Chain Joins Top Universities' Initiative for Cryptocurrency and Contracts

Chain Inc., the company that helps financial institutions such as Nasdaq to design and build blockchain networks, has announced its partnership with the Initiative for Cryptocurrency and Contracts (IC3) - created by Cornell University, Cornell Tech, UC Berkeley, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign and the Technion

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IC3 was founded to advance the development of Blockchain Blockchain Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned.) In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tamper with. The Evolution of BlockchainBlockchain was originally invented by an individual or group of people under the name of Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008. The purpose of blockchain was originally to serve as the public transaction ledger of Bitcoin, the world’s first cryptocurrency.In particular, bundles of transaction data, called “blocks”, are added to the ledger in a chronological fashion, forming a “chain.” These blocks include things like date, time, dollar amount, and (in some cases) the public addresses of the sender and the receiver.The computers responsible for upholding a blockchain network are called “nodes.” These nodes carry out the duties necessary to confirm the transactions and add them to the ledger. In exchange for their work, the nodes receive rewards in the form of crypto tokens.By storing data via a peer-to-peer network (P2P), blockchain controls for a wide range of risks that are traditionally inherent with data being held centrally.Of note, P2P blockchain networks lack centralized points of vulnerability. Consequently, hackers cannot exploit these networks via normalized means nor does the network possess a central failure point.In order to hack or alter a blockchain’s ledger, more than half of the nodes must be compromised. Looking ahead, blockchain technology is an area of extensive research across multiple industries, including financial services and payments, among others. Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned.) In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tamper with. The Evolution of BlockchainBlockchain was originally invented by an individual or group of people under the name of Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008. The purpose of blockchain was originally to serve as the public transaction ledger of Bitcoin, the world’s first cryptocurrency.In particular, bundles of transaction data, called “blocks”, are added to the ledger in a chronological fashion, forming a “chain.” These blocks include things like date, time, dollar amount, and (in some cases) the public addresses of the sender and the receiver.The computers responsible for upholding a blockchain network are called “nodes.” These nodes carry out the duties necessary to confirm the transactions and add them to the ledger. In exchange for their work, the nodes receive rewards in the form of crypto tokens.By storing data via a peer-to-peer network (P2P), blockchain controls for a wide range of risks that are traditionally inherent with data being held centrally.Of note, P2P blockchain networks lack centralized points of vulnerability. Consequently, hackers cannot exploit these networks via normalized means nor does the network possess a central failure point.In order to hack or alter a blockchain’s ledger, more than half of the nodes must be compromised. Looking ahead, blockchain technology is an area of extensive research across multiple industries, including financial services and payments, among others. Read this Term technology and smart contracts by making the academics' expertise in cryptography, distributed systems, game theory, and programming languages available to industry partners. It's based at the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute at Cornell Tech in New York City and the IC3 faculty is the recipient of a $3 million 3-year National Science Foundation grant.

Professor Emin Gün Sirer, Co-Director of IC3 and Associate Professor of Computer Science at Cornell University, said: “We are delighted to have Chain join IC3 as a Sponsor member. The Chain team shares our vision of ubiquitous blockchain-based networks that are fast, scalable, confidential and secure. We look forward to collaborating with Chain to accelerate the deployment and adoption of reliable Smart Contract Smart Contract A smart contract is a piece of software that automatically executes a pre-determined set of actions when a certain set of criteria or met. One of the key tenets of smart contracts is their ability to perform credible transactions without third parties and are self-executing, with their conditions written into the lines of code that form themAdditionally, these transactions are both trackable and irreversible. For example, a smart contract could be used to give royalty payouts to a musical artist each time a song is played on the radio. The contract detects when the song is played, and then automatically sends a payout to the artist or artist. All parties involved in a smart contract must agree to the terms of the contract before it can be executed. They must also consent to any changes made to the contract. Transactions made through a smart contract are traceable and irreversible.Smart contracts were first proposed in 1994 by American computer Scientist Nick Szabo. Szabo created a digital currency called “Bit Gold” in 1998, over 10 years before the creation of Bitcoin.Benefits of Smart ContractsMany proponents of smart contracts point to many kinds of contractual clauses that could be made partially or fully self-executing, self-enforcing, or simply both. Conversely, smart contracts can lead to a situation where bugs or including security holes are visible to all yet may not be quickly fixed.The fundamental goal of smart contracts is to provide additional layers of security that are superior to traditional contract law. In doing so, this reduces other transaction costs associated with contracting. Smart contracts appear most prevalently in the cryptocurrency space, having implemented countless instances of smart contracts. A smart contract is a piece of software that automatically executes a pre-determined set of actions when a certain set of criteria or met. One of the key tenets of smart contracts is their ability to perform credible transactions without third parties and are self-executing, with their conditions written into the lines of code that form themAdditionally, these transactions are both trackable and irreversible. For example, a smart contract could be used to give royalty payouts to a musical artist each time a song is played on the radio. The contract detects when the song is played, and then automatically sends a payout to the artist or artist. All parties involved in a smart contract must agree to the terms of the contract before it can be executed. They must also consent to any changes made to the contract. Transactions made through a smart contract are traceable and irreversible.Smart contracts were first proposed in 1994 by American computer Scientist Nick Szabo. Szabo created a digital currency called “Bit Gold” in 1998, over 10 years before the creation of Bitcoin.Benefits of Smart ContractsMany proponents of smart contracts point to many kinds of contractual clauses that could be made partially or fully self-executing, self-enforcing, or simply both. Conversely, smart contracts can lead to a situation where bugs or including security holes are visible to all yet may not be quickly fixed.The fundamental goal of smart contracts is to provide additional layers of security that are superior to traditional contract law. In doing so, this reduces other transaction costs associated with contracting. Smart contracts appear most prevalently in the cryptocurrency space, having implemented countless instances of smart contracts. Read this Term solutions.”

Chain explains the collaboration underscores its commitment to building interoperable software that is scalable across the financial services industry.

“We are very pleased to announce this partnership and look forward to closely collaborating with IC3’s eminent research team,” said Ryan Smith, CTO and co-founder, Chain. “Modern cryptographic protocols are the foundation of secure blockchain networks. We believe that these techniques combined with robust software engineering will transform the infrastructure used for financial transactions.”

As part of this partnership, Chain will host the next IC3 Retreat for its industry partners in San Francisco February 2017. The IC3 Retreat is an invitation-only workshop where IC3 and its industry collaborators discuss current advancements in cryptocurrency and blockchain technology and their vision for the field's future, focusing on privacy, security, performance, and compliance.