CS Forum: Roger Wattenhofer

Speaker: Prof Roger Wattenhofer
Speaker affiliation: ETH Zurich
Host: Prof Jukka Suomela
Time: 14:15 (coffee at 14:00)
Venue: T2, CS building, Konemiehentie 2

Cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin, Blockchain & Beyond

Abstract

I will first give a short introduction to the Bitcoin system, explaining some of the basics such as transactions and the blockchain. Then, I will discuss some interesting technical aspects in more detail, regarding the stability, security, and scalability of Bitcoin. In particular, I will discuss Bitcoin's eventual consistency, and the related problem of double spending. I will shed some light into our findings regarding the bankruptcy of MtGox, previously the dominant Bitcoin exchange service. And I will present duplex micropayment channels. Apart from scalability, these channels also guarantee end-to-end security and instant transfers, laying the foundation of a network of payment service providers.

Bio

Roger Wattenhofer is a full professor at the Information Technology and Electrical Engineering Department, ETH Zurich, Switzerland. He received his doctorate in Computer Science in 1998 from
ETH Zurich. From 1999 to 2001 he was in the USA, first at Brown University in Providence, RI, then
at Microsoft Research in Redmond, WA. He then returned to ETH Zurich, originally as an assistant
professor at the Computer Science Department.

Roger Wattenhofer's research interests are a variety of algorithmic and systems aspects in computer science and information technology, currently in particular wireless networks, wide area networks, mobile systems, social networks, and physical algorithms. He publishes in different communities: distributed computing (e.g., PODC, SPAA, DISC), networking (e.g., SIGCOMM, MobiCom, SenSys), or theory (e.g., STOC, FOCS, SODA, ICALP). He recently published the book "The Science of the Blockchain". A complete CV is available here.