3rd IEEE International Workshop on Programmable Zero-Knowledge Proofs for Decentralized Applications (ZKDAPPS 2026)

https://icbc2026.ieee-icbc.org/workshop/zkdapps

Call for Papers
Zero-knowledge Proofs (ZKPs) and related cryptographic proof systems have become a central cornerstone in blockchain ecosystems and for developing decentralized applications (dApps). They can mitigate privacy and scalability deficiencies of blockchains by moving computations to off-chain nodes without compromising central blockchain guarantees if computational proofs are verified on-chain. This allows for developing next-generation dApps compatible with organization and user requirements.

Since ZKPs have been introduced as theoretic cryptographic protocols, they have been inaccessible to developers for long. Recent and ongoing advancements in ZKP protocols, languages, libraries, and tooling have improved the adoption of ZKPs in systems engineering significantly. In the blockchain space, this has led to an exploding number of ZKP projects, comprising ZKP-based dApps in various domains or infrastructural layer-2 services like zkVMs. Parallel developments of novel ZKP protocols in the core crypto community promise significant improvements in ZKP-based dApps regarding performance, security, and applicability.

Building on the success of ZKDAPPS 2024 in Dublin and ZKDAPPS 2025 in Pisa, this third edition of ZKDAPPS will be held in conjunction with the IEEE International Conference on Blockchain and Cryptocurrency (ICBC 2026) in Brisbane on June 5, 2026. This workshop continues our mission to foster and grow a vibrant scientific community where researchers and practitioners can collaborate and advance the dynamic field of zero-knowledge decentralized applications.

Topics of Interest:
⁃ Applications of verifiable off-chain computation including but not limited to
⁃⁃⁃ Blockchain scaling solutions (zk-Rollups, zkVMs, validiums, …)
⁃⁃⁃ Blockchain privacy solutions (private DEXes, …)
⁃⁃⁃ zk-Bridges and zk-Oracles
⁃⁃⁃ ZKP-based decentralized identity
⁃⁃⁃ ZKP-based decentralized machine learning solutions
⁃⁃⁃ ZKP-enhanced domain-specific blockchain applications (supply chain, healthcare, decentralized finance...)
⁃ ZKPs and Artificial Intelligence (zk-ML, verifiable inference, …)
⁃ Benchmarking and comparisons
⁃ Opportunities arising from novel proof protocols (e.g., recursion, folding, …)
⁃ Execution models and system architectures for ZKPs
⁃ Tooling and (domain-specific) languages for ZKP system development on different platforms (including improvements on the composability of existing tooling)
⁃ Education material, terminologies, and systematization of ZKPs and related technologies

Important Dates
⁃ Papers Submission Deadline: March 25, 2026
⁃ Acceptance Notification: April 20, 2026
⁃ Camera-ready Submission: April 30, 2026
⁃ Workshop Date: June 5, 2026

Paper Submission
Authors are invited to submit original, unpublished research papers written in English. We encourage submissions of technical, educational, and vision papers, best-practice reports, and demos of tools. Paper length is limited to 6 pages (excluding references) for regular conference papers and 4 pages for short papers. Submissions must be in IEEE 2-column style. Papers exceeding these limits, multiple submissions, and self-plagiarized papers will be rejected without further review. The paper submission templates are available on IEEE Manuscript Templates for Conference Proceedings. Submitted papers will be peer-reviewed. The review process will be double-blind. Authors must adhere to the IEEE submission policies, including the guidelines for AI-generated content. All papers should be submitted through the EDAS system. Use the following links:
⁃ Full paper: https://edas.info/newPaper.php?c=34679&track=134792
⁃ Short paper: https://edas.info/newPaper.php?c=34679&track=134793

Proceedings
Papers accepted for ZKDAPPS 2026 will be included in the ICBC conference proceedings and IEEE Xplore. IEEE reserves the right to remove any paper from IEEE Xplore if the paper is not presented at the conference.

Workshop Co-Chairs
Jonathan Heiss, TU Berlin (j.heiss@tu-berlin.de)
Johannes Sedlmeir, University of Münster (johannes.sedlmeir@uni-muenster.de)
Stefan Schulte, TU Berlin (schulte@tu-berlin.de)

Technical Program Committee (TBA)
For reference check previous edition: https://icbc2025.ieee-icbc.org/workshop/zkdapps