  Recent advances in the cryptographic field of "Zero-Knowledge Proofs" have
sparked a new wave of research, giving birth to many exciting theoretical
approaches in the last few years. Such research has often overlapped with the
need for private and scalable solutions of Blockchain-based communities,
resulting in the first practical implementations of such systems. Many of these
innovative constructions have developed in parallel, using different
terminologies and evolving into a fragmented ecosystem, calling for their
consolidation into the more stable domain of "Verifiable Computation". In this
master thesis I propose a unifying Verifiable Computation model for the
simplification and efficient comparison of all cryptographic proof systems. I
take advantage of this model to analyse innovative technologies (Homomorphic
Authenticators, Verifiable Delay Functions) which developed into their own
specialised domains, and I attempt to make them more accessible for newcomers
to the field. Furthermore, I expand on the future of Verifiable Computation,
Universal proof compilers and "Proofs of All", by approaching the
state-of-the-art zk-STARK construction from a more accessible and informal
design perspective.
