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Buterin pointed to privacy, accessibility, centralization and security as the major risks associated with Worldcoin’s Proof-of-Personhood (PoP) construction and proposed an alternative solution to mitigate against them in a blog post on Monday.
From Vitalik Buterin outlines ‘four major risks’ with Worldcoin following token launch | The Block.
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The simplest way to define a proof-of-personhood system is: it creates a list of public keys where the system guarantees that each key is controlled by a unique human. In other words, if you’re a human, you can put one key on the list, but you can’t put two keys on the list, and if you’re a bot you can’t put any keys on the list.
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he concept of proof-of-personhood in principle seems very valuable, and while the various implementations have their risks, not having any proof-of-personhood at all has its risks too: a world with no proof-of-personhood seems more likely to be a world dominated by centralized identity solutions, money, small closed communities or some combination of all three.
From Vitalik Buterin outlines ‘four major risks’ with Worldcoin following token launch | The Block.
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Stablecoins have potential advantages in speed, cost and programmability. Tokenization could provide benefits that FedNow never can. Payments today involve separate movements of the payment information—name and account of payor and payee and amount—and the value. Each involves multiple steps and parties. Stablecoins can combine messaging, reconciliation, and transfer of value all at once, instantly.
From: The U.S. Can Make the Rules on Stablecoins, or It Can Take Them | Barron’s.
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Consumers seeing tip prompts at every turn say they are overwhelmed—and that worker wages should be business owners’ responsibility, not theirs.
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“The U.S. economy is more tip-reliant than it’s ever been,” said Scheherezade Rehman, an economist and professor of international finance at George Washington University. “But there’s a growing sense that these requests are getting out of control and that corporate America is dumping the responsibility for employee pay onto the customer.”
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The pair were ordered to forfeit the proceeds from nearly 120,000 bitcoins they allegedly laundered from the hacked crypto exchange.
From ‘Razzlekhan,’ Husband Agree to Plea Deal in Bitfinex Hack Laundering Case Worth Billions.
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The raid was part of a crime wave that has swept through Germany for more than two years, terrorising residents with night-time detonations from big cities to small towns and villages. Some 496 cash machines were blown up last year, 27 per cent more than in 2021, the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) said. Daniel Muth, deputy head of Hesse’s state criminal police office, said: “The attacks have become ever more professional.”
The country has become Europe’s ground zero for ATM attackers, who have exploited a fragmented banking system and a decentralised police force — and Germans’ marked preference for cash over cards or digital payments. With more than 55,000 machines stocked with high-denomination banknotes to feed that demand, the average sum seized in a bombing raid last year hit €100,000. That pushed up the financial toll by 53 per cent from a year earlier to €30mn, BKA said.
From Bombs, car chases and ‘free money’: Dutch gangs blow up German cash machines | Financial Times.
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Still, innovations in money do pose subtle risks. Central banks could be viewed as political agents if their visibility into payment transactions is used for law enforcement or surveillance purposes.
From Central banks must not be blind to the threats posed by CBDCs | Financial Times.
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A ZKP must fulfill three properties:
• Zero knowledge: A malicious5 verifier cannot extract any information except for the statement being true or not.
• Completeness: A prover can convince the verifier (who follows the protocol) of a true statement.
• Soundness: A malicious prover cannot convince the verifier of a false statement with a sufficiently high
probability.
Data Confidentiality
1. Berentsen A, Lenzi J, Nyffenegger R. An Introduction to Zero-Knowledge Proofs in Blockchains and Economics. Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis Review. 2023;forthcoming.
Being private about personal characteristics is one example where ZKPs could be used for data confidentiality. As an example, Carlos wants to prove at the entrance of a nightclub that he is 18 without revealing his exact age or any other personal characteristic. Judy wants to enter a fancy club she has a membership to but does not want the doorman to know who she is. Both could create a ZKP to prove that they are allowed to enter. For both examples, we would need some kind of underlying cryptographic set-up. In the former case, the government might have provided a digital identity, whereas in the latter case the club owners could have issued a digital membership card that they signed. The doorman could verify that the proof includes the signature of the club owner and would let Judy in.
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