(Cryptoslate) Andjela Radmilac recently spoke with David Chaum, the creator of the world’s first digital currency about the dangers of quantum computers, decentralization, and the future of privacy-preserving technologies. They also discuss Chaum’s xx network, a new type of quantum-resistant, future-proof blockchain platform. IQT-News summarizes the lengthy discussion.
David Chaum is an American computer scientist and cryptographer who is widely recognized as a cryptography pioneer having first proposed a solution to creating a blockchain protocol in 1982. He earned his moniker as the “godfather of cryptocurrency” in the industry’s early days, as his doctoral dissertation proposed all but one element of the blockchain protocol detailed in the Bitcoin whitepaper. The majority of Chaum’s work turned out to be a harbinger of things to come.
Blockchain and other privacy-preserving technologies paving the way for Web3 have become the focus of extensive research efforts and adopted by governments and enterprises across multiple industries. However, no matter how safe and efficient these networks are, they all have a critical failing point — none of them are resistant to quantum computing.
Chaum believes that those that dismiss the dangers of quantum computers and their ability to crack even the most advanced cryptography fail to realize that the technology isn’t science fiction — it’s just around the corner.
Chaum believes that those that dismiss the dangers of quantum computers and their ability to crack even the most advanced cryptography fail to realize that the technology isn’t science fiction — it’s just around the corner.
Some reports estimate that we could have as many as two to five thousand quantum computers active across the globe by 2030. Chaum believes that these are realistic assessments and adds that it will be at least a decade before quantum computing becomes mainstream.
However, he warns it doesn’t have to be mainstream to pose a threat.“The U.S. or Chinese government, for example, won’t be shouting their progress from the rooftops. All they need is one powerful enough system to threaten our privacy, security, digital sovereignty — and yes — your crypto wallet, too. There’s a good chance that when we do fully enter the quantum-computing era, we won’t know about it for a while.”
That’s why he and his team decided to launch the xx network, a new type of quantum-resistant, future-proof blockchain platform designed to tackle the problems of decentralization and security we face today.
The xx network consists of five major components — blockchain, nodes, governance, currency, and communication — designed to offer a secure and protected digital sphere. The xx blockchain is the base decentralization mechanism of the network, allowing the independently operated nodes to verify the execution of transactions and other network operations publicly.
To further advance the platform’s security, it uses a new consensus protocol developed by Chaum and his team. Called the xx consensus, the protocol is based on the byzantine fault-tolerant (BFT) family of protocols and is able to achieve linear scalability.
Sandra K. Helsel, Ph.D. has been researching and reporting on frontier technologies since 1990. She has her Ph.D. from the University of Arizona.