"The balance between personal data held by individuals versus organizations is being redrawn each time a company or institution decides to automate another set of transactions. In one direction lies unprecedented innovation and enhancement of people's lives, in the other, secure relationships between individuals and organizations. The future of digital identity in the coming decades may depend on which approach predominates."
Though written describing the state of privacy in 2022, these words are actually taken from the conclusion of a 1992 Scientific American article written by David Chaum. A cryptographer and entrepreneur, Chaum is widely recognized as a cryptography pioneer having first designed a blueprint for creating a blockchain protocol in 1982. He earned his nickname as the "godfather of cryptocurrency" in the industry's early days, as his doctoral dissertation outlined nearly every aspect of the blockchain protocol later detailed in the Bitcoin whitepaper.
Much of Chaum's work turned out to be a preview of things to come. In 2022, most of the world's data networks have placed their users' data in the hands of organizations rather than the individuals it originally came from. And while there's still time before a definitive verdict of trust in these organizations is achieved, the quality of alternatives has never been higher.
Blockchain and other privacy-preserving technologies paving the way for Web3 have become the focus of extensive research efforts and adopted by governments and enterprises across numerous industries. Still, no matter how secure and efficient these networks are, they all have a critical vulnerability point — none of them are resistant to quantum computing.
Chaum believes that those who recognize the dangers of quantum computers and their ability to break even the most advanced cryptographic algorithms to realize that the technology isn't science fiction — it's just around the corner.
"In the last few months alone, India has invested $1 billion in quantum computing and China has announced its intention to develop its own quantum computer for 'strategic capabilities,'" Chaum told CryptoSlate. "The Russian government started investing in 2020, and the UK has invested over $1 billion since 2013. There is an arms race situation which puts nearly all blockchains at risk."
Some estimates suggest we could have as many as two to five hundred quantum computers operational across the globe by 2030. Chaum believes these are realistic assessments and adds that it will be at least a decade before quantum computing becomes mainstream. Still, it doesn't need to be mainstream to pose a danger.
"The U.S. or Chinese governments, for example, won't be shouting their progress from the rooftops. All they need is one powerful enough system to threaten our privacy, security, digital sovereignty — and yes — your crypto wallet, too. There's a high probability that when we fully enter the quantum-computing era, we won't know about it for a while."
Chaum genuinely believes that the quantum future is coming. In many ways, he said, it's already here. That's why he and his team decided to launch the xx network, a new type of quantum-resistant, future-ready blockchain protocol designed to address the privacy and security challenges we face today.
The xx network consists of five core components — blockchain, nodes, organization, consensus, and token — designed to provide a secure and protected digital ecosystem. The xx blockchain serves as the core infrastructure of the network, allowing independently operated nodes to verify the execution of transactions and other network traffic publicly.
To further enhance the protocol's security, it utilizes a unique consensus algorithm developed by Chaum and his team. Called the xx consensus, the algorithm is based on the Byzantine fault-tolerant (BFT) family of protocols and is capable of achieving linear scalability. However, it is distinguished from other BFT-based protocols due to its quantum resistance, high transaction throughput, and ability to remain secure even if up to a third of the network is compromised or goes offline.
Chaum hopes that platforms with this level of security will become common soon. "I believe as developers wake up to the threat of quantum computing, protocols like ours will have to become standard. Users don't want blockchains that are vulnerable. The market capitalization of cryptocurrencies is mind-bogglingly large, the idea of most of that value disappearing in an instant will definitely focus minds."
But it's not just the loss of monetary value that the xx network wants to protect its users from — it's the loss of privacy, as well. One of the five core components of the xx network is a messaging platform brought to life through Chaum's flagship creation called the xx messenger.
The xx messenger isn't the only privacy-focused messaging app on the market, but it's the only one that leverages a protocol as unique as xx consensus. "What the xx messenger does is utilize a unique protocol to shred your metadata: who the message is from, who you're sending the message to, when it was sent etc. Sure, the content of the message is encrypted on other apps, but everything else about that message is available for the provider to see. Other messengers keep this information because it has significant commercial value. We don't know anything about our users, and that's the way it should stay."
Chaum says that metadata shredding is crucial for secure messaging. Even if the content of the messages is hidden through end-to-end encryption, the provider can still access the metadata of its users. "Governments and corporations can use metadata to build a complete picture of your life," Chaum explained. "Look at Mark Zuckerberg, who has constantly been touting Facebook and WhatsApps end-to-end encryption, still keeps your metadata. Why? Because it's valuable. Why is it valuable? Because it contains an incredible amount of information about you, and advertisers, governments and businesses want it."
In addition to metadata shredding, the xx messenger also leverages mix networks, a technology Chaum pioneered in the early 1980s that paved the way for major cryptographic innovations such as Tor. Mix networks take data from multiple senders, reroute it, and send it back out in random order to the next node or endpoint. That makes it incredibly difficult or impossible for a third party to determine who the sender and recipient are.
The mix network protocol Chaum applied to the xx messenger, called cMix, goes even further. "Other mixnet designs often use open network traffic, which delays transmission times. But by using precomputation, we can significantly reduce computational power and processing time. This technique means that even modern smartphones are able to run a completely private messenger with a truly low-latency experience."
The xx network is Chaum's attempt to step into the fight for a better Web3 world. And while he's quite optimistic that quantum-resistant technologies like those leveraged by the xx network will become the standard, he's still preparing for the worst-case scenario for the industry.
He believes that the goal of the Web3 movement is to counter the centralizing force of Web2 corporations. "What we don't want is pseudo-decentralization to become the standard, a middle ground where modern companies and dApps built on the blockchain maintain a semi-centralized structure, with owners holding significant amounts of control indefinitely."
Still, Chaum also believes that people are becoming increasingly aware of the downsides of Web2, so the market for an alternative solution is vast. "Every time you surrender power and data, people lose and freedom loses. So, the potential for blockchains to help solve this general problem is substantial."
