Chain Inc. , a blockchain company specializing in enterprise software for financial firms, has joined the Initiative for Cryptocurrency and Contracts (IC3) to advance blockchain development for the financial services industry and "ensure cross-industry interoperability and harmonization." Chain has identified several specific projects on which the company will collaborate with IC3. These projects focus on blockchain scalability, privacy and interoperability, Chain CEO and Co-Founder Adam Ludwin told Bitcoin Magazine . IC3 currently works on 13 projects that are aimed at solving five "Grand Challenges": Scaling and Performance, Correctness by Design and Construction, Confidentiality, Authenticated Data Feeds and Safety and Compliance. "IC3’s research is focused on a number of very important areas for the advancement of cryptography and cryptocurrencies," said Ludwin. "The projects we are particularly interested in are security and compliance and scaling and performance." IC3, an initiative of faculty members at Cornell University, Cornell Tech, UC Berkeley, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) and the Technion, focuses on advancing the development of blockchain technology and bringing blockchain-based solutions "from today’s white boards and proof-of-concepts to tomorrow’s fast and reliable financial systems of execution and record." IC3 collaborates with domain experts in finance and banking, entrepreneurs, regulators and open-source software communities to develop new cryptocurrency and smart contract solutions. These include, for instance, financially enforceable cryptographic protocols whose security properties are backed by enforceable payments in case of a breach, as well as high-assurance, high performance systems for storing and handling high-value cryptocurrencies and confidential transactions. One of IC3’s projects, Solidus, aims at allowing a consortium of trustworthy entities to run a private blockchain. Solidus retains some of the benefits of decentralization but also enables higher performance and tighter governance and control than existing systems such as Bitcoin. Another project called Gyges focuses on developing solutions to fight and prevent […]
