Wei Dai

Wei Dai (Chinese: 戴维) is a computer engineer known for contributions to cryptography and cryptocurrencies. He developed the Crypto++ cryptographic library, created the b-money cryptocurrency system, and co-proposed the VMAC message authentication algorithm. The smallest subunit of Ether, the wei, is named after him.[1]

Wei Dai
EducationBachelor of Science degree from the University of Washington in computer science, with a minor in mathematics.
OccupationComputer engineer
Known forb-money, Crypto++, VMAC
Websitewww.weidai.com

Education and career

Dai graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in computer science[2] and is described as an "intensely private computer engineer".[3] Wei Dai was member of the Cypherpunks, Extropians, and SL4 mailing lists in the 1990s. On SL4 he exchanged with people such as Eliezer Yudkowsky, Robin Hanson, Nick Bostrom, and others in the nascent "rationalist" community.[4]

Cryptography

Dai has made numerous contributions to the field of cryptography and has identified critical Cipher Block Chaining (CBC) vulnerabilities affecting SSH2[5] and the browser exploit against SSL/TLS known as BEAST (Browser Exploit Against SSL/TLS).[6][7]

Crypto++

Crypto++ (also known as CryptoPP, libcrypto++, and libcryptopp) is a free and open source C++ class library of cryptographic algorithms and schemes originally written by Wei Dai. Crypto++ has been widely used in academia, student projects, open source and non-commercial projects, as well as businesses.

VMAC

VMAC is a block cipher-based message authentication code (MAC) algorithm using a universal hash proposed by Ted Krovetz and Wei Dai in April 2007. The algorithm was designed for high performance backed by a formal analysis.[8]

b-money

In 1998, Dai helped to spark interest in cryptocurrencies[9] with the publication of "b-money, an anonymous, distributed electronic cash system".[10] In the paper, Dai outlines the basic properties of all modern day cryptocurrency systems: "...a scheme for a group of untraceable digital pseudonyms to pay each other with money and to enforce contracts amongst themselves without outside help".[11]

Influence on the development of Bitcoin

Described as "money which is impossible to regulate",[12] Dai's b-money described the core concepts later implemented in Bitcoin[13] and other cryptocurrencies:

  • Requires a specified amount of computational work (aka Proof of work).
  • The work done is verified by the community who update a collective ledger book.
  • The worker is awarded funds for their effort.
  • Exchange of funds is accomplished by collective bookkeeping and authenticated with cryptographic hashes.
  • Contracts are enforced through the broadcast and signing of transactions with digital signatures (i.e., public key cryptography).

Relationship with Satoshi Nakamoto

Wei Dai and Adam Back were the first two people contacted by Satoshi Nakamoto as he was developing Bitcoin in 2008[3] and the b-money paper was referenced in the subsequent Bitcoin whitepaper.[14]

In a May 2011 article, noted cryptographer Nick Szabo states:

Myself, Wei Dai, and Hal Finney were the only people I know of who liked the idea (or in Dai's case his related idea) enough to pursue it to any significant extent until Nakamoto (assuming Nakamoto is not really Finney or Dai).[15]

However, Dai questions b-money's influence on Bitcoin:...my+understanding+is+that+the+creator+of+Bitcoin,+who+goes+by+the+name+Satoshi+Nakamoto,+didn't+even+read+my+article+before+reinventing+the+idea+himself.+He+learned+about+it+afterward+and+credited+me+in+his+paper.+So+my+connection+with+the+project+is+quite+limited.There has been much speculation as to the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto, with suspects including Wei Dai, Nick Szabo, Hal Finney and accompanying denials.[17][18][9][19]

References
  1. "Ether — Ethereum Homestead 0.1 documentation". ethdocs.org. Retrieved 2020-07-07.
  2. Morgen E. Peck (May 30, 2012). "Bitcoin: The Cryptoanarchists' Answer to Cash". IEEE Spectrum.
  3. Popper, Nathaniel (May 15, 2015). "Decoding the Enigma of Satoshi Nakamoto and the Birth of Bitcoin". New York Times. Retrieved 31 August 2015.
  4. Chivers, Tom (2019). The AI Does Not Hate You: Superintelligence, Rationality and the Race to Save the World. United Kingdom: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 1474608779.
  5. ZiJie, Xu. "Some Fixes To SSH" (PDF). International Association for Cryptologic Research. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  6. Goodin, Dan (Sep 21, 2011). "Google preps Chrome fix to slay SSL-attacking BEAST". The Register. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  7. Bard, Gregory V. "A Challenging but Feasible Blockwise-Adaptive Chosen-Plaintext Attack on SSL". University of Maryland, Department of Mathematics. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.61.5887. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  8. Krovetz, Ted; Dai, Wei (2007). "VHASH Security". CiteSeerX 10.1.1.65.9987. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  9. Peterson, Andrea (January 3, 2014). "Hal Finney received the first Bitcoin transaction. Here's how he describes it". The Washington Post. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  10. Dai, Wei. "B-Money". Archived from the original on March 28, 2018.
  11. Wei Dai (1998). "B-Money".
  12. Daniel Cooper (May 8, 2013). "The rise (and rise?) of Bitcoin". Engadget.
  13. DuPont, Quinn (2014). "The politics of cryptography: Bitcoin and the ordering machines". Journal of Peer Production. 1 (4).
  14. Satoshi Nakamoto. "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System" (PDF).
  15. Nick Szabo (2011-05-28). "Bitcoin, what took ye so long?". Unenumerated. Retrieved 2014-03-12.
  16. Wei Dai. "Wei_Dai comments on Making money with Bitcoin?".
  17. "Satoshi Nakamoto is (probably) Nick Szabo". LikeInAMirror. WordPress. Archived from the original on 2014-04-13. Retrieved 5 December 2013.
  18. Weisenthal, Joe (19 May 2013). "Here's The Problem With The New Theory That A Japanese Math Professor Is The Inventor Of Bitcoin". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 2013-11-03. Retrieved 19 May 2013.
  19. Vigna, Paul (Apr 16, 2014). "Bitcoin Creator 'Satoshi Nakamoto' Unmasked–Again?". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
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