Programmable Cryptography (Part 1)

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by gubsheep. Thanks to Justin Glibert, Barry Whitehat, Vitalik Buterin, Yan Zhang, Alex Allain, Dan Boneh, Elaine Shi, Nicholas Brysiewicz, and Albert Ni for discussion and review. Cryptography is undergoing a generational transition, from special-purpose cryptography to programmable cryptography. By “special-purpose cryptography,” we mean protocols that allow us to perform a single operation with cryptographic guarantees. Public-key encryption and signature schemes are examples of special-purpose cryptography: for example, a signature scheme allows me to prove to you that I know a unique cryptographic key. More complex examples of special-purpose cryptography include group signatures, a special type of signature scheme which enables one person to sign anonymously on behalf of a group, or range proofs, which enable you to prove that a secret number is within some range, without revealing the number. In each of these cases, cryptographers have designed a special-purpose protocol, someti

Programmable Cryptography (Part 1) by gubsheep. Thanks to Justin Glibert, Barry Whitehat, Vitalik Buterin, Yan Zhang, Alex Allain, Dan Boneh, Elaine Shi, Nicholas Brysiewicz, and Albert Ni for discussion and review. Cryptography is undergoing a generational transition, from special-purpose cryptography to programmable cryptography. By “special-purpose cryptography,” we mean protocols that allow us to perform a single operation with cryptographic guarantees. Public-key encryption and signature schemes are examples of special-purpose cryptography: for example, a signature scheme allows me…

Programmable Cryptography (Part 1)

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