Over the past few years, there has been a dynamic shift within blockchain technology and the cryptocurrencies in the APAC region. The APAC countries are rapidly growing by heavily investing in this technology.
However, there are still few issues pertaining to the implementation of blockchain. For instance, China has gone through multiple iterations of banning, restricting, and/or giving tacit approval of various blockchains and cryptocurrencies. Similarly, other countries in APAC are facing similar issues related to it. Despite their diversity, APAC and European countries are approaching and implementing blockchain in a number of ways according to their national economies and political environments.
Believing in the potential of blockchain technology, Peter Waterland established The Quantum Resistant Ledger (QRL). The QRL is a public blockchain ledger designed to be specifically secure against quantum computing advances. The QRL Foundation provides support to the QRL blockchain network, as well as acting as a facilitator for education and advocacy surrounding the topics of Quantum Computing (QC), Quantum Supremacy/Advantage, and Quantum Resistance.
An Inventor Focusing on Crypto-Security
Peter became acquainted with blockchain technology through the internet and soon realized its massive potential to resolve numerous problems concerning trust-based network systems that people were facing. It also had an opportunity to provide the internet with its own first native currency in the form of cryptocurrency.
Therefore, acknowledging its extensive benefits, Peter and his team have developed solutions based on blockchain technology that can be used for security and general purpose applications. QRL can be used on the most popular brand of hardware wallet around, Ledger, as well as being integrated with the online digital identity manager Keybase. Moreover, The QRL Foundation has recently launched the QRL mobile wallet for phones running on Android and iOS.
Since its inception, The QRL Foundation has kept its entire codebase open-source (MIT licensed), where individuals around the world can access and use the code available on GitHub. Peter believes in the ethos of open-source, and platforms or software will benefit from it in the advancement of security in the blockchain/networking space. This is because when multiple people are working on similar problems and tackling them through different perspectives, then the outcome of their efforts is the availability of multiple solutions.
Providing Security Through The QRL Blockchain
The QRL Foundation believes that quantum computers will inevitably break some of the current cryptographic standards found in blockchain networks today. During such times, the encryption techniques utilized by many of today’s present blockchain could end up helpless against quantum computing. In light of this, The QRL Foundation has developed QRL blockchain, a distributed ledger resistant to both traditional and quantum computing attacks.
Unlike other blockchain-based platforms, The QRL blockchain utilizes a type of hash-based signature scheme known as the eXtended Merkle Signature Scheme (XMSS).
Proactive Security Audits to Protect a Platform
The QRL Foundation also believes in proactive security as a core value for The QRL Network – something they think should be of a paramount importance for any network that plans to carry a substantial amount of value.
In light of this, the platform has completed not one but two independent security audits, undertaken by Red4Sec, and x41sec, respectively. This is a great accomplishment for the foundation because security audits are something of a rarity in the blockchain space.
They also went to great lengths to design a codebase that allows for variable key heights and signatures to ensure compatibility with potential new cryptographic schemes that may be developed in the future. A major component of this is the address format preemptively indicating the signature scheme allowing for future compatibility with different clients. This means that the QRL network is one of the only blockchain projects that has the ability to proactively upgrade signature schemes on an already quantum resistant backbone.
The QRL Foundation aims to be a leader in the blockchain space. To achieve this, it is making sure that the other projects that it interacts with have useful outcomes, even if they are somewhat more indirect than an audit.
Blockchain Growth in the APAC Countries
When asked about his views on the ongoing developments of APAC countries, The QRL Foundation shared that the APAC region is different from others because of their diversity___ linguistic, cultural, ecological, and economical. They believe that these countries are one of the engines that have powered the economic growth in the modern digital economy. Other nations are facing similar issues related to emerging digital technologies, and are also developing solutions.
Similarly, the Asia-Pacific region has its own set of challenges. By using the tools available to it, it has developed its own version of solutions. As a result, multiple solutions are available to counterattack the issues facing the Asia-Pacific region. Now, countries around the world can compare and contrast their solutions with each other easily. Through this approach, they gain valuable insights and prepare themselves for designing the best possible solution.
