David Chaum

David founded xx network, a lead blockchain platform supporting secure, private decentralized messaging and payments. Designed to address public concern for user privacy and the threat of quantum computing, xx launched in Fall 2021.

Chaum is widely recognized as the inventor of digital cash and is also known for fundamental innovations in cryptography related to privacy technology and secure election systems. His creation of cryptography to support digital signatures is used in most crypto currencies including Bitcoin and his invention of mix network technology led to the implementation of onion routing-based platforms like Tor. He also published seminal work in distributed computing and coined the term “multi-party computing” or “MPC”.

Chaum is now working on technology to decentralize the market making and exchange of assets using cryptography and shared keys so that buyers and sellers can commit to terms and transactions without relying on centralized exchanges.

He earned a PhD in Computer Science from UC Berkeley and taught at NYU Graduate School of Business and the University of California, and founded the International Association for Cryptologic Research and the cryptography group at the Center for Mathematics and Computer Science in Amsterdam.