[talks] Danny Huang on Cryptocurrencies, July 25 @ 12:30p

[Nick Feamster]

All,

Danny Huang will visit us from UCSD on July 25. He’ll give a talk on Cryptocurrencies (abstract below). If you’d like to chat with him, please sign up here: https://goo.gl/nhni3p

-Nick

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Date: July 25, 2017
Time: 12:30 p
Place: Sherrerd Hall 306 (Conference Room)

Title: Crypto-currencies: New opportunities for criminals, investors, and human-trafficking fighters.

Abstract: When Satoshi Nakamoto designed Bitcoin, he had intended it as an “electronic cash system.” However, it is difficult to treat Bitcoin as a form of cash or currency, especially given its price volatility. Still, Bitcoin, as well as thousands of other similar crypto-currencies, allows for the exchange of value in a decentralized and partially anonymous manner. These properties have created opportunities for novel use cases, far beyond the original design goals of Satoshi Nakamoto. 

As I will discuss in the talk, these use cases span from being unethical to nobel, and from profit-driven to promoting social justice. In particular, three classes of users will be our focus today: (1) criminals who monetize stolen CPU cycles and files with Bitcoin; (2) investors who speculate in crypto-currencies; and (3) human-trafficking fighters who take advantage of a timing side channel in Bitcoin.

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About the speaker: Danny Y. Huang is a PhD student at UC San Diego. He is generally interested in the economics of security/privacy. He is graduating in August. Details: https://sysnet.ucsd.edu/~dhuang