#242 Neha Narula: MIT's Digital Currency Initiative - A Research-Driven Approach to Blockchain

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When the Bitcoin Foundation fell apart and funding for Bitcoin core development was needed, the MIT founded the Digital Currency Initiative to step in. In the years since, the DCI has evolved into a vibrant center of cutting edge research on some of the most difficult challenges around blockchain technology.

DCI Director Neha Narula joined us to discuss the DCI's position between academia and industry, their policy on conflicts of interest, and their most fascinating research topics.

Topics discussed in this episode:
- How her interest in distributed systems and scaling lead led her to the blockchain space
- The mission and history of the MIT's Digital Currency Initiative
- How cryptocurrency might evolve over time as an academic field
- The DCI's project on digital fiat currency
- How zkLedger could enable privacy-preserving auditing for distributed ledgers
- Why sharding is unlikely to succeed in the short- and medium term
- Why Neha is most optimistic about layer 2 approaches to scaling like lightning network
- The story of discovering and writing about IOTA's vulnerability
- How DCI handles conflicts of interest and strives for neutrality

Links mentioned in this episode:
- MIT Digital Currency Initiative: https://dci.mit.edu/
- Neha Narula Personal Website: http://nehanarula.org/
- What’s New at MIT’s Digital Currency Initiative: https://medium.com/mit-media-lab-digital-currency-initiative/whats-new-at-mit-s-digital-currency-initiative-9d53c39502d3
- The Importance of Layer 2: https://medium.com/mit-media-lab-digital-currency-initiative/the-importance-of-layer-2-105189f72102
- Cryptographic vulnerabilities in IOTA: https://medium.com/@neha/cryptographic-vulnerabilities-in-iota-9a6a9ddc4367
- zkLedger | the future of audit: https://dci.mit.edu/zkledger/
- zkLedger Whitepaper: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/59aae5e9a803bb10bedeb03e/t/5aa1b35ce4966bd538d3f1d2/1520546653653/zkledger.pdf
- Neha Narula: The future of money | TED Talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/neha_narula_the_future_of_money

This episode is also available on :
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- YouTube: http://youtu.be/4cm8hr0oFDU
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Epicenter is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain, Sébastien Couture & Meher Roy.