Spring is in the air and we're excited to bring you announcements and updates from our community. Registration for our eagerly awaited IC3 2024 Summer Camp is now open, and we invite you to join us for an enriching experience. Meanwhile, SBC 2024 still calls for registration and paper submissions—don't miss your chance to contribute. But there's more: we're proud to celebrate the achievements of our students and faculty. Learn about these exciting developments in our community below! | |
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Demystifying Electronic Payment Systems and Digital Currencies by Lin William Cong (Cornell, IC3), David Easley (Cornell), & Eswar Prasad (Cornell, IC3):
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The authors examine the shift towards digital payments, emphasizing the benefits of technologies like mobile wallets and highlighting concerns over the dominance of private platforms and privacy. They note the rise of cryptocurrencies and fast payment systems that offer direct transactions with fewer intermediaries but face issues like value instability. Central banks are considering digital fiat currencies, with central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) potentially enhancing financial inclusion but posing policy challenges, such as privacy and the relationship with traditional banking. International CBDCs could simplify cross-border payments. The authors stress that the effectiveness of digital payments is influenced by the design of transaction fees and governance, with a call for further research to address the trade-offs between decentralization, security, scalability, and privacy in payment technologies. This paper is forthcoming in Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Economics and Finance.
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51% Attack via Difficulty Increase with a Small Quantum Miner by Bolton Bailey (UIUC, IC3), Or Sattath ( Ben-Gurion University of the Negev):
- The authors introduce a strategy for quantum miner with low hashing power to achieve the same impact as a 51% attack on Bitcoin and similar cryptocurrencies. By altering block timestamps, the miner increases mining difficulty and leverages Grover's algorithm, making it feasible to mine a competing, more powerful chain with fewer blocks. This attack, however, requires an advanced quantum computer, rendering it impractical in the near future.
The Contractarian Joint Venture by Prof. Carla Reyes (SMU, IC3) & Christine Hurt (SMU):
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The authors discuss how, in 2015, entrepreneurs formed "The DAO" as a novel venture capital fund using decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) principles, seeking to bypass traditional intermediaries and retain control over their investments. This approach, however, led to unforeseen legal and regulatory challenges when a software flaw resulted in significant financial losses, spotlighting the inherent risks of DAOs, such as unintentional formation of general partnerships and exposure to securities laws. The article further explores the legal landscape surrounding DAOs and joint ventures, suggesting that recent developments in Delaware law could offer DAOs new avenues for mitigating liability and regulatory risks without the constraints of traditional entity statutes. This paper is forthcoming in Alabama Law Review.
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Register for SBC 2024 in NYC! | |
Mark your calendars! IC3 is thrilled to announce that the Science of Blockchain Conference (SBC) 2024 will be held in New York City from August 7-9, 2024. SBC 2024 is hosted by IC3, and co-organized with Stanford CBR and Berkeley RDI.
Attendance is free but please register by June 7, 2024.
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We are also calling for papers:
Please see topics of interest on the SBC official website, and submit your paper here.
Important Dates
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Talk submission deadline: Apr 16, 2024, 11:59pm PT
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Final acceptance notification: June 13, 2024
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Conference registration deadline June 7, 2024
Sponsorship opportunities are still available, co-create this incredible experience with us by becoming a sponsor! Apply here today!
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IC3 Summer Blockchain Camp is Back in NYC! | |
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We are excited to announce the upcoming IC3 2024 Summer Blockchain Camp, scheduled for June 10th to June 16th. This year, we are delighted to bring our signature IC3 Blockchain experience back to the vibrant city of New York at the Cornell Tech campus on Roosevelt Island. Registration is now open to IC3 members and partners!
Registration & Sponsorship
Students: We are offering free access to a limited number of well-qualified full-time students enrolled at the IC3 campuses (Carnegie Mellon University, Cornell University, Cornell Tech, EPFL, ETH Zurich, University of Bern, UC Berkeley, University College London, UIUC, SMU, and the Technion). Please apply here.
Industry/Professional Participants: All must be affiliated with an IC3 Member or a Blockchain Camp Sponsor (see details below).
Up to two employees of IC3 Partner Members (see current list of partners here) may participate free of charge.
Summer Camp Sponsorship Opportunity: Co-create an unforgettable summer camp experience with us by becoming sponsors! If you are interested in sponsoring the IC3 2024 Summer Blockchain Camp, please reach out to IC3 Community Manager, Bria Han, jh2584@cornell.edu. The blockchain Camp Sponsorship - $15k includes:
- Support for the camp, including scholarships for students attending for free, and on-going IC3 research.
- Sponsor brand logo displayed on the camp page, and social media outreach.
- Participation for one person for the full week of hacking and learning, plus meals, excursions, and the camp closing party.
Note: Exceptions will be made on a case-by-case basis to allow additional community members to participate in the camp without sponsorship. Please email IC3 Community Manager, Bria Han (jh2584@cornell.edu) if you would like to apply for non-donor participation. Please indicate in the application form below if you would like to apply for camp sponsorship or for participation without a sponsor.
All Industry/Professional participants, please apply here.
Program
We will offer two overlapping tracks: a coding track and a presentation track.
Option 1 (Coding): The coding track includes all presentations, social activities, and participation in a weeklong coding project on a 5-10 person team. In the coding track, you can expect to engage with leaders in the blockchain community - faculty, architects, developers, students.
Option 2 (Presentation): The presentation track will be open to those who want to participate in the camp events without joining a coding team.
Both tracks require pre-registration. Please use the registration form. Those who register will receive additional details by email before the event.
Please check previous camp editions for details 2023, 2022, 2021.
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MIT X Chainlink Bootcamp: Our partner Chainlink Labs is hosting a bootcamp at MIT on April 16 for you to learn how to use your Javascript skills in Web3. In this interactive training, you will learn new information about bridges in blockchain, CCIP, VRF, and Chainlink Functions, and you will learn how to create your own censorship-resistant news aggregator by developing your smart contract. RSVP here. | |
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🎉Congratulations to IC3 student Ke Wu, advised by Prof. Elaine Shi (CMU) on securing a faculty position at the Computer Science and Engineering Department of University of Michigan. Her research area sits in the intersection of theoretical cryptography and game theory, as well as related areas in theoretical Computer Science.
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🏆Proud to share that IC3 faculty Ittay Eyal (Technion), Ari Juels (Cornell Tech), Christian Cachin (University of Bern) and IC3 fellow Philipp Jovanovic (UCL), have received the Sui Academic Research Awards from the Sui Foundation! Huge congratulations to our researchers! | |
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⭐️IC3 faculty member Prof. Ari Juels (Cornell Tech) will speak at the Harvard Blockchain Conference on April 13th, where he will talk about THE ORACLE: rogue smart contracts, AI + blockchains, and how to find the center of the world with nothing more than a pair of eagles. Get your tickets here.
📝IC3 faculty and students presented multiple research on the Financial Cryptography Conference 2024, review these paper below:
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F-X. Wicht, Z. Wang, D.V. Le, and C. Cachin: A Transaction-Level Model for Blockchain Privacy.
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F. Baldimtsi, K. Chalkias, P. Chatzigiannis, and M. Kelkar. Truncator: Time-space Tradeoff of Cryptographic Primitives.
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D. Maram, M. Kelkar, I. Bentov, and A. Juels: GoAT: File Geolocation via Anchor Timestamping.
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A. Adams, B.Y. Chan, S. Markovich, and X. Wan: The Costs of Swapping on Decentralized Exchanges.
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I. Tsabary, A. Manuskin, R. Bar-Zur, and I. Eyal: LedgerHedger: Gas Reservation for Smart Contract Security.
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📝Join the Oracle book tour in Boston University (April 2nd) with Prof. Ari Juels (IC3, Cornell Tech) and Patrick Collins (Chainlink). Gift books signed by Ari Juels at the event will be available for attendees. books for everyone!
RSVP here!
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The Initiative for Cryptocurrencies and Contracts (IC3)
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