Maynard also said quietly, "Professor Kleinrock, I feel like you are saying that my math is not good."
He didn't come up with the answer so quickly!
"No, no!" Kleinrock quickly waved his hand to explain.
Just kidding, he is really bad at math!
"Three professors, what are you talking about?" Xiao Yi, who was standing next to him, saw these three people starting to whisper to each other after solving the problem. He couldn't help but ask.
"Ah, we are saying that your plan is perfect!"
"Yes yes."
"That's right!"
The three people responded quickly.
"Ahem, of course, Millionaires' Problem is just an introductory question to our ultimate goal. It mainly helps you understand the logic of Multi-Party Security Algorithm, and this Millionaires' Problem is just a two-party security algorithm. We can also extend it to n people to compare wealth."
Kleinrock feels that it is necessary to save some face for the computer.
But soon Xiao Yi replied, "If it is expanded to n people, the problem is not big. Just use the protocol I just used to make repeated comparisons, and it can be completed in the end."
"Of course, considering the larger n, repeated comparisons will be a bit troublesome, well..."
Then Xiao Yi started writing on the blackboard again.
Soon, he put down his pen again and clapped his hands, "Done."
"In the end, it's just a matter of a Boolean function. If you program them and input all these numbers, you can get the result of n people."
"Hmm... Although I have never studied programming, it is probably just an if statement, right?"
Xiao Yi said slightly like an outsider.
Kleinrock finally gave up.
Terence Tao and Maynard next to them both patted the old man on the shoulder.
"Why bother?" Terence Tao shook his head.
He is not even 18 years old this year, you can't beat him.
"Okay, okay." Kleinrock accepted the reality.
After all, I am 85 years old, so I have to look away.
"The logic of multi-party security calculation is almost like this."
"I will now formally explain to you the goals of this project."
Kleinrock knocked on the blackboard as if class was about to begin.
"Blockchain facilitates secure and atomic transactions between parties on the chain that do not trust each other."
"However, for now, although there are multiple blockchains with different interfaces and security properties, in this multi-blockchain world, problems are always encountered in actual operation due to the lack of cross-chain communication and universal computing."
"Current cross-chain communication bridges have a variety of low-level interfaces, which makes it difficult to develop portable applications, and current multi-chain atomic transaction methods are also limited to cryptocurrency exchanges."
"So our goal is to develop a brand new protocol that can guarantee the atomicity of cross-chain transactions."
"In this regard, I think LayerZero cross-chain bridge would be a good idea as a prototype..."
As Professor Kleinrock narrated, they gradually entered the core point.
Although Xiao Yi doesn't understand computers, fortunately, his current understanding ability can be said to be far beyond that of ordinary people, so he roughly understands the final requirements.
Simply put, it is to develop a protocol that can ensure secure multi-party communication and transactions across blockchains, and to prove the security and feasibility of this protocol.
After all, there are so many banks and countries in the world now. There is a problem of mutual distrust between different banks. Of course, there is also a problem of mutual distrust between different countries. Everyone is doing their own thing and setting up their own blockchains. Naturally, there are at most many blockchains in the world.
According to Professor Kleinrock, the number of blockchains in the world may exceed 1,000 in 2023.
Therefore, World Bank, as a specialized agency under the name of United Nations, took the lead and hoped to develop a public protocol for such a complex situation to facilitate secure information communication and transactions between individuals who do not trust each other.
It's like there are so many millionaires who want to compare their assets without revealing their secrets.
Multi-Party Security Algorithm, is for this purpose.
"This is a big project."
After listening to Kleinrock's story, Terence Tao couldn't help but exclaimed.
"Yes." Kleinrock nodded and said, "Of course, there are quite a few project teams participating in this project, such as Massachusetts, Princeton, etc., and there are also many people who contribute money. Those blockchain companies support this research, after all, it is convenient for them."
"In short, that's it. With this old face, I also applied for a project fund of 200,000 US dollars. If our results are finally selected, they will receive a reward of 10 million US dollars."
"So I came here this time to ask Professor Tao if he would like to join, but..."
Kleinrock looked at James·Maynard, and Xiao Yi, and he smiled and said, "Professor Maynard, and Xiao Yi, do you want to join us together?"
Terence Tao, Xiao Yi and Maynard were all surprised when they heard this amount of funding.
Just by applying for the project, I was able to get US$200,000 in funding.
Although it may not seem like much, for their type of project, it is not a small amount. It is indeed Professor Kleinrock. At such an old age, it can actually attract 200,000 yuan in funding.
Not to mention that once completed, they will receive a reward of 10 million US dollars. If the four of them divide it equally, each of them can have 2.5 million.
Of course, this high bonus did not fascinate them immediately. After all, Professor Kleinrock also said that the premise is that their plan can finally stand out among a lot of plans in order to get the final reward.
Winner takes all.
God knows if any of their competitors are more awesome.
Xiao Yi and Maynard looked at each other, and the former said, "Well... I really don't have any foundation in computers, such as blockchain technology, and I don't know much about it. Besides, Professor Kleinrock, you should also know that I won't stay here for a long time."
Maynard also nodded. "Me too. After attending the academic conference held by AMS at the end of the month, I will prepare to return to Oxford."
Maynard can also come with Terence Tao, mainly to participate in the upcoming academic conference held by AMS.
This academic conference of AMS is also called JMM Joint Mathematics Meetings. In addition to awarding various awards such as Cole Algebra Prize, it will also hold a series of mathematics reports.
Maynard received the invitation and will report at this joint data conference.
Of course, Xiao Yi did not receive the invitation.
Who told Princeton to move quickly?
After hearing what the two of them said, Kleinrock smiled, waved his hands, and said, "Don't worry, for our subject, it doesn't matter where we study it."
"The most important thing about this subject is the logical thinking of pure mathematics, so your mathematical ideas and the unique rigorous logic of your mathematicians are the key."
"Just like what Xiao Yi showed on Millionaires' Problem just now."
Under Kleinrock's persuasion, Xiao Yi and Maynard agreed to join the project without hesitation.
Of course, Terence Tao goes without saying. After all, Kleinrock and Kleinrock are from the same school, so it is more convenient for them to cooperate.
In this way, their topic was added to the original x^2+1 prime number problem.
So there was one more project in their schedule.
The first day was about x^2+1 prime numbers, and the second day was about the protocol for cross-blockchain transactions.
Of course, it's not discussed every day.
After all, how can there be a research group that holds group meetings every day?
A week passed quietly.
"Hmm... Regarding the role of classification screens in cracking cross-blockchain encrypted transactions, we need to come up with a countermeasure..."
In the student dormitory where Xiao Yi is temporarily staying.
Facing the pieces of draft paper, he fell into thinking.
Looking back on his research over the past few days, he finally figured out what blockchain is. Similarly, he also has a deeper understanding of the contents of cryptography.
The core technology of blockchain is cryptography.
The core foundation of cryptography is mathematics, especially number theory.
The relationship between cryptography and number theory is very close. The simplest example is RSA encryption technology, which uses the difficulty of factoring large prime numbers to achieve encryption. This is completely taught by the same master as the prime number problem that people like to study most in number theory.
For example, the famous Bitcoin is the world's first blockchain application. Bitcoin mining, the simplest understanding is to use computers to continuously decompose those huge numbers into prime factors. As long as the result is calculated, you can get Bitcoin.
"If you think about it this way, if those mining guys use my classification screen, will the mining speed become faster?"
Xiao Yi thought so in his heart.
To increase the speed of mining, either improve the performance of the hardware or optimize the algorithm.
For Bitcoin, if the classification screen is used to optimize the algorithm, the mining speed will definitely be greatly improved.
"Maybe I can make money doing this?"
He couldn't help but have this idea.
Just like those Bitcoin mining software, the software provides an algorithm, and then the miners use the algorithm of the software to mine and pay a commission fee, which is generally 1% of the mining income. Mining software such as Bitminter uses this charging method.
"Maybe I can try it, but the premise is that I can write such software and come up with the algorithm. Of course, I should be able to build an HTML web page directly, and there is no need to develop software or anything."
He can even build a blockchain directly by himself. Anyway, this thing is decentralized. Just build a small server and you can start. For now, many people working on blockchain have made a lot of money, such as the Russian who worked on Ethereum.
The only problem is that the blockchain he created needs to be widely recognized. It is definitely impossible to copy the Bitcoin myth. After all, it is the first blockchain application.
To a certain extent, this is a kind of stock. The higher the trust of investors in this thing, the higher its price will be. For Bitcoin to be worth so much money, it must be secretly promoted by a lot of international financial gangsters.