core components like key management and transaction processing. We’ll start integrating authwit support during November, but due to its complexity and the need for testing, some of the work will likely extend into December—that’s why it’s scheduled for Milestone 3.

  1. Instead of traditional browser extensions, would you be interested in considering other types such as website or embedded wallets/iFrames etc?

Yes, we’re open to considering alternative wallet types, but we’d need to evaluate their security and feasibility compared to browser extensions before deciding. Happy to hear your preference on this.

2 Likes