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I'm disappointed to see that none of the Crypto Fund II is slated for Cryptography, but instead only to Cryptocurrency. Obligatory: http://www.cryptoisnotcrypt
by some_furry 7y ago
I'm disappointed to see that none of the Crypto Fund II is slated for Cryptography, but instead only to Cryptocurrency.
Obligatory: http://www.cryptoisnotcryptocurrency.com http://www.cryptoisnotcryptocurrency.com
There's a lot of important problems in (and around) cryptography that need solving.
To be charitable: Maybe some of them can be solved by cryptocurrency projects? There is some precedent here. (Zcash advanced the state of the art for non-interactive zero-knowledge proofs and pairing-based cryptography, Monero demonstrated real-world ring signatures, etc.)
But more importantly: There are a lot of possible solutions that need an incentive to be developed, and could potentially become profitable start-ups.
But it's sad to see that cryptography (a.k.a. the real "crypto") isn't even a seat at the table calling itself "Crypto".
- tptacek 7y agoThe point of a venture fund is not to advance science.
- some_furry 7y agoI worded my comment weird originally, hopefully my meaning is clearer now.
- tptacek 7y agoThis to me is a little like wondering why distributed consensus doesn't have a seat at the table in other venture funds; there's important work to be done in scaling databases, too! But venture funds fund businesses. If you come up with a business with social proof that there's a plausible (if remote) chance of 10xing based on an advance in cryptography, you'll stand a chance of getting it funded. Just not by this fund, which has nothing to do with cryptography or, for that matter, virtually any normal business.
- some_furry 7y ago> This to me is a little like wondering why distributed consensus doesn't have a seat at the table in other venture funds; It would be a little like that, if the funds were called "Distributed Consensus Fund II" (or some common abbreviation thereof). > Just not by this fund, which has nothing to do with cryptography or, for that matter, virtually any normal business. And thus, in my mind, it should be named appropriately. The current name is wrong.
- tptacek 7y agoIf the entire argument boils down to "crypto means cryptography", then (1) it's not a very interesting argument and (2) it's pretty much already lost. In 2020, cryptography means cryptography.
- jkhdigital 7y agoExactly. We can do incredible things with well-designed cryptographic protocols. Bitcoin is a great example, but it didn't open up some entire new field of innovation. The innovation has always been in cryptography.
- wmf 7y agoThere's a lot of important problems in (and around) cryptography that need solving. So pick a problem, wrap a coin around it, and profit.