Consortia are increasingly being seen as the way forward when it comes to true consensus across adoption of blockchain technologies – and the newly-launched MPC Alliance can be seen as the latest example.
The Alliance, which makes its public debut at the Blockchain Expo North America event today, focuses on ‘improving the security and privacy of personal and professional data through the application of privacy-preserving secure multi-party computation (MPC)’, in the group’s own words.
Multi-party computation is a subfield of cryptography and isfocused on allowing multiple parties to compute an output using private datawithout ever disclosing that data to any third party. It is a technology whichmakes sense when applied in the context of blockchain, rather than the otherway round; for instance Google uses MPC for getting insights on ad viewershipand customer acquisition.
Of the 14 founding members, three companies are co-leadingthe project: Sepior, Unbound Tech, and ZenGo. All three companies focus oncryptographic systems with MPC at the centre. Speaking at an event in April,Guy Pe’er, co-founder and CTO at Unbound Tech, explained how multi-partycomputation is used as a pivotal solution for blockchain key management.
“As someone in computer science, the one thing I really likeabout blockchain is the fact that it’s a computer science-heavy technology,”said Pe’er at the time. “It uses distributed algorithms, a lot of cryptography –a very strong lean towards using computer science building blocks.”
Ivan Damgard, co-founder of Sepior, described MPC as a ‘game-changerfor multiple reasons.’ “It provides the option to distribute trust, so that no-oneis entirely dependent on a single party that is subject to hacking or misbehaviour,”said Damgrad. “Distributing trust makes MPC-based systems inherently moresecure and resilient.”
This publication has recently reported on various allianceinitiatives, including additions to the long-running Blockchainin Transport Alliance as well as the BlockchainEducation Alliance, launched last month.
Speaking to The Block in recent days, IBM’s PramodAchanta noted blockchainwas a ‘team sport’, while Dale Chrystie, blockchain strategist at FedEx,called it a ‘globalvillage’ which needed to be sought. “It’s not about where we compete, butrather in blockchain, it’s about where we can agree in non-competitive areasthat benefit all,” said Chrystie. “The sooner that idea becomes apparent, thesooner this technology will scale.”
For the members of the MPC Alliance, some of whom are competitors,this idea is especially resonant.
The complete list of founding members of the alliance are: Curv, CYBAVO, Cybernetica, Enigma, Fireblocks, IJS Technologies, Insights Network, KeyTango, Offchain Labs, NuCypher, Partisia, Sepior, Unbound Tech, and ZenGo. You can find out more about the MPC Alliance here.
