Hacking, Distributed

Pisa: Arbitration Outsourcing for State Channels

custodian pisa state channels scaling May 22, 2018 at 02:00 PM Patrick McCorry, Surya Bakshi, Iddo Bentov, Sarah Meiklejohn, and Andrew Miller

As deployed today, cryptocurrencies do not scale. To tackle this scaling problem, we introduce Pisa, which complements existing work on so-called "layer 2" solutions.

Online Signature Services Are Broken

signatures crypto outsourcing April 26, 2018 at 10:55 AM Emin Gün Sirer

There are many online services that will help collect signatures for you, as well as services that will collect and forward legally binding letters. All of them are broken.

Paralysis Proofs: How to Prevent Your Bitcoin From Vanishing

ethereum bitcoin sgx paralysis proofs January 18, 2018 at 09:30 AM Fan Zhang, Phil Daian, Iddo Bentov, and Ari Juels

Suppose that N players share cryptocurrency using an M-of-N multisig scheme. If N-M+1 players disappear, the remaining ones have a problem: They've permanently lost their funds. In this blog, we propose a solution to this critical problem using the power of the trusted hardware.

The Social Workings of Contract

ethereum contracts January 17, 2018 at 01:00 PM Karen Levy

Guest blogger Prof. Karen Levy describes how contracts often include terms that are unenforceable, purposefully vague, or never meant to be enforced, how this helps set expectations, and what this means for smart contracts.

Decentralization in Bitcoin and Ethereum

bitcoin ethereum January 15, 2018 at 07:37 AM Adem Efe Gencer, Soumya Basu, Ittay Eyal, Robbert van Renesse, and Emin Gün Sirer

We have been examining the state of the Bitcoin and Ethereum networks over time. In a recent study, we examine the level of decentralization in these two networks, with some interesting takeaways for the future.