The gonzo Pentagon research agency is responsible for introducing the world to stealth bombers and insect-sized drones.
The report was commissioned by the Defense Advanced Research Project and was titled "AreBlockchains Decentralized?"
According to the report, there are a few "unintended centralities" that the authors argue can potentially concentrate the power of a few individuals or groups. Powerful new cryptocurrencies miners, outdated computers vulnerable to attacks, and a select group of internet service providers are some of the centralities.
At least until quantum computing becomes a great reality, the authors don't find exploits or weaknesses of the lauded cryptography. They dig up issues by changing the properties of the implementation.
The authors said that the risks of cryptocurrencies have been poorly described and are often ignored by those who want to cash in on the gold rush.
Over the course of the past year, Trail of Bits was asked to examine the potential security risks associated with theBlockchains, as well as the fundamental properties of them. Many in the space are rattled by the timing of the report, which comes amid a historic hemorrhaging of value in Cryptocurrencies.
According to the report, over the past five years, almost two-thirds of all traffic traveled through just three internet service providers. Traffic was routed through the internet. In an interview with NPR, the CEO of Trail of Bits said that the providers could possibly be able to restrict certain transactions and prevent the transfer of money.
There is a chance that someone with great top-down control of the internet in their country will interfere with the network. An attacker could become the majority voice in the consensus of what's written to a Blockchain if they slowed down or stopped legitimate traffic.
There is a problem with outdated software. The old version of the core client is vulnerable to attacks. According to Trail of Bits, overt software changes can make the developers of the system vulnerable to attacks because they have a centralized point of trust in the system.
The authors say that the choice is not simply about the convenience of giving management to a third party; it is about whether one trusts a centralized third party.
Recent claims voiced by prominent Web3 detractors echo the warnings of the report. The biggest name in the "Web3 isn't what you think it is" crowd is Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Block. The supposed new era of the internet has been called a centralized entity with a different label by the man.
The founder of Signal has spoken out against weaknesses in the Web3 infrastructure that he sees as acting to centralized the system.
According to an essay written earlier this year, centralized control is the worst of both worlds, as it becomes mired in time. I can build my own NFT marketplace, but it doesn't give me any more control than OpenSea gives me. For his part, he is already moving on to what he views as a more decentralized web5 era.
Web3 believers like Swan co-founderYan aren't necessarily sold on the criticisms outlined in the recent report The report's backing by a major, inherently centralized, government agency was called into question by Pritzker when he spoke with NPR.
The researchers are looking at how to get better control of the currency and how to build better systems for it. Even a theoretical strategy for a government to control cryptocurrencies would have a negative impact on the promise of the technology.
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