Cardano continues to build momentum with more features and capabilities being steadily added to the blockchain. As we recently reported, we are optimizing the network to increase throughput so more transactions can be processed faster, and decentralized applications (DApps) and smart contracts created and used more efficiently. This week, we have kicked off an important new initiative to support our ongoing drive toward full decentralization with the launch of a new peer-to-peer (P2P) testnet.

Cardano ensures trust and security in a decentralized setting using proof-of-stake consensus through the Ouroboros algorithm. At the heart of this are about 3,000 stake pools run by operators (SPOs) who manage the distributed nodes that power the network. Clearly, in a decentralized and distributed network, there has to be reliable communication between these nodes. Central to this and vital for verifying blockchain activities is data diffusion – the process of sharing information about transactions and block distribution. This also enables the Ouroboros algorithm to make its ‘decisions’.

Until recently, Cardano nodes established connections with peers by looking up a file that described the static configuration of the network. The system also relied on nodes set up by IOG – with a community-managed and configured topology – that helped to establish network connectivity (read more about the evolution of network connectivity here). To increase decentralization and simplify node communications, we've been establishing a P2P network. Direct interaction between peers streamlines communication between the thousands of distributed nodes that will maintain the network without reliance on federated relays. This will be done by automated P2P networking components. Automating the process of peer selection brings us closer to a fully decentralized network and simplifies the process of running a relay or a block-producing node.

From the early days of the Shelley incentivized testnet through to the Alonzo testnets program, community-supported rollouts have been central to our approach. To expand testing of the P2P changes, we are now inviting some pool operators to a semi-public testnet. Eleven operators will help us test the automated P2P components before we expand the program more widely.

What’s new?

P2P is still an experimental feature. Although it will be part of future releases, we’re not yet integrating it into all our work. The pool operators will assess the environment by configuring their nodes for direct interaction with each other. P2P capabilities will be included in the cardano-node master branch and in merged pull requests to ‘ouroboros-network’ on GitHub.

The P2P mode will enable ‘churn’ to ensure dynamic promotion and demotion of peers. Updating network configuration will also be simpler for SPOs because their nodes do not have to be restarted.

The semi-public testnet will also improve the node’s Prometheus interface. It will include the following statistics:

• outbound connections: warm (active connections that don’t participate in the consensus) and hot (active connections that take part in the consensus)
• inbound connections: warm and hot
• uni-direction/duplex connections.

What’s next?

The assessment of network connections on the semi-public testnet will help us to gather valuable feedback and catch unknown issues. Once we are satisfied, we will then be ready to invite all SPOs to test P2P node communications on the public testnet. This will mark the implementation of a smart policy for peer selection. This policy will allow defining final metrics to compare with the previous, non-P2P setting. Most importantly, we’ll continue testing to verify that all the components work flawlessly in isolation as well as in combination in a wide range of network conditions.

Follow our weekly development updates to find out more about P2P network development and also check out the Ouroboros network repository for the latest updates.

In our previous blog post earlier this summer, we shared how Cardano would support the migration of ERC20 tokens from Ethereum, working initially with SingularityNET and their AGIX token. Today we can announce that the AGIX ERC20 converter testnet is live and ready for community evaluation.

SingularityNET is our first partner in this initiative. And the converter is a significant step in our shared journey towards a much deeper collaboration with the SingularityNET community.

Dr. Ben Goertzel, CEO and Chief Scientist at SingularityNET says:

I'm extremely excited by the emergence of the AGIX-ADA/AGIX-ETH converter onto Cardano testnet, and soon after that onto mainnet. Every revolution is carried out one step at a time, and this is the first in a series of steps whose result will be the porting of the full SingularityNET decentralized AI platform onto Cardano. The importance of this port for SingularityNET and the whole blockchain and AI ecosystems cannot be overestimated – it will yield not only a far faster and more economical AI network, but also a massively superior foundation for adding advanced new functions to SingularityNET and moving toward realizing our vision of decentralized AGI.

In this initial testnet version, users can move SingularityNET’s AGIX tokens to Cardano and back to Ethereum via the permissioned bridge. This marks a significant step forward in driving interoperability between blockchains to establish a functional environment for decentralized finance (DeFi). Users can assess the capabilities of the testnet and pilot the transfer of AGIX tokens to benefit from Cardano’s higher transaction capacity, lower fees, and proven security benefits.

Blockchain bridges power interoperability

Blockchain interoperability is key to boosting adoption and growth for the entire space. Alongside our open-source approach, this has always been one of our priorities – to make blockchain solutions accessible for everyone, regardless of the chosen protocol. However, speed of transaction processing, security properties, and scalability are critical to satisfying the needs of the crypto community.

We are currently building out and collaborating on multiple bridges to connect Cardano to other blockchains, and this first converter is a vital artery in this system. The more these connections grow, the higher the network effect to boost the flow of liquidity within the Cardano ecosystem.

So, let’s take a closer look at how exactly the AGIX ERC20 converter tool works.

Working with the converter

The converter enables the migration of AGIX ERC20-based tokens from the source network to Cardano. Users can access the converter via a URL and move their tokens in just a few clicks. The converter ‘translates’ an ERC20 token into a native token on Cardano with the same value and functionality, which can be moved into Daedalus or Yoroi wallets to make payments or other transactions. The built-in conversion system allows the tokens to be converted back into ERC20 format, if desired.

Users do not need technical expertise or coding experience to use the converter. They simply access the tool through a URL and then proceed by creating a new account or configuring an existing Metamask account.

It is essential to configure the associated Cardano address, which corresponds to either a testnet Daedalus or Yoroi Nightly wallet to store the migrated tokens. After initial setup, users are welcome to use some testnet AGIX and Ethereum Kovan test network (KETH) tokens to start testing the tool.

The converter reflects the token balance and its equivalent value in US dollars on the token card on a dashboard:

Figure 1. ERC20 converter dashboard

Token migration

To migrate testnet tokens to Cardano, users need to select the token card, choose the amount, and click the Convert button:

Figure 2. The process of token migration from Ethereum to Cardano

The user will be notified once the transaction is processed both on the Cardano and Ethereum Kovan testnets, and the balance will update accordingly.

For the reverse process, the user needs to click the conversion arrow to point to the target blockchain. The system will notify the user about smart contract execution, and the steps to follow.

The converter provides a user-friendly interface that features tips, notifications, and additional information to guide users throughout their token migration journey. For example, the testnet version of the converter utilizes the Kovan test network. If a user is in a different environment, the system will notify the user to change networks. The same applies to the Cardano address setup, sending values that exceed the actual balance, and so on.

Finally, all the activity can be tracked on both blockchain explorers:

• Kovan Etherscan and
• Cardano testnet explorer

It is also possible to check recent transactions in the converter’s Transaction history section:

Figure 3. ERC20 converter transaction history

What’s next?

Our commercial team is now running the process to allow for secure and seamless token migration from other blockchains and sidechains to Cardano. Projects who want to initiate a dialog can get in touch here. We will continue pursuing Cardano’s interoperability mission across a range of permissioned and permissionless, producing a mesh of interconnected sidechains with decentralized applications (DApps) written in Solidity, Glow, and more. This will expand the base ecosystem of DApps written in Plutus on Cardano.

Following our philosophy where security comes first, we are treating the converter deployment with the highest scrutiny to always secure the funds of individuals. That is why we are inviting the community to put it through its paces on the testnet while the code is constantly monitored and audited to ensure that everything is working properly. While the user flow and UI for the testnet converter will likely be very similar on mainnet, the current build is not yet optimized for performance. The testnet phase is an essential part of this process, gathering user data – particularly at times of high network saturation – will help us address this and improve throughput as we get closer to the mainnet launch.

Ready to try out the AGIX converter? First, make sure to visit the dedicated testnet page with step-by-step instructions. And if you’re ready to get started, then go to the ERC20 converter – the testnet is now live and waiting for you to try it out!

In our previous blog post, we announced the collaboration between Ergo, Nervos, Topl, and Komodo – companies forming the UTXO alliance to jointly enhance interoperability, scalability, and programmability features of the UTXO-based blockchains. Today, we are delighted to announce that Alephium and DigiByte are also joining the alliance to pioneer improvements of the UTXO accounting model.

We live in an age of rapid change and technological advancements where blockchain is the technology that streamlines transparency, trust, and enhanced security. The UTXO alliance has been created to encourage those at the forefront of this technology to engage in shared efforts and initiatives. Together we can drive further development of critical infrastructure needed to foster broader adoption of blockchain.

The strength of the UTXO model

The advancement of the UTXO accounting model is the core focus of the alliance. UTXO-based blockchains are superior to account-based models as they ensure:

• Enhanced security: the same address is not used every time a transaction is made, which makes it impossible to track the address or find out the overall balance. UTXOs are also more beneficial in terms of privacy leaks resolution.
• Scalability: UTXO ledgers allow for parallel transaction processing eliminating network congestion and are more suitable for stateless client solutions.
• Interoperability: due to the implementation of off-chain and sidechain protocols, it is easier to establish interoperability between different blockchains.
• Determinism: on the UTXO ledger, a user can predict the cost and validity of a transaction before it is processed on the chain. Transaction costs are also much lower in the UTXO model as there are no ‘gas’ fees.

Investigating UTXO properties and contributing open-source research allows us to enhance the properties of different blockchain systems, while also fostering interoperability between ledgers. Together, we are investigating scalability solutions that will allow solving instrumental questions around how to efficiently transfer data between different blockchain environments (including the amount of data used, processing speed, transaction costs, and energy usage). We’re also working on programmability, focusing on the design of new programming languages that will grant diversity in building smart contracts and DApps on UTXO-based blockchains.

Joint effort

Alephium is the first operational sharded blockchain bringing scalability, ETH-inspired smart contracts, and DApp capabilities to Bitcoin's proven core technologies while ensuring better performance and improved energy efficiency. From its technical design to its interfaces, Alephium has been created to address the challenges of accessibility, scalability, and security encountered by decentralized applications today. The immutability of the UTXO model has been the cornerstone for Alephium to tackle the scalability issue of blockchain. More specifically, Alephium proposes a stateful UTXO model which offers both layer-1 scalability and the same level of programmability as the account model. Alephium also introduces a dedicated virtual machine (VM) based on the UTXO model to address DeFi’s security issues and execution bottleneck.

Cheng Wang, Alephium founder & core developer says:

The increasingly high demand for scalable and secure DApps, and more specifically DeFi, is a great opportunity for UTXO blockchains. UTXO-based designs will be the new paradigm for DeFi development. The alliance will play a key role in driving its mass adoption.

DigiByte is an innovative, open-source, UTXO-based blockchain that is driven by the community. It provides forward-thinking solutions to ensure greater decentralization, security, speed, and scalability. Due to its secure cryptographic algorithms and enhanced speed, users can efficiently create digital assets, smart contracts, and DApps on the chain. One of the largest challenges DigiByte, and other UTXO projects, have struggled with is developer engagement. The barrier to entry for developers to build solutions on top of UTXO blockchains is high and requires a tremendous amount of domain knowledge and experience. DigiByte core protocol maintainers and contributors have been working on lowering that barrier to entry by building an approachable and easy-to-use developer toolchain & development sandbox.

GTO90, core protocol contributor & maintainer of DigiByte says:

DigiByte took UTXO to maximum performance through fast block times, real time difficulty adjustment, and multi algo mining. This improved upon the UTXO model and decentralization. Over the past several years, a number of DigiByte's innovations have been contributed to a variety of open-source UTXO blockchain projects. We look forward to working with the UTXO alliance to further innovation around and adoption of the UTXO model.

Romain Pellerin, IOHK CTO adds:

We are thrilled to see another two blockchain ecosystems joining us and the UTXO alliance, which brings us to seven founding members already. DigiByte and Alephium bring both experienced and novel lines of thinking to the alliance. This ensures diversity in the way we identify and attempt to solve common challenges. It will help each member to consolidate their state of the art and design new solutions to the latest challenges, as well as enable synergies towards more scalable, programmable, and interoperable blockchain networks.

We continue growing our collaborations to investigate different approaches to the enhancement of the UTXO model. Joining forces for the common goal strengthens our initiative while contributing to open-source research.

Input Output chose the UTXO model for Cardano because of its superior deterministic design, scalability features, and proven security. UTXO alliance members include some of the best and brightest blockchain minds in the space, committed to collaboration and growing and advancing the standard. If you’re developing UTXO-based blockchain tools and techniques and are committed to furthering this transformative technology, we invite you to join us. For more details, visit the UTXO alliance website.

At the Cardano Summit 2021, IOHK researchers Pyrros Chaidos and Roman Oliynykov presented the design and goals of Mithril – new research and engineering effort carried out by IOHK. Mithril will provide a stake-based threshold signature scheme that can be implemented as the protocol to solve chain synchronization, state bootstrapping, and trust issues in blockchain applications.

Mithril is the name used for a fictional metal in Middle-Earth – a malleable material, very light in weight but strong as 'triple steel', which does not tarnish or dim. Thus, the name symbolizes strength in terms of security and a lightweight approach with regard to the developed protocol.

Leveraging stake for signature aggregation

Let’s start with some background information to understand Mithril's benefits for the development of blockchain solutions.

Cardano is a proof-of-stake blockchain, so the consensus algorithm randomly selects nodes to become block producers according to the stake they hold. For certain messages or actions, it is important that a particular number of stakeholders provide their cryptographic signatures. The consensus protocol determines how individual nodes assess the current state of the ledger system and has three main responsibilities:

• perform a leader check and decide if a block should be produced
• handle chain selection
• verify produced blocks.

To achieve greater scalability in a blockchain setting, it is essential to address the complexity of critical operations that depend logarithmically on the number of participants. This means that the higher the number of participants (which are assumed to be numerous), the more complex it becomes to efficiently aggregate their signatures. In a base scenario, to presume a signature that talks for the majority of stakeholders, every stakeholder needs to sign the appropriate individual message. Although this is possible, it is inefficient in terms of scalability and speed.

Given the time it takes to validate a particular message, and the resource usage during chain synchronization, it is vital to provide a solution that makes multi-signature aggregation fast and efficient without compromising security features.

Mithril protocol design

Mithril is a protocol designed to:

• leverage stake to obtain higher efficiency
• ensure transparent setup while not requiring increased trust settings
• leverage trade-offs between size and efficiency, which is guaranteed by the modular component design.

Mithril works in a public setting where signers don’t need to interact with other signers to produce a valid signature. The aggregator combines all the signatures into one, and this process is logarithmic with respect to the number of signatures, which results in a sublinear performance for Mithril aggregation. For example, when applied to full node clients like Daedalus, Mithril can boost full node data synchronization ensuring speed and decreasing resource consumption.

To represent a significant fraction of the total stake, Mithril uses the stake-based threshold setting. This behavior is different from the standard setting in which the given number of participants are required to validate a particular message. In the stake-based threshold setting, the protocol requires a fraction of the total stake to validate a given message to generate a correct signature.

Mithril also certifies consensus in a trustless setting. This means that it does not include any additional trust assumptions. It is possible to achieve consensus certification without including any additional assumptions, other than those already present in the proof of stake. For example, it can work within wallet-as-a-service, and the mobile client will use the certificate obtained from a Mithril node. With advanced security settings, such a procedure is potentially more efficient than SPO blockchain verification.

Finally, to ensure fast chain state bootstrapping, the signature scheme allows different stakeholders to validate only a given checkpoint of the chain. Stakeholders need not go through the whole transaction history of the given state – they simply need to go through the checkpoints to verify that the final stake is valid. This is beneficial for light client applications like light wallets that need to work fast without a full chain synchronization. Mithril signatures can be also useful for lightweight tally verification, or cryptocurrency governance decision making.

How it works

Mithril enables a multi-party signature by holding a number of individual lotteries (M) and considering a message to be valid if it has been signed by a number of different winners (K) over those lotteries. Each user, therefore, attempts to sign the message and then passes its signature through what is considered a lottery function. This function allows individual users to check if their signatures are eligible as lottery winners and output those without waiting. This is different from a standard setting, where slot leaders need to wait until their slot is active to participate. Once there are case signatures over different lotteries, they can be aggregated into a single Mithril signature.

Phases

The design of Mithril involves three phases:

Figure 1. Phases of Mithril operation

Parameter setup

To set up a Mithril protocol, users need to:

• fix the group setting where the cryptography will take place
• select the index range M, which is the number of elections they will be holding
• set the quorum size K, which is the number of election winners that need to sign a signature for it to be accepted.

It is also important to provide a reference string for the proof system. This is possible in a transparent manner and does not require any high trust assumptions.

Initialization

During this phase, users should update the state distribution. This lets every stakeholder know from what stake they are holding. Then, each stakeholder is responsible for registering their keys. This can happen either on or off the chain.

Finally, users need to distribute stake and compress their test keys, which is done using the Merkle tree. This function allows Mithril signatures to be verified against a single hash that represents that Merkle tree. So, the size of the state needed to verify a signature can be kept low.

Operation

While working with the chain, users can produce, aggregate, and verify Mithril signatures. Producing signatures involves users’ attempts to check if the signature they produced is actually a winner on one of the lotteries held in parallel. If true, the users will broadcast their signatures. If there are enough signatures supporting a particular message over different lotteries, they can be aggregated into a single Mithril signature. It can then be broadcast and verified by anyone using only the reference string for the proof system and the very short Merkle tree hash of stake distribution.

For example, a single user can create a signature with Mithril as follows:

Figure 2. Mithril signature creation

First, a user will check the amount of stake they hold and pass it through a score function to obtain their score threshold T. Then, they will attempt to produce a candidate signature S. For each index, they will evaluate whether the candidate's signature they produced paired with the message they have just signed. The index number of the lottery they're checking against should also produce a score value that is less than their threshold T. If that is true, then the candidate signature they produced has actually won the lottery on that particular index number. If not, they will make the next attempt.

After trying all possible indexes, users will potentially have one or more indexes for which their signature S is valid. For each of those indexes, they can output an individual signature consisting of their candidate signature, the index number for which it is valid, and the proof that verifies that their score is consistent with the registered stake.

Network architecture

Implementing Mithril on Cardano, we can represent the software interaction as follows:

Figure 3. Mithril network architecture

A high-level representation of software around a stake pool operator (SPO) includes its connection to the Cardano peer-to-peer (P2P) network, the Mithril node’s P2P network, and the Mithril client connected to the node run by an SPO.

The Mithril node at the SPO platform accesses its verified blockchain at the local storage and runs the protocol to produce Mithril certificates that are kept at the Mithril storage. Produced Mithril certificates can be verifiably synchronized across the whole network. Thus, the SPO can share both the full Cardano blockchain and the list of valid Mithril certificates for it. When the Mithril client connects to the network, it requests a list of Mithril certificates and asks only for the longest chain of the Cardano blockchain.

Several SPOs can also participate in such a setting. The Mithril client will then verify that certificates fully confirm the obtained Cardano blockchain. The whole procedure is lightweight and will not require the involvement of significant network storage or computational resources. Moreover, Cardano full node sync and fast sync with Mithril procedures are not mutually exclusive – they can be run in parallel. Mithril fast sync will be later confirmed by the full node sync.

Use cases

Let’s take a look at the use cases where Mithril applicability is highly beneficial.

Mithril boosts the efficiency of full node clients or applications such as Daedalus. It ensures fast and secure synchronization of the full node data, significantly improving time and required resources including computation, network exchange, and local storage while keeping high-level security guarantees.

Mithril is also applicable to light clients and mobile applications, ensuring a trustless approach. Another significant advantage is using Mithril signatures for running sidechains. The main blockchain can connect to different sidechains that can even have different consensus protocols. Mithril has benefits in lightweight blockchain state verification, and thus, certificates can validate the current state of the specific blockchain as well as the correctness of forward and backward transfers in a secure way.

Finally, stake-based voting applications and governance solutions can use Mithril regardless of the voting protocol’s complexity. Mithril signatures can be utilized for secure and lightweight tally verification. This is also useful in governance when stakeholders go through a decentralized decision-making process and provide the final result in an easy and verifiable way.

Implementations

Several companies are already interested in Mithril implementation within their blockchain solutions. Galois, an advanced R&D firm focused on formal methods, cryptography, and hardware, will be implementing the first Mithril prototype based on the research done by IOHK. Galois will be implementing Mithril in the Rust programming language due to its fast prototyping features. They plan first to present smaller signatures with BulletProofs, then followed by production-ready implementations, and finally formal proofs of correctness.

Idyllic Vision is another company focused on building a self-sovereign identity protocol based on zero-knowledge proofs, a credential management system for organizations, and a mobile wallet for end users that supports interoperability between diverse society solutions. They are planning to implement the proof of concept of the Mithril node. In the following months, they will begin with creating a blueprint of solution architecture, defining a number of system components that should be developed and organically integrated into the existing infrastructure. This includes integration with the Mithril crypto library and the Cardano node, and a networking layer for communication between nodes. The result of this phase should be integrated into Cardano to enable fast bootstrapping of the node and support for extra functionality like lightweight clients as others.

To find out more, read the Mithril research paper and watch the Cardano Summit presentation.

Global time synchronization across any distributed network is essential to ensure its resilience.

From ensuring up-to-date information between all participants, maintaining accurate transaction processing and block creation, time synchronization is especially important in terms of smart contract deployment.

In collaboration with scientists from the Universities of Edinburgh, Purdue, and Connecticut, Input Output found a way to globally synchronize clocks across a blockchain to provide a more secure and tamper-proof global time source. This includes synchronization of time from internet of things (IoT) devices, like measurement tools in supply chains, and general distributed systems, particularly where the disruption of a central clock represents a security risk. The research is realized by Ouroboros Chronos, the Greek word for time, which is the latest iteration of Ouroboros – the consensus algorithm that underpins the Cardano blockchain.

Time matters

Time is an indispensable concept within computer programs and applications. Without this concept, we would not be able to access any transport layer security (TLS) based websites, exchange data, or utilize various cryptographic algorithms.

Yet, time tracking is a difficult problem to solve. Accurate time synchronization presumes data transmission across the whole internet, and this, in turn, takes time too. It is also hard to predict how much time would be required for certain data transmission – the network state constantly changes and relies on such factors as congestion and the actual size of data among others. Thus, inconsistencies often occur and it is important to provide the tools and solutions for accurate timekeeping.

Real time

With common computers, we take timekeeping for granted. However, there is a rigorous mechanism that works behind the scenes. The Network Time Protocol (NTP), for instance, addresses the timekeeping issue using a hierarchy of servers distributed globally. This includes up to 15 Stratums the routing paths of which are developed to synchronize in the most optimized manner. This is also enabled by the construction of a Bellman-Ford shortest-path spanning tree that decreases both latency and transmission time inconsistencies.

The UK Government’s Satellite-derived time and position: Blackett review recently highlighted the need for more resilient timing data and the dangerous dependence of critical sectors from smart grids to autonomous vehicles on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) that are vulnerable to jamming, cyber attacks, and space weather. Additionally, the world’s first National Timing Centre, led by the National Physical Laboratory, was recently created to investigate alternative and more resilient timing services for everything from telecommunications to smart transport. International metrology centers currently have to compare clocks operating at different frequencies and in multiple locations for accuracy.

Blockchain time synchronization

The concept of timekeeping is different for distributed ledger technology. Without an accurate and valid timestamp, the network cannot verify if the transaction that is being processed is valid and does not revert the previous one. There are different timestamping techniques used across a range of blockchain ledgers, however, they aren’t necessarily very accurate. For example, Bitcoin uses timestamps for consensus security reasons, but not primarily for timekeeping; and in Ethereum, on-chain timestamps are determined by miners whereas the consensus won’t technically block or verify those for validity.

Timekeeping is essential for smart contract execution as well. Inaccuracy poses a risk for decentralized finance (DeFi) smart contract attacks. Smart contract vulnerabilities aren’t always conditioned by poor code, time inconsistencies should be resolved to block any possible attacks within the ledger.

Ouroboros Chronos: designed to boost communication and timing resilience

The new research on Ouroboros Chronos enables blockchain technology to synchronize clocks more securely. Chronos is itself a cryptographically secure blockchain protocol that additionally provides an accurate source of time via a novel time synchronization mechanism, eliminating the vulnerabilities of externally hosted clocks. This also enables blockchain to accurately time-stamp transactions making the ledger more resistant to attacks that target time information.

The new protocol can dramatically boost the resilience of critical telecommunications, transport, trading systems, and infrastructures by synchronizing local time to a unified network clock that has no single point of failure.

Professor Aggelos Kiayias, director of the Blockchain Technology Laboratory at the University of Edinburgh and Chief Scientist at Input Output, who led the research, says:

The problem of synchronizing clocks without a central time-keeper is essential in creating a truly robust decentralized financial system. For the first time, we have developed a blockchain mechanism that enables a dynamically evolving group of parties to calibrate their local clocks so they are consistent – even if they come and go following arbitrary participation patterns. By creating a blockchain-based global clock, we have also paved the way to a more secure, tamper-resistant time source with many possible external applications.

By enabling accurate timing and thus full traceability of all transactions, the scientific breakthrough also marks a major step towards creating fully auditable and fraud-proof financial systems.

To find out more, see the published research here.

Thanks to Rachel Bruce, Jenny Corlett, Rod Alexander, and Christian Badertscher for their input and support in writing this post.