Cardano is exploring zero-knowledge proofs, which allow transactions to be authenticated without divulging any of the personal information of either the sender or receiver.
Cardano creator Charles Hoskinson says his company, IOHK, has been researching Electronic Coin Company’s zk-SNARK proofs, which enable Zcash to have transactions that retain verifiable validity while simultaneously remaining fully encrypted on the blockchain.
Hoskinson expanded on the subject during a recent AMA when he was asked whether IOHK planned to analyze ECC’s new Halo project, “a technique for creating practical, scalable and trustless cryptographic proving systems, ending an almost decade-long pursuit by the cryptography community.”
Says Hoskinson,
“We are definitely following the latest and greatest state of the art – we’re doing a lot of SNARK work under the hood. We have some cool ideas.
We’ve implemented Sonic. We’re looking at Marlin, we’re looking at other things… 2020 is going to be the year of the SNARK for a lot of cryptocurrency projects, and it’s extremely exciting to see how powerful this is and what it can do.”
Hoskinson also spoke about Cardano’s recent project with the footwear giant New Balance.
The partnership, which is designed to allow customers and retailers to track the authenticity of New Balance’s newest shoes, launched last week.
Hoskinson says Cardano and New Balance are in full production and that the technology is much more than just a proof of concept.
“This program is not some MOU or pilot with New Balance. It’s actually a real project. They pay us, and it’s a real product in market that people are buying and using right now. It’s just a question of how much we can scale that relationship, and our hope is to scale it up as much as possible.”
