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Radioactive Material From Chernobyl Will Help Secure the Next Version of Zcash

vice.com · 1,386 words · saved by 1 readers

On January 20, Ryan Pierce and Andrew Miller—a self-described “technology architect” and assistant professor of computer engineering at the University of Illinois, respectively—climbed into Pierce’s prop plane with a Geiger counter, some radioactive material from Chernobyl, and an air gapped laptop. Before taking off, they made sure their phones were unable to record or transmit any information from inside the cockpit to ensure nobody could snoop on what they were about to do. The duo flew to 3,000 feet and used the Geiger counter to measure radioactive decay from the Chernobyl material—a piece of graphite moderator that was ejected from the core of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor during the 1986 meltdown—as the plane circled above southern Wisconsin. The pair then landed and used these measurements to help secure Zcash, a privacy-oriented cryptocurrency. Pierce and Miller were participating in the Powers of Tau, an ongoing cryptographic “ceremony” wherein each participant samples some s

Share: Share on X (Opens in new window) X Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook Share using Native tools Share Copied to clipboard On January 20, Ryan Pierce and Andrew Miller—a self-described “technology architect” and assistant professor of computer engineering at the University of Illinois, respectively—climbed into Pierce’s prop plane with a Geiger counter, some radioactive material from Chernobyl , and an air gapped laptop. Before taking off, they made sure their phones were unable to record or transmit any information from inside the cockpit to ensure nobody could snoop on wha

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