Adam Back Explained

Adam Back
Birth Place:London, England, UK
Education:University of Exeter
Thesis Title:Parallelization of general purpose programs using optimistic techniques from parallel discrete event simulation
Thesis Url:https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/pdf/a986a2a9a99528fe012f025b47d7e710cdf90d46
Thesis Year:1995
Doctoral Advisor:Stephen Turner

Adam Back (born July 1970) is a British cryptographer and cypherpunk. He is the CEO of Blockstream, which he co-founded in 2014. He invented Hashcash, which is used in the Bitcoin mining process.

Life

Back was born in London, England, in July 1970.[1] His first computer was a Sinclair ZX81. He taught himself Basic, and spent his time reverse engineering video games, finding decryption keys in software packages. He completed his A levels in advanced mathematics, physics, and economics.

He has a computer science PhD in distributed systems from the University of Exeter.[2] During his PhD, Back worked with compilers to make use of parallel computers in a semi automated way. He became interested in PGP encryption, electronic cash and remailers. He spent two thirds of his time working with encryption. After graduation, Adam spent his career as a consultant in start ups and larger companies in applied cryptography, writing cryptographic libraries, designing, reviewing and breaking other people's cryptographic protocols.[3]

Cryptography software

Back is a pioneer of early digital asset research similar to Wei Dai, David Chaum, and Hal Finney.[4] [5] In 1997, Back invented Hashcash.[6] A similar system is used in Bitcoin.[7] [8] [9]

He also implemented credlib,[10] [11] a library that implements the credential systems of Stefan Brands and David Chaum.

He was the first to describe the "non-interactive forward secrecy"[12] [13] [14] security property for email and to observe that any identity-based encryption scheme can be used to provide non-interactive forward secrecy.

He is also known for promoting the use of ultra-compact code with his 2-line[15] and 3-line RSA in Perl[16] [17] [18] signature file and non-exportable T-shirts[19] [20] to protest cryptography export regulations.[21]

Back was one of the first two people to receive an email from Satoshi Nakamoto.[22] In 2016, the Financial Times cited Back as a potential Nakamoto candidate, along with Nick Szabo and Hal Finney.[23] Craig Wright had sued Back for stating that Wright was not Nakamoto, with Wright subsequently dropping the suit.

Back has promoted the use of satellites and mesh networks to broadcast and receive bitcoin transactions, as a backup for the traditional internet.[24]

Business career

On 3 October 2016, Back was appointed as CEO of Blockstream.[25] Since then he has introduced products such as the Liquid sidechain, Blockstream Mining Notes, mining colocation services, the Jade hardware wallet, and the Core Lightning implementation.

Notes and References

  1. Book: The Bitcoin Saga: A Mixed Montage . Bloomsbury Publishing . 2019. 978-9388271837 . Singh . Rachna .
  2. News: Kharif . Olga . Latest Satoshi Nakamoto Candidate Buying Bitcoin No Matter What. 3 June 2020 . Bloomberg. 2 June 2020.
  3. Web site: Proof of Work - An interview with Adam Back (Blockstream). https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211215/qEaulpPo7iM . 2021-12-15. live. .
  4. News: Leising . Matthew . Is Bitcoin Creator Writing a Book? Cryptic Note Indicates Yes. 13 May 2020 . Bloomberg . 30 June 2018.
  5. News: Bustillos . Maria . Inside the Fight Over Bitcoin's Future. 13 May 2020 . New Yorker . 25 August 2015.
  6. Book: Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies: A Comprehensive Introduction. Narayanan. Arvind. Princeton University Press. 2016. 978-0-691-17169-2. Princeton and Oxford . Bonneau . Joseph . Felten . Edward . Miller . Andrew . Goldfeder . Steven.
  7. News: Shaw . Jessica Marmor . Bitcoin and cryptocurrency on Twitter: The most important people to follow. 14 May 2020 . Marketwatch . 8 January 2018.
  8. Web site: Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System.
  9. News: Casey . Michael J. . BitBeat: Bitcoin Coding Allstars Launch Sidechains Project to Boost Innovation. 14 May 2020 . WSJBlogs . 22 October 2020.
  10. Book: https://books.google.com/books?id=htliCAAAQBAJ&pg=PT274 . Bitcoin: The future of money? . Unbound. 2015. 978-1783521029 . Footnotes. Frisby. Dominic .
  11. Web site: credlib - Credential Library. cypherspace.org.
  12. Web site: A Modern View on Forward Security . IACR. 14 May 2020 . Boyd . Colin.
  13. Web site: Two remarks on public key cryptology . Cambridge University. 2002. 14 May 2020 . Anderson . Ross .
  14. Web site: Non-Interactive Forward Secrecy. cypherspace.org.
  15. Book: https://books.google.com/books?id=EfjZBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA200 . Data Privacy and Security. Springer . 2003. 9781441918161 . 200. Secure Programming with Perl. Salomon . David .
  16. Book: https://books.google.com/books?id=HhQqDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA17 . Blocks and Chains: Introduction to Bitcoin, Cryptocurrencies, and Their Consensus Mechanisms (Synthesis Lectures on Information Security, Privacy, and Tru). Stifter . Nicholas . Morgan & Claypool Publishers. 2017. 9781627057165 . 17. Before bitcoin. Judmayer . Aljosha .
  17. Web site: export-a-crypto-system sig. cypherspace.org.
  18. Book: https://books.google.com/books?id=URH7CAAAQBAJ&pg=PA366 . Software Security Technologies. Cengage Learning . 2007. 9781428319455 . 366. Secure Programming with Perl. Sinn . Richard .
  19. Book: https://books.google.com/books?id=iepc2h-1nUgC&pg=PA49 . Burdens of Proof: Cryptographic Culture and Evidence Law in the Age of Electronic Documents . MIT Press . 2012. 978-0262017510 . 50. On the brink of revolution. Blanchette . Jean-François .
  20. Web site: Munitions T-shirt. cypherspace.org.
  21. Book: https://books.google.com/books?id=D8iXDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA97 . Digital Cash: The Unknown History of the Anarchists, Utopians, and Technologists Who Created Cryptocurrency . Princeton Press . 2019. 9780691179490 . 97. On the brink of revolution. Brunton . Finn .
  22. News: RATLIFF. EVAN . Was Bitcoin Created by This International Drug Dealer? Maybe! . 13 May 2020 . Wired . 16 July 2019.
  23. News: Kaminska . Izabella . Bitcoin: Identity crisis. 4 June 2020 . Financial Times . 7 May 2016.
  24. News: del Castillo. Michael . Who Needs Verizon? Blockstream Broadcasts Entire Bitcoin Blockchain From Space. 13 May 2020 . Forbes . 17 December 2018.
  25. Blockstream (3 October 2016). "Blockstream Appoints Hashcash Inventor Dr. Adam Back as CEO". PR News Wire. Retrieved 2020-12-05.

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