Co-founder of Google and President of Alphabet, Sergey Brin, revealed he is mining Ethereum with his son at a summit hosted by Sir Richard Branson on July 8. The panel also spoke on the potential of zero-knowledge proofs which underlie the privacy option of Zcash.

Blockchain is a “Tremendous Opportunity”

Sergey Brin, who has an estimated net worth of $52 billion, is mining Ethereum with his son according to Michael del Castillo who was reporting from the 2018 Blockchain Summit hosted at Sir Richard Branson’s hotel, the Kasbah Tamadot, in Morroco. Brin, who is the ninth richest man on the planet, spoke at an event on the potential of blockchain technology for doing good in the world.

Also speaking at the event was Former Guns n’ Roses drummer Matt Sorum who highlighted the ability of blockchain to defend artists’ intellectual property rights. Sorum, who now works at concert-hosting platform Artbit, said that blockchain technology feels ‘rebellious’ and ‘very rock and roll.’

Sorum said: “A user should be able to own content in a way that rewards the artist. When the blockchain came along, I said, this can happen. And the way it will work is through smart contracts.”

Former SEC Commissioner Annette Nazareth said that regulators understand that blockchain is a ‘tremendous opportunity.’ She also said that it is a big step that they are stating that Bitcoin and Ether are not securities. Former CFTC chair Jim Newsome agreed that regulators are heading in the right direction but was adamant that good regulations need time.

Newsome said: “We are still in the early stages of this technology’s development. We’re in the first inning of a very long ball game. So we need to be careful not to rush regulators too much. Because typically when you rush regulators, they tend to get it wrong.”

Praise for Zero Knowledge Proofs

Sergey Brin called the potential of zero-knowledge proofs ‘really mindboggling.’ These proofs can be used to show that a transaction is accurate without revealing the transaction data to the nodes. This is one of the main privacy settings behind Zcash as opposed to Monero which obfuscates transactions instead. The panel focused on emerging technologies and trends.

Neha Narula, director of the Digital Currency Initiative at MIT Media Lab, backed zero-knowledge proofs as one of the most fascinating blockchain solutions in the near future.

Narula said: “Basically, you will be able to prove that something is true, without revealing the reasons for why it’s true. So to prove you’re 21, you don’t have to show the official documentation that you’re 21. Zero-knowledge proofs are going to be very transformative in the next few years.”

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