t researchersGonzo Pentagon Research Institute in charge of introducing the world Stealth bomber, Insect-sized surveillance droneAnd that The internet itself I have some reservations about Underlying blockchain technology Web3..
Newly released report It was commissioned by the Defense Advanced Research Projects (DARPA) entitled “Is Blockchain Decentralized?” We have discovered a major vulnerability that could jeopardize the possible “distributed” spirit of blockchain technology.
Report conducted in partnership with Research firm Trail of Bits points out a particularly small number of “unintentional centralities,” and the author argues that the power of blockchain could be concentrated in the hands of a small number of selected individuals or groups. increase. These unintended centralities range from powerful new cryptocurrency miners and older computers vulnerable to attacks to the selected cohort of Internet service providers responsible for handling Bitcoin traffic.
Especially the author please do not Discover the praised cryptographic abuses or weaknesses of blockchain (at least until quantum computing becomes a great reality, they are actually described as “very robust”)). Instead, they dig up the problem by “destroying the properties of the blockchain implementation.”
“We believe that the risks inherent in blockchain and cryptocurrencies are not fully explained and can be ignored or even ridiculed by those trying to take advantage of the last decade of the gold rush. “The author states. statement..
DARPA has reportedly been involved in the Trail of Bits over the past year and has asked the company to investigate the basic characteristics of blockchain and the potential security risks associated with it.The timing of the report’s release is historic bleeding Of the value of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies that leave a lot in the space
According to the report, almost two-thirds (60%) of all Bitcoin traffic has passed through only three ISPs in at least the last five years. In addition, about half of all Bitcoins report that traffic was routed through Tor. When so leaning, Trail of Bits CEO Dan Guido said: interview With NPR, these providers could potentially possess the ability to “rewrite history” by limiting certain transactions and preventing Bitcoin from completely changing hands.
“Let’s say someone in your country who has good top-down control of the Internet starts to interfere with that network,” Guido said. “By slowing down or stopping legitimate blockchain traffic, an attacker could become a” majority “voice in the consensus of what is being written to the blockchain at that time. “
Next, there is a problem with the old software.According to the report, about 21% of Bitcoin nodes You are running an older version of Bitcoin Core client that is vulnerable to attack. According to the Trail of Bits, “obvious software changes” can actually change the state of the blockchain, resulting in a concentration of systems that are uniquely vulnerable to attacks by blockchain software developers. It will be a trust point.
“This choice isn’t just about the convenience of delegating management to a third party. It’s about trusting a centralized third party, or trusting your own security hygiene and the developers of your non-storage wallet. It’s about doing it, “the author writes.
DARPA-The consignment report warnings about unintended crypto centralization partially reflect recent claims made by the prominent Web3. Negative..Probably the biggest name in the “Web3 isn’t what you think” crowd is Block CEO previous Twitter King Jack Dorsey.Dorsey spoke Critically The involvement of venture capitalists in Web3 companies even calls the envisioned new era of the Internet “eventually a centralized entity with a different label.”
The same goes for Moxie Marlinspike, the founder of Signal. Speak loudly Perhaps against what he sees as a weakness in the Web3 infrastructure that is actually working to centralize distributed systems.
“When a decentralized ecosystem is concentrated around the platform for convenience, it’s the worst in both worlds. It’s centralized control, but it’s still well distributed enough to be confusing in time,” Marlinspike said. Wrote in a widely distributed essay earlier this year. “You can build your own NFT marketplace, but if OpenSea mediates views of all NFTs (and all other apps in the ecosystem) in your wallet, then additional control Not offered. “On his side, Dorsey is actually already Go ahead Somehow I skipped the Web4 jargon altogether, as he sees it as a more decentralized “Web5” era.
Still, Web3 followers swan Co-founder Jan Pritzker is not always sold for criticism■ Outlined in a recent DARPA-sponsored report. Pritzker, speaking with NPR, considered the potential attacks described in the report to be mostly “theoretical,” and questioned the support of the report by a major, essentially centralized government agency. rice field.
“They are basically doing research on endgames. Their games are” how to manage currencies better “and” how to build a better system for managing currencies “to NPR. Told. of course, Government theoretical strategy Controlling cryptocurrencies will undermine the promise of blockchain technology that proponents have been pushing for years.
..
