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David Chaum
Photo: Primepq at English Wikipedia, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons14

David Chaum

American computer scientist and cryptographer (born 1955)

David Lee Chaum (born 1955) is an American computer scientist, cryptographer, and inventor. He is known as a pioneer in cryptography and privacy-preserving technologies and widely recognized as the inventor of digital cash.2

From Wikipedia’s article on David Chaum (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Born May 3, 1955.1

About

His 1982 dissertation, "Computer Systems Established, Maintained, and Trusted by Mutually Suspicious Groups," is the first known proposal for a blockchain protocol. Complete with the code to implement the protocol, Chaum's dissertation proposed all but one element of the blockchain later detailed in the Bitcoin whitepaper. He has been referred to as "the father of online anonymity", and "the godfather of cryptocurrency."

He is also known for developing ecash, an electronic cash application that aims to preserve a user's anonymity, and inventing many cryptographic protocols like the blind signature, mix networks, and the Dining Cryptographers Protocol. In 1995, his company DigiCash created the first digital currency with eCash. His 1981 paper, "Untraceable Electronic Mail, Return Addresses, and Digital Pseudonyms," laid the groundwork for the field of anonymous communications research.

More recently, in 2020, Chaum founded the xx network, a privacy-focused blockchain platform, and in 2021 launched xx coin (abbreviation XX), a cryptocurrency designed to enhance user privacy and provide quantum resistance.

From Wikipedia’s article on David Chaum, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2

Companies

Early life and education

  • Date not recordedUniversity of California, Berkeley3

Career

Occupation: mathematician, inventor, computer scientist, cryptographer.5

Chaum was born to a Jewish family in Los Angeles, California. He gained a doctorate in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1982. Also that year, he founded the International Association for Cryptologic Research (IACR), which currently organizes academic conferences in cryptography research. Subsequently, he taught at the New York University Graduate School of Business Administration and at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). He also formed a cryptography research group at CWI, the Dutch National Research Institute for Mathematics and Computer Science in Amsterdam. He founded DigiCash, an electronic cash company, in 1990.

Chaum received the Information Technology European Award for 1995. In 2004, he was named an IACR Fellow. In 2010, at the RSA Conference, he was honored with the RSA Award for Excellence in Mathematics. In 2019, he was awarded the honorary title of Dijkstra Fellow by CWI. He received an honorary doctorate from the University of Lugano in 2021.

Chaum resides in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles.

From Wikipedia’s article on David Chaum (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Personal life

  • CitizenshipUnited States6
  • ResidenceSherman Oaks7

Awards

  • 2004IACR Fellow8 9

Sources

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