Zero-Knowledge Proof-of-Identity: Sybil-Resistant, Anonymous Authentication on Permissionless Blockchains and Incentive Compatible, Strictly Dominant Cryptocurrencies

Zero-Knowledge Proof-of-Identity from trusted public certificates (e.g., national identity cards and/or ePassports; eSIM) is introduced here to permissionless blockchains in order to remove the inefficiencies of Sybil-resistant mechanisms such as Proof-of-Work (i.e., high energy and environmental costs) and Proof-of-Stake (i.e., capital hoarding and lower transaction volume). The proposed solution effectively limits the number of mining nodes a single individual would be able to run while keeping membership open to everyone, circumventing the impossibility of full decentralization and the blockchain scalability trilemma when instantiated on a blockchain with a consensus protocol based on the cryptographic random selection of nodes. Resistance to collusion is also considered. Solving one of the most pressing problems in blockchains, a zk-PoI cryptocurrency is proved to have the following advantageous properties: - an incentive-compatible protocol for the issuing of cryptocurrency rewards based on a unique Nash equilibrium - strict domination of mining over all other PoW/PoS cryptocurrencies, thus the zk-PoI cryptocurrency becoming the preferred choice by miners is proved to be a Nash equilibrium and the Evolutionarily Stable Strategy - PoW/PoS cryptocurrencies are condemned to pay the Price of Crypto-Anarchy, redeemed by the optimal efficiency of zk-PoI as it implements the social optimum - the circulation of a zk-PoI cryptocurrency Pareto dominates other PoW/PoS cryptocurrencies - the network effects arising from the social networks inherent to national identity cards and ePassports dominate PoW/PoS cryptocurrencies - the lower costs of its infrastructure imply the existence of a unique equilibrium where it dominates other forms of paymentComment: 2.1: Proof-of-Personhood Considered Harmful (and Illegal); 4.1.5: Absence of Active Authentication; 4.2.6: Absence of Active Authentication; 4.2.7: Removing Single-Points of Failure; 4.3.2: Combining with Non-Zero-Knowledge Authentication; 4.4: Circumventing the Impossibility of Full Decentralizatio

Digital Skills Colloquium 2020: Enhancing Human Capacity for Digital Transformation

The theme for the Digital Skills 2020 Colloquium and Postgraduate Symposium was “Enhancing Human Capacity for Digital Transformation: It is about people”. It is widely accepted that current digital changes that are sweeping through the world are significantly altering the environment in which every organisation, including government, is operating. The scale and scope of the change is what makes all the difference. The way in which organisations respond to these environmental changes will determine their survival. The nature of a digitally transformed organisation cannot be foretold as every organisation will respond according to their local and global environment. There are, however, some uncomfortable realities; manufacturing jobs will not be reinstated, and even if they did, the manufacturing industries are necessarily more capital and not labour intensive (Stiglitz, 2017). Globally, we are experiencing rising unemployment and income inequality as well as increased demand for high skilled labour (Glenn, Florescu & Project, 2019). Accordingly, the Colloquium sought to explore the role played by digital skills in our rapidly transforming realities. The event attracted full academic research papers, case studies, research work that still in progress and practitioner reports and models that portray the NEMISA collaborative ethos involving government, industry and other sectors. Some plenary sessions and guest speakers shared insights on topics such as emerging technologies, blockchain, machine learning, gamification in education, application of 3D printing, upscaling of ICT for development programmes and citizen online safety.School of Computin