Founder · Algorizk Labs
Ali Mkhida
Mathematician and cryptography researcher working across zero-knowledge proofs, mathematical computing, formal verification, and hardware acceleration.
Background
Mathematics as the foundation.
Ali Mkhida is a mathematician, cryptography researcher, and founder of Algorizk Labs. His work focuses on computational problems where mathematical structure, cryptographic correctness, and performance must be considered together.
His academic background began in pure mathematics at the University of Lille, with graduate work in number theory, group theory, commutative algebra, Galois theory, and algebraic number theory. He later completed graduate studies in cryptography and security at Université Joseph Fourier in Grenoble and Grenoble INP - ENSIMAG.
His early research included elliptic curves, algebraic structures, and number theory, with work at the Institut Fourier in Grenoble, the University of Groningen, and the Laboratoire Paul Painlevé in Lille.
Cryptography & Verifiable Computation
From algebraic cryptography to modern proof systems.
His research later moved toward zero-knowledge proofs and verifiable computation. As a Research Engineer at Pluto, he worked on zkVM research around Jolt and Lasso, with particular attention to Sumcheck, multilinear polynomials, finite-field arithmetic, polynomial computation, and cryptographic primitives including Poseidon.
Current research investigates Sumcheck, FRI, polynomial commitments, folding techniques, kernel-polynomial methods, transparent proof systems, and the mathematical structure of efficient proving systems.
This work combines protocol analysis with Rust implementation, benchmarking, computational experiments, and Lean 4 formalization of correctness-critical mathematical results.
Hardware & High-Performance Computing
Connecting algorithms to architecture.
A major part of his current work studies how expensive cryptographic computations can be translated into efficient software and hardware architectures.
This includes Mersenne-31 finite-field arithmetic, FPGA architecture, SystemVerilog and RTL development, hardware/software co-design, and the implementation and hardware validation of Sumcheck-oriented FPGA kernels.
The objective is to treat hardware acceleration as the final stage of a broader optimization process: understand the mathematics, identify the dominant computational kernels, improve the algorithm, and then determine whether software, FPGA, or another architecture is appropriate.
Research
Current research and publications
In 2026, Ali Mkhida and Adil Iguider published Multilinear Polynomials via Tree-Based Circuit and the Sumcheck Protocol in the Cryptology ePrint Archive as Report 2026/1469.
Read the IACR ePrint →His broader research program includes multilinear polynomial evaluation, folding, FRI–Sumcheck connections, kernel polynomials, finite-field algorithms, formal verification, and hardware-oriented prover architectures.
Research Method
Mathematical research supported by computational experimentation.
The research process combines mathematical construction, AI-assisted exploration, literature analysis, toy-instance verification, implementation, benchmarking, formal verification, and hardware experimentation. This ongoing research program has produced more than 1,000 pages of mathematical and technical working notes.
Profiles & Research