Peter Van Valkenburgh interviews Ian Miers, a University of Maryland Professor of Cryptography and one of the original authors of the academic work behind the Zcash cryptocurrency.
Ian Mier’s graduate work in cryptography pioneered the integration of zero-knowledge proof systems and cryptocurrency blockchains. Along with co-authors, he published the Zero-Coin and Zero-Cash research papers that eventually informed the creation of the Zcash blockchain and cryptocurrency. Peter and Ian discuss the importance of privacy in cryptocurrency technology, the tradeoffs made within different cryptocurrency projects, and the potential for future, fully private stablecoins and other user defined assets.