Security News > 2020 > October > MatRiCT: A quantum-safe and privacy-preserving blockchain protocol

Researchers from CSIRO's Data61 and the Monash Blockchain Technology Centre have developed the world's most efficient blockchain protocol that is both secure against quantum computers and protects the privacy of its users and their transactions.

The protocol - a set of rules governing how a blockchain network operates - is called MatRiCT. Cryptocurrencies vulnerable to attacks by quantum computers.

The MatRiCT protocol is based on hard lattice problems, which are quantum secure, and introduces three new key features: the shortest quantum-secure ring signature scheme to date, which authenticates activity and transactions using only the signature; a zero-knowledge proof method, which hides sensitive transaction information; and an auditability function, which could help prevent illegal cryptocurrency use.

"The protocol is designed to address the inefficiencies in previous blockchain protocols such as complex authentication procedures, thereby speeding up calculation efficiencies and using less energy to resolve, leading to significant cost savings," said Dr Ron Steinfeld, associate professor, co-author of the research and a quantum-safe cryptography expert at Monash University.

"Hcash will be incorporating the protocol into its own systems, transforming its existing cryptocurrency, HyperCash, into one that is both quantum safe and privacy protecting," said Dr Joseph Liu, associate professor, Director of Monash Blockchain Technology Centre and HCash Chief Scientist.

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