Professor Silvio Micali of MIT, described as the godfather of modern cryptography and Founder of Algorand, joined us to discuss blockchain fundamentals, Zero-Knowledge-Proofs (ZKPs), Algorand mechanics, post-quantum cryptography and more.
Professor Micali co-invented the ZKP concept and has received the Turing Award, the Nobel Prize of Computing, for his work on cryptography. ZKPs encourage privacy, allowing users to convince others of statement’s truthfulness, without revealing other information.
Why do we need blockchains? Transparency, immutability, atomic-settlement are touted as blockchain benefits. But not all blockchains are as distributed as claimed. Also, in searching for decentralization, we encounter the so called blockchain trilemma (i.e., decentralization, scalability, security are not possible at the same time.) Algorand is Professor Micali’s solution to the trilemma – and an attempt to provide scalability and speed, as well as security and decentralization.
