Episode 217: Information Theory & Blockchain with Sreeram Kannan

This week, Anna (https://twitter.com/AnnaRRose) and Tarun Chitra (https://twitter.com/tarunchitra) chat with Sreeram Kannan (https://twitter.com/sreeramkannan), Associate Professor at University of Washington where he runs the UW Blockchain Lab. In this episode, they look at how information theory and blockchain intersect and map the progression of Bitcoin security. They discuss Sreeram’s early work on P2P mobile networks and how this evolved to work on consensus and fair sequencing. Sreeram takes us through his philosophical reasoning of shifting from genomic research to blockchain research and the two major areas in P2P systems that he focuses on: maximum throughput and low latency. Here are some links for the episode: * Sreeram on Twitter (https://twitter.com/sreeramkannan) * Sreeram’s homepage (http://blockchain.ece.uw.edu/) * Episode 136 - Math competitions, crypto as alchemy & Gasper with Yan Zhang (https://zeroknowledge.fm/136-2/) * Prism: Scaling Bitcoin by 10,000x (https://arxiv.org/abs/1909.11261) * Prism: Deconstructing the Blockchain to Approach Physical Limits (https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3319535.3363213) * The Bitcoin Backbone Protocol: Analysis and Applications (https://eprint.iacr.org/2014/765.pdf) * Everything is a Race and Nakamoto Always Wins (https://arxiv.org/abs/2005.10484) * Themis: Fast, Strong Order-Fairness in Byzantine Consensus (https://eprint.iacr.org/2021/1465) * Babylon: Reusing Bitcoin Mining to Enhance Proof-of-Stake Security (https://arxiv.org/abs/2201.07946) * Blockchain CAP Theorem Allows User-Dependent Adaptivity and Finality (https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-662-64331-0_5) * Combining GHOST and Casper (https://arxiv.org/abs/2003.03052) If you’re looking to jump into ZK Professionally I want to remind you to head over to the ZK Jobs board to find job posts from some of the top teams working in ZK: https://jobsboard.zeroknowledge.fm/ ZK Hack returns for a 2nd edition with ZK Hack Mini – a shorter form event spanning 2 weeks and kicks off on March 1st with a series of workshops and puzzle hacking competitions. Join the newsletter (https://www.zkhack.dev/mini) for updates or sign up for the first event (https://hopin.com/events/zk-hack-mini-1/) on March 1st. Today’s episode is sponsored by Electric Coin Company. Electric Coin Company (https://electriccoin.co), the inventors of Zcash and Halo cryptography, are building the next generation of zero-knowledge tech. With Network Upgrade 5 happening this April, Zcash moves to the Halo zero-knowledge proving system, removing trusted setup and becoming shielded by default. With the help of Zcash and Halo cryptography, ECC aims to usher in an era of self-sovereignty and creative freedom. To learn more and explore the relationship between privacy, self-sovereignty and creative freedom, visit electriccoin.co (https://electriccoin.co/) If you like what we do: Follow us on Twitter - @zeroknowledgefm (https://twitter.com/zeroknowledgefm) Join us on Telegram (https://t.me/joinchat/TORo7aknkYNLHmCM) Catch us on Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYWsYz5cKw4wZ9Mpe4kuM_g) Read up on the r/ZKPodcast subreddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/zkpodcast) Give us feedback! -https://forms.gle/iKMSrVtcAn6BByH6A Support our Gitcoin Grant (https://gitcoin.co/grants/329/zero-knowledge-podcast-2) Support us on the ZKPatreon (https://www.patreon.com/zeroknowledge) Donate through coinbase.commerce (https://commerce.coinbase.com/checkout/f1e56274-c92b-4a99-802f-50727d651b38)