In an X Space conversation, Nexus founder and CEO Daniel Marin and StarkWare co-founder and CEO Eli Ben-Sasson came together to talk about the latest in zk and how the two companies plan to work together.

The partnership between Nexus and StarkWare, built around the integration of StarkWare’s open-source Stwo prover into Nexus’s ZKVM 3.0 marks an evolution of zero-knowledge technology — one defined by performance, engineering simplicity, and a focus on verifiability at scale.

“Nexus… is one of the very best in the zk space. So it’s just a great honor to be working with such a great team.”
– Eli Ben-Sasson 

Unlocking new frontiers for real-world proving

A core theme of the discussion was the shared push toward wider, real-world adoption of verifiable computation. Both Daniel and Eli highlighted the transformative impact of shifting from traditional large-field arithmetic to 32-bit operations — a technical choice that dramatically improves performance and enables proving directly on everyday devices like laptops and smartphones.

Today, Nexus is powered by millions of devices connecting to the Nexus zkVM 3.0 and the new Stwo-based prover — a testament to the scalability unlocked through recent innovations.

"Proving systems need to run on normal devices. When we moved to the 32-bit world, we unlocked massive gains — not just in speed, but in engineering simplicity and memory efficiency."
– Daniel Marin 

Verifiability in the age of AI

The conversation also touched on the rapidly shifting technology landscape, particularly the intersection of AI and verifiable computation. Daniel and Eli expressed cautious optimism about AI’s potential to assist in areas like formal verification, security analysis, and even cryptographic research.

Daniel shared that Nexus engineers have already experimented with state-of-the-art AI models to catch subtle soundness errors in proof systems, and discussed the possibility that future breakthroughs in cryptography could be catalyzed by machine collaboration.

What’s next?

For StarkWare, the focus ahead includes scaling Bitcoin with StarkNet and Stwo, advocating for innovations that enable efficient verification of proofs directly on Bitcoin. 

“We’re bringing users better UX and self-custody solutions, powered by verifiability...”
– Eli Ben-Sasson

For Nexus, the roadmap is equally ambitious. Testnet III is on the horizon, laying the final groundwork for a full Mainnet launch, targeted for Q3 2025. Nexus continues to push the boundaries of globally-distributed verifiable computation.

As both companies move forward, the partnership between Nexus and StarkWare stands as a reminder: in a world defined by complexity, it is the clarity of vision — and the integrity of collaboration — that propels the future.

Find the full conversation here: 

Stay tuned for more X Spaces coming soon.