Microsoft

Eli Ben-Sasson develops technology to make blockchain 20,000 times cheaper

Business Eli Ben-Sasson develops technology to make blockchain 20,000 times cheaper Kiran Mathur Mohammed Thursday 29 July 2021 Eli Ben-Sasson, founder of StarkWare, an Israeli based company whose technology is making blockchain-based transactions up to 200 times cheaper. Photo courtesy Eli Ben-Sasson – kmmpub@gmail.com Israeli based Eli Ben-Sasson is the founder of StarkWare, a company…


Business

Eli Ben-Sasson develops technology to make blockchain 20,000 times cheaper

Kiran Mathur Mohammed

Eli Ben-Sasson, founder of StarkWare, an Israeli based company whose technology is making blockchain-based transactions up to 2srcsrc times cheaper. Photo courtesy Eli Ben-Sasson -
Eli Ben-Sasson, founder of StarkWare, an Israeli based company whose technology is making blockchain-based transactions up to 200 times cheaper. Photo courtesy Eli Ben-Sasson –

kmmpub@gmail.com

Israeli based Eli Ben-Sasson is the founder of StarkWare, a company whose technology is making blockchain-based transactions up to 20,000 times cheaper.

Blockchain-based transactions have often been described as a “solution in search of a problem,” especially by their detractors. A big part of this is that each transaction is very expensive, compared to traditional means.

Blockchain technology enables a database that records and verify values. What makes it unique is that it splits this information into lots of computers controlled by different people in different places.

Each of these computers solves a set of mathematical puzzles, to crack a code that verifies the information recorded in the database. Solving the puzzle verifies the data is true.

The beauty of splitting all this up is that no one computer (called a “node”) can change the information on its own. This makes the history of transactions irreversible.

If you think this sounds like a lot of work to verify a transaction, you’d be right. All those calculations require vast amounts of computer power and electricity. This has been a block to rapid adoption of the technology – each transaction is simply too costly.

Enter Ben-Sasson. Tinkering away with mathematical formulae in Israel, he is applying a solution that can reduce the cost of each blockchain-based transaction by up to 20,000 times. He does so using a form of mathematics known as zero-knowledge proofs. These are a way of proving to someone that you know a value, without having to show your calculations. This reduces all the calculations required by each of the nodes, saving oodles of money.

Little wonder that StarkWare has already raised US$123 million and secured a contract to plug into one of the biggest cryptocurrency networks, Ethereum. With lower transaction costs, StarkWare can be the plumbing that enables rapid verification of almost any record, from property to healthcare records, transforming the way people trust and interact with each other, and unlocking a huge amount of value created by greater human co-operation.

I sat down with Ben-Sasson to hear about the cutting edge of blockchain research.

Tell me a bit about your background. How did that prepare you for where you are now?

I come from a family of academics. I was always very curious. It was clear to me that I would go into academic studies. I didn’t anticipate I would go into maths. I thought I would go into humanities and biology. I was pleasantly excited to get into maths.

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Arkane Founder: ‘I Think Game Pass is Unsustainable’

The founder and former president of Arkane Studios Raphaël Colantonio, who left in 2019, took to social media weighing on the huge Microsoft and Xbox layoffs. “Why is no-one talking about the elephant in the room? Cough cough (Gamepass),” said Colantonio (spotted by VideoGamesChronicle). He added…

The founder and former president of Arkane Studios Raphaël Colantonio, who left in 2019, took to social media weighing on the huge Microsoft and Xbox layoffs.
“Why is no-one talking about the elephant in the room? Cough cough (Gamepass),” said Colantonio (spotted by VideoGamesChronicle).
He added…
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Hot on the heels of the layoffs that have swept through Xbox, the founder of Microsoft-owned Arkane Studios has hit out at Game Pass, whose subscription model he called “unsustainable.”

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Colantonio’s comment sparked a vociferous debate about the pros and cons of Game Pass in industry terms as well as for the customer. Microsoft’s subscription service has been called many things over the years: the death of the video game industry; the savior of smaller developers who benefit greatly from payments made by Microsoft to secure their games; and everything in between. During the great Xbox FTC trial to decide the fate of Microsoft’s $69 billion aquisition of Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard, then PlayStation boss Jim Ryan claimed that he had talked to “all the publishers” and that, unanimously, they all hated Game Pass “because it is value destructive.” He also said Microsoft “appears to be losing a lot of money on it.”

Back in 2021, Xbox boss Phil Spencer countered Game Pass doomsayers, saying: “I know there’s a lot of people that like to write [that] we’re burning cash right now for some future pot of gold at the end. No. Game Pass is very, very sustainable right now as it sits. And it continues to grow.”

That was four years ago. What about now, in the wake of cuts that have seen Rare’s Everwild, the Perfect Dark reboot, and an unannounced MMO in the works at developer behind The Elder Scrolls Online all canceled?

Colantonio’s comments were backed by a number of industry peers, including the former VP of biz dev at Epic Games. Michael Douse, publishing director at Baldur’s Gate 3 developer Larian, said that the biggest concern right now revolves around what happens when all that money runs out. This, Douse added, is “one of the main economic reasons people I know haven’t shifted to its business model. The infinite money thing never made any sense.”

(It’s worth noting that Baldur’s Gate 3 has so far not launched in Game Pass or PlayStation Plus.)

Colantonio then ridiculed Microsoft’s insistence that launching games into Game Pass did not impact sales, only to later admit the contrary.

Douse responded to to say he prefers the Sony way of doing things. Sony’s PlayStation Plus policy is to keep first-party games off the subscription service at launch, only adding them some time later. That’s why you won’t see this year’s Sony’s Ghost of Yotei launch straight into PS Plus, but you will see Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 as a day one Game Pass launch.

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Threat actors are abusing SourceForge to distribute fake Microsoft add-ins that install malware on victims’ computers to both mine and steal cryptocurrency. …

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