The Oxford Blockchain Research Center: Fixing Blockchain’s Biggest Problems
In the last post we talked about Quoinblock, a project with a novel consensus mechanism called “Work your Stake” (WyS). Today we’d like to introduce the team behind this piece of research: Professor Bill Roscoe and the University College Oxford Blockchain Research Center.
Professor Roscoe directs the University College Oxford Blockchain Research Center, and he is also the former head of the Oxford University Computer Science Department as well as the cofounder of Chieftin Lab, a blockchain research center in Shenzhen, China. Professor Roscoe’s background in “concurrency, automated verification, applied cryptography and payment protocols” makes him particularly suited to the task of leading a team of researchers devising the future of blockchain and its applications.
Along with his former student Bangdao Chen, Professor Roscoe has also set up a new UK company, The Blockhouse Technology Ltd (TBTL), which alongside the University College Oxford Blockchain Research Center has the stated goal of making blockchain mainstream by eliminating the negative qualities that prevent its mass adoption. Their work has already led to the Quoinblock WyS proposal, which seeks, among other features, to eliminate the wastage of electricity resources caused by the Proof of Work consensus mechanism.
Aside from eliminating resource wastage, Professor Roscoe and his team are also researching solutions to over a half-dozen major problems that blockchains currently face. Such problems include the use of cryptographic protocols vulnerable to quantum computing and the current inability to effectively regulate blockchains. By developing solutions to these problems, the University College Oxford Blockchain Research Center is playing an active role in shaping the future of blockchain.
For more information about the University College Oxford Blockchain Research Center and the innovative work that it’s doing, take a look at their website: https://blockchain.univ.ox.ac.uk.
