TENET: Sublogarithmic Proof and Sublinear Verifier Inner Product Argument without a Trusted Setup

Abstract

We propose a new inner product argument (IPA), called TENET, which features sublogarithmic proof size and sublinear verifier without a trusted setup. IPA is a core primitive for various advanced proof systems including range proofs, circuit satisfiability, and polynomial commitment, particularly where a trusted setup is hard to apply. At ASIACRYPT 2022, Kim, Lee, and Seo showed that pairings can be utilized to exceed the complexity barrier of the previous discrete logarithm-based IPA without a trusted setup. More precisely, they proposed two pairing-based IPAs, one with sublogarithmic proof size and the other one with sublinear verifier cost, but they left achieving both complexities simultaneously as an open problem. We investigate the obstacles for this open problem and then provide our solution TENET, which achieves both sublogarithmic proof size and sublinear verifier. We prove the soundness of TENET under the discrete logarithm assumption and double pairing assumption.