Godfather of Crypto expresses concerns over current state of blockchain privacy
The crypto industry is often said to be in its early stages with the popular “we are still early” meme within the community. But as anyone with knowledge of David Chaum can confirm, digital cash is not a new concept. Chaum is known as the Godfather of Crypto as he published his thesis on digital cash some 40 years ago.
in him 1983 paper, “Blind Signatures for Untraceable Payments,” Chaum proposed a “new type of encryption” that would give digital currencies the properties of privacy, proof of payment, and freezing of funds. He feared that electronic payment systems “could have a significant impact not only on individual privacy, but also on the nature and extent of the criminal use of payments.”
Chaum’s “blind signing” proposal was later referenced by Vitalik Buterin in the Ethereum whitepaper as follows: chowmian blinding 2014. CryptoSlate spoke exclusively to Chaum on the Twitter Space of Chaum’s latest project, XX Network. The entire recording is available in the first reply to the tweet below.
Join us tomorrow for a special space.
“How to achieve true privacy using blockchain”
When@Chaum.com @Aaron Wellwood @carterwj3 @BengerMarquesModeration: @akibablade
August 11th at 6pm BST/10am PT
Link in 🧵 pic.twitter.com/GLY7xl8z7m
— Crypto Slate (@CryptoSlate) August 10, 2022
What Chaum would have thought of web3 in 1983
The first question for Chaum was how he would feel in 1983 if he were shown a crystal ball that looked at the state of cryptocurrencies in 2022. I was a little disappointed.
Chaum declared that his first proposal had “integrated privacy” and hoped that the paper would raise expectations of privacy as the norm. We believe that our failure to adhere to the privacy standards we have set in , has led to problems other than cryptocurrencies, such as “manipulation of elections” and “destruction of social coherence.”
After the conversation, Cambridge Analytica scandal And its a clear invasion of privacy. Chaum is passionate about privacy and sees the potential of blockchain his style of cryptography to solve problems on a socio-economic level. Throughout the discussion, his frustration with the evolution of the Internet and lack of user data protection is clear.
Digital money and Digicash
Chaum also said the idea of “autonomous computation that no one can tamper with” was part of his early vision called “Chain of Blocks”. In 1994, Chaum launched DigiCash, the world’s first digital currency using cryptographic proof. DigiCash was essentially held in custody because it was held by a central bank, but Chaum argued that “banks couldn’t know who had what money.”
Chaum may have reservations about the state of the blockchain industry in 2022, but ultimately, he declared:
“It’s great to see Bitcoin gaining popularity. [of his vision] To the extent that it cannot be ignored by power, and it is game-changing. ”
He believes there is a lot of opportunity and room for growth with blockchain. However, the current state of privacy is his main concern.
Cipher Mixed Protocol
When asked about his views on sanctions against Tornado Cash and Circle “blacklisting” associated addresses from using USDC, he said it was “very disturbing.” Chaum claimed it was “a little outside”. [his] But in reality, he has a deep understanding of the underlying technology.
According to Chaum websiteHe is also the inventor of “mixing”, a cryptographic technique similar to that used in protocols such as Tornado Cash. The technology was originally designed to ensure the privacy of emails and digital pseudonyms and was published in his book. 1981 paper“Untraceable Email, Return Addresses, and Digital Pseudonyms”.
Since the late 70s, Chaum has been dedicated to “using cryptography to allow people to manipulate their data.” However, he admitted in Space, “It’s very difficult to know how to be able to do everything you need to do efficiently while preserving your privacy.”
Chaum has declared that he does not want to get involved in what has been called a “cryptowar” on policy and politics. But the general thread of his contribution to the conversation is one of frustration, and privacy isn’t a more important part of our daily lives. It is prohibited.
crypto community
The Twitter space has shifted to the topic of the state of blockchain today. When asked what he thinks of industry leaders in the space, Chaum replied:
“I’m a big fan of the community and all the energy around it. But if you really have x-ray vision and the technology allows you to see through it, I doubt the emperor is wearing the clothes you know.” .”
He continued to refer to some project leaders as “amateur cryptographers” and admitted that he was unimpressed by much of what he saw. Co-founded by Chaum, HeXX Network was created to address what Chaum feels is lacking in space.
According to Chaum, the XX Network team showed 3,500 quantum-safe transactions per second while launching a P2P messenger called Elixxir built on top of the network. Elixxir utilizes dark nodes to route messages through a decentralized network, ensuring privacy in both messaging and network routing.
Chaum has declared that the XX Network is now ready for use by the general public, and Elixxir is the first point of contact for anyone wanting to test Chaum’s version of the blockchain.
To hear the full conversation covering Elixxir, quantum resistance, Apple, Google, and private community management, visit the tweet at the top of the article, or click hereFollow CryptoSlate on Twitter to get notified when we live stream more Spaces in the future.
