5 ms·
ZSL: Zk-Snarks for the Enterprise
- throwanem 10y agoStross fans will know what I mean when I say this nomenclature sounds like something out of "A Colder War" [1]. Those who don't know what I mean are strongly encouraged to follow that link, at the far end of which is a rather good piece of short fiction that answers the question: "What if Lovecraft was right - and Kubrick, in Dr. Strangelove, was right, too?" Better a ZK-SNARK than an XK-BOOJUM, I suppose... [1] http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories/colderwar.htm http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories/colderwar.htm
- arethuza 10y agoI think thats just a particular naming style used by people like the CIA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_cryptonym https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_cryptonym e.g. MKUltra - the MK tells you it was sponsored by the Technical Services Division The UK had Rainbow Codes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Rainbow_Codes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Rainbow_Codes e.g. Blue Bunny - a 10kt nuclear mine Edit: I agree that A Colder War is superb - wonderfully bleak ending (if you like that kind of thing).
- throwanem 10y agoSure. But since neither XK nor ZK is known to have been used by CIA, and XK is known to be used in the novella, and the snark/boojum contrast exists and would fit well with the story, that was what I referenced.
- brighton36 10y agoLol. This company's ponzi didnt take off so now they're going to offer anonymity consulting for 'the enterprise'
- Legogris 10y agoWhat makes Zcash a ponzi in your eyes?
- brighton36 10y agoThere is zero non-speculative users. The only reason to buy zcash is to sell to greater fools. Early investors are paid by later investors.
- ldite 10y agoFor a moment there, I thought they meant this Enterprise: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_(computer) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_(computer)
- runeks 10y agoI still haven't heard a convincing argument for why "the enterprise" would have any need for a distributed ledger in the first place. It always amounts to maybes and what-ifs. Usually, cooperating enterprises have a mutual trust in each other, or they wouldn't have entered into the partnership in the first place. A requirement for both trustlessness and anonymity doesn't make much sense in this context. As far as I can see, blockchains only really make sense if they're protected by some sort of proof-of-work, in which case old data becomes increasingly difficult to alter as more blocks are added to the chain. To me, it appears that the concept of a blockchain was developed for this exact purpose in the first place, and that without this requirement (old blocks accumulating proof-of-work) there is no advantage to using a linked list of blocks.
- sneak 10y ago"Having trust" and "operating as if you have trust" are two different things. I can trust my management with spending authority, but I still have periodic audits. Trust is not binary. Blockchains, via crypto, remove uncertainty from medium-trust relationships that would otherwise incur overhead due to counterparty risk, allowing one to replace it with the risk that e.g. SHA256 or ECDSA signatures have been broken, which is usually orders of magnitude lower than squishy human being behavior risks. (Presuming participating organizations have a way of keeping their keys safe, which is expensive but solved.) That overhead is significant, and entire multibillion dollar industries exist around validating those trust relationships (accounting, auditing, settlement, et c). Imagine if you could replace them with software that doesn't have to take anyone's word for it. That's a big efficiency win.
- runeks 10y agoCould you give a concrete example of how blockchain technology can reduce costs associated with accounting, auditing and settlement? Just a single, concrete example is all I'm looking for.
- sneak 10y agoSecurities exchanges usually have settlement as a distinct step from trading. Blockchains as title make settlement faster, easier, and less expensive.
- anjc 10y agoIf Ethereum is going to implement Zk-Snarks, and there's already an enterprise alliance with the Ethereum Foundation, and Ethereum offers benefits like smart contracts and so on, why would enterprises use ZSL? (Genuine question)