Blockchain Needs Quantum-Resistant Technology Says Renowned Cryptographer David Chaum
Chaum created the International Association for Cryptologic Research in 1982 and has tracked the adoption of government sponsored cryptographic protocols over the last 40 years.
SEOUL, Korea, Sept. 26, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Following a groundbreaking week for quantum technology, David Chaum challenged the blockchain industry to focus on quantum-resistant blockchains and digital currencies on his way to Korea Blockchain week.
"We have no way of knowing how far along nation states are in developing quantum computers. In the past, government entities have broken codes and possessed cryptographic capabilities for many years without anyone knowing. The news that Google has achieved quantum supremacy strengthens my belief that quantum computing is coming and as a consequence, I believe we should all use approaches that are quantum-resistant."
Chaum also shared details of his own new digital currency technology supported by the quantum-resistant blockchain, Praxxis. Designed under his leadership by a team of cryptographers and developers working in stealth, the Praxxis blockchain features a new approach to consensus based on Chaum's four decades of work on digital currency, voting, and distributed consensus.
The Praxxis protocol uses quantum-resistant signatures based on large random numbers while simultaneously overcoming the scalability, privacy, and security challenges faced by legacy blockchains. The result is a useable "purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash" as Satoshi called for in the first few words of his whitepaper. The protocol also addresses the consensus requirements for Chaum's Elixxir project which protects user metadata.
"The technical requirements for speed and the requirements for privacy and security are usually in opposition," said Praxxis COO, William Carter. "The Praxxis design breaks this tradeoff and allows us to deliver a highly useable digital currency for everyday life, while also supporting Elixxir's privacy."
The full technical details of the Praxxis approach will be included in a forthcoming whitepaper currently being prepared for release later this year. The xx collective, David Chaum's community app, launched earlier this year, will allow users to test and interact with the Praxxis and Elixxir network.
About the xx collective
The xx collective is the global community supporting David Chaum's projects and includes over 3000 community members. The xx collective app is available on iOS and Android to support participation in the Elixxir privacy-protecting platform and the Praxxis blockchain on the way to MainNet. Information is also available at www.xxcollective.io.
About Praxxis
Praxxis is a consensus protocol underpinning a full stack blockchain. Praxxis has been designed and developed by WBM Corp. Led by William Carter, WBM Corp. is one of the first companies officed in the Cayman Enterprise City in the Cayman Islands. Carter is a computer scientist with an extensive systems design background gained working in the blockchain space, in optics R&D, and earlier at JPL in Pasadena. The WBM team is made up of cryptographers, developers, operational personnel, and marketing professionals. Early work on the Praxxis chain was conducted at Privategrity Corporation in the Los Angeles area.
About Elixxir
Elixxir is a privacy protecting transaction platform supported by nodes running Elixxir cMix software. Elixxir obscures metadata generated by a user's daily activities. The platform is designed to support secure messaging, payments, and decentralized application (dApp) data transfer. Elixxir is capable of supporting high volumes with extremely fast processing to support global consumer adoption of the decentralized blockchain.
About David Chaum
David Chaum is widely known for inventing the first digital currency, e-Cash, in the early 1980s, which he later deployed in the 1990s at his company DigiCash. He has also recently been credited with proposing the first decentralized blockchain as his PhD dissertation at Berkeley in 1982.
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