[Source] MTN News 023-05-16 18:20:14
[MTN News] Coin trading revealed in the world, where is 'privacy'?
[original article] https://news.mtn.co.kr/news-detail/2023051616433161779
[anchor comment]
Controversy over whether Rep. Kim Nam-guk played a so-called 'two-job' with a member of the National Assembly and a virtual asset operator, the political battle is in full swing. In this process, the block chain feature that allows you to look into all personal transaction details was also highlighted, and it is said that excessive openness can rather cause anxiety. Let's talk about openness and privacy, and how we can reconcile the conflicting parts with reporter Cho Jung-hyun.
[content of the article]
Anchor> Even in the controversy of Rep. Kim Nam-guk, almost all transaction status and balance details were revealed with just these clues, such as the name of the virtual currency wallet, the date of the wallet date, and the balance, right?
Reporter> Yes, it is called a distributed ledger. One ledger, that is, a ledger, is divided into individual blocks and stored.
It is not possible to manipulate information by jointly distributing and storing one information.
Not only can it not be manipulated, but anyone can look into transaction information on the blockchain.
What you are looking at now is a site that shows the transaction history of Ethereum.
All individual transactions are posted.
CBDC, a virtual currency issued by the central bank, which is currently being tested by the Bank of Korea, is also being developed based on blockchain because of its strong transparency and fast transaction processing speed.
Here is the governor of the Bank of Korea.
[Bank of Korea Governor Lee Chang-yong: How about suggesting an alternative so that the industry using virtual currency can develop? In that respect, we are actively considering virtual currency issued by the central bank called CBDC.]
Anchor> The problem is when this virtual currency is distributed to all citizens and countries, which would be CBDC. There must be a significant number of people who do not stipulate that all of their transaction information be confirmed, but there will be a controversy over Big Brother, right?
Reporter> It is a characteristic of virtual currency that transaction details are recorded and revealed in the ledger of the block chain, but anonymity is guaranteed.
It is said that the identity of the parties to the transaction is not revealed, but even so, there is a high possibility that personal information will be infringed even if only one clue is captured, as in the case of Congressman Nam-guk Kim this time.
It is not to say that the disclosure of Congressman Kim's transaction details is wrong, but it is clear that it is a part to prepare for assuming the era of virtual assets that will be in full swing.
In the case of CBDC, there are many concerns that personal transaction records remain in the central bank's books, so that state institutions can know all of the payment details of individuals or private companies.
In the end, the key is how to solve this privacy invasion problem.
[Lee Hyeon-kyu, Gwanak-gu, Seoul: I know that Bitcoin was initially created for the purpose of decentralization, but if the Bank of Korea actually introduces it, wouldn't it develop in a different direction from the original purpose of Bitcoin?]
[Park Jeong-joon, Haman-gun, Gyeongsangnam-do: Central management of virtual assets can cause problems with the liquidity of virtual currency because it becomes an invasion of privacy.]
Anchor> I know that the Bank of Korea is currently testing whether CBDC can operate normally, but this part must also be covered?
Reporter> As long as we can encrypt the individual's transaction history itself and verify that the password has not been tampered with, the problem is logically resolved.
This concept is a mathematical algorithm called Zero-Knowledge Proof, 0 Knowledge Proof.
I usually explain this concept with the situation of going through a cave,
In this picture, Hyeon-Jung first enters tunnel A.
If the person verifying this instructs Jung-hyeon to come out to A at this time, Jung-hyeon can come out to A even if he doesn't have the key to open the door in the middle of the aisle.
Conversely, if you ask Jung-hyeon, who entered through A, to come out through B, he cannot come out without the key.
Since there are cases where it can appear and cases where it does not exist, if you repeat this instruction process dozens or hundreds of times, you can prove that Hyun-Jung has the key.
Anchor> It must be a complex encryption process that requires multiple iterations.
Reporter> Speed is important in currency trading, but speed is a problem for the reason you mentioned.
It has always been a problem that applying 0-knowledge proof to one transaction history takes time in minutes.
Recently, a domestic start-up industry succeeded in reducing the required time to less than 3 seconds, opening a shortcut to commercialization.
Although at an experimental stage, the Bank of Korea has also adopted this technology.
We interviewed Professor Hyunok Oh CEO and zero-knowledge specialist at Zkrypto.
[Oh Hyun-ok, CEO of Zkrypto: There is such a problem as privacy when applying transactions on the blockchain. So, to prevent this, we have to encrypt and insert the transaction, but if that happens, we can't check if this transaction is correct. The technology that helps this verification is zero-knowledge proof, and it will be such a technology that audit agencies can audit so that only you know the information in your account and can track it to see if it has been used for illegal purposes.]
Anchor> It seems like a solution that has a lot of uses because it can maintain the transparency of blockchain while maintaining anonymity.
Reporter> Taking the election as an example, the election results should not be manipulated, and according to the principle of secret elections, it should not be revealed who voted where.
This solution can be used for electronic voting, which will be introduced someday.
It is a solution that prevents data forgery and tampering while preventing user data from being revealed. As the domestic start-up industry is one step ahead of the world, attention is focused on it.
Anchor> Yes, I heard you well.
Cho Jeong-hyun Money Today Broadcasting MTN Reporter