Assertion certainty 5/5 debate potential 2/5

Wilcox: Traditional point-to-point encryption cannot be applied to blockchains

Zooko Wilcox · Security and Privacy for Crypto with Zero-Knowledge Proofs · Aug 29, 2019 · at 3:20

Zooko Wilcox, creator of Zcash, speaks at the a16z Crypto Regulatory Summit about why standard encryption protocols like HTTPS do not solve privacy in consensus-based blockchains.

0:00 / 0:06exact quote · 6.7s
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“You can't apply this encryption to blockchain, because all this encryption from Julius Caesar to Alan Turing to Netscape is point to point.”

quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →

More from Zooko Wilcox

Assertion Contradicted
Wilcox: Zcash provided the first practical application of zero-knowledge proofs
“Like I say, it was a very important scientific discovery, but it didn't get practical application until my company implemented it. We made some scientific advances that made it sufficiently practical, and we implemented it and deployed it to the world in this …”
Zooko Wilcox Aug 29, 2019 ▶ 8:27 Security and Privacy for Crypto with Zero-Knowledge Proofs
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Wilcox: Zero-knowledge proofs could solve blockchain scalability bottlenecks
“Zero knowledge proofs might be a breakthrough to solve the scaling problem that has stopped all the blockchains so far. Because the scaling problem is, you remember, everybody wants to be sure of everything that goes into the blockchain. That means the more pe…”
Zooko Wilcox Aug 29, 2019 ▶ 10:50 Security and Privacy for Crypto with Zero-Knowledge Proofs
Opinion
Wilcox: Centralized personal data databases are a national security threat
“But as we've learned over the last couple of years, this isn't safe, it's not scalable, and it's ballooned from not just being a personal security problem, and not just being a business security problem, but even being a national security problem.”
Zooko Wilcox Aug 29, 2019 ▶ 13:24 Security and Privacy for Crypto with Zero-Knowledge Proofs
Assertion Partly supported
Wilcox: The NSA led a government faction opposing early HTTPS encryption
“There was a faction within the US government led by the NSA that objected to the development of HTTPS.”
Zooko Wilcox Aug 29, 2019 ▶ 1:36 Security and Privacy for Crypto with Zero-Knowledge Proofs
Insight
Wilcox: Economic necessity drove the shift from opposing to mandating encryption
“And the big reason for that transition is that it turns out in that two-point system between the web server and the web browser, that web server became the center of our economy, and encryption is, became necessary for business purposes.”
Zooko Wilcox Aug 29, 2019 ▶ 2:32 Security and Privacy for Crypto with Zero-Knowledge Proofs
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Wilcox: Satoshi Nakamoto failed to encrypt Bitcoin due to early ZK limits
“So when Satoshi Nakamoto was inventing Bitcoin, he tried to figure out how to add encryption into it, and he couldn't figure it out. It didn't fit, because back then, 10 whole years ago we didn't have good enough zero-knowledge proofs.”
Zooko Wilcox Aug 29, 2019 ▶ 3:54 Security and Privacy for Crypto with Zero-Knowledge Proofs
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