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title: 2024 Tweetstorms
tags: [tweets]

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# 2024 Tweetstorms

## 2024 Overview

(posted with many changes from the original at https://x.com/ChristopherA/status/1879584796927729979 & https://bsky.app/profile/christophera.bsky.social/post/3lfsd4flczc2y)

The 2024 annual report from @BlockchainComns is here! It highlights our work toward an open, secure, and compassionate digital infrastructure, emphasizing interoperability and self-sovereign wallet standards through key projects: dCBOR, FROST, and Gordian Envelope. 🧵… [1/11]

[TW:IMG]
![2024-Yearly-tw](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/By6rRUNPkx.jpg)

Beyond these flagship initiatives, Blockchain Commons does a wide variety of work every year, including decentralized identity, presentations from Bitcoin wallet luminaries, our new Open Integrity project, and much more. It's all in the report. [2/11] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/quarterlies/Yearly-2024/

dCBOR is Blockchain Commons' deterministic CBOR (Concise Binary Object Representation). Our big advance was iterating on our IETF specification and incorporating it into libraries and the cbor.me playground. [3/11] https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-mcnally-deterministic-cbor

FROST is an innovative cryptographic signature system that's private, compact, and resilient. Our three FROST workshops in 2024 aimed to accelerate its deployment so it can be available to everyone in 2025! [4/11] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/frost/#events

Gordian Envelope is Blockchain Commons' privacy focused data storage and transmission format. In 2024, we introduced video overviews of the format, plus we used Envelope to create a new form of decentralized identifier supporting elision - the XID. [5/11] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDI5ihfTB2Y&list=PLCkrqxOY1FbooYwJ7ZhpJ_QQk8Az1aCnG

In 2016, I authored "The Path to Self-Sovereign Identity." Today, #SSI remains central to Blockchain Commons' mission, despite challenges in US & EU #SSI deployments due to the watering down of its 10 principles. [6/11] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/musings-ssi-bankruptcy/

I wrote a series of articles on edge identifiers and cliques, introducing a new paradigm: digital identity rooted in relational connections, now representable cryptographically. [7/11] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/musings-cliques-1/

Our 2024 report also highlights presentations on Bitcoin's BIP-85, Payjoin, and @Ledger's Seed Tool with support for SSKR social key recovery. We also updated reference apps and started the Open Integrity project. See the full report for details. [8/11] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/quarterlies/Yearly-2024

We deeply thank sustaining sponsors such as @FOUNDATIONdvcs, @unchainedcom, @HRF, and countless individuals for their support in 2024. Excitingly, @ZcashCommGrants joins them to sponsor our upcoming wallet interoperability initiatives for 2025! [9/11]

Help us shape a future where everyone can control their digital destiny and preserve their dignity online. Become a sponsor or source-code contributor to support Blockchain Commons' work on privacy, resilience, and autonomy in 2025 and beyond. Let’s collaborate! [10/11]

Join us to create a more inclusive, decentralized digital infrastructure. Become a GitHub patron to support Blockchain Commons' efforts on self-sovereignty, wallet interoperability, and secure digital tools. Every contribution makes a difference! [11/11] https://github.com/sponsors/BlockchainCommons

### Linkedin

[LI:IMG]
![2024-Yearly-li](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/H12PCUVvke.jpg)

The yearly report from Blockchain Commons for 2024 is out. It describes our major work on dCBOR, FROST, and Gordian Envelope. But, Blockchain Commons does a variety of work every year, so its 2024 schedule also included decentralized identity, presentations from Bitcoin luminaries, our new Open Integrity project, and more. It's all in the report.

https://www.blockchaincommons.com/quarterlies/Yearly-2024/

* **dCBOR** is Blockchain Commons' deterministic version of CBOR. Our big advance here was several iterations of [our specification](https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-mcnally-deterministic-cbor/), plus its incorporation into libraries and the cbor.me playground.
* **Gordian Envelope** is Blockchain Commons' privacy focused data storage and transmission format. 2024 saw some [video intros to the format](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDI5ihfTB2Y&list=PLCkrqxOY1FbooYwJ7ZhpJ_QQk8Az1aCnG), plus we used Envelope to create decentralized identifiers.
* **FROST** is a great new multisig system that's private, compact, and resilient. Our [three FROST meetings in 2024](https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/frost/#events) were intended to help speed up its deployment, so it's available to everyone.

Self-sovereign identity, a long-term interest at Blockchain Commons ever since I wrote "The Path to Self-Sovereign Identity", was another big focus. Part of that is problems with the direction of SSI! But I also wrote a series of articles about edge identifiers and cliques, which are a whole new way to look at identity.

* [Has Our SSI Ecosystem Become Morally Bankrupt?](https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/musings-ssi-bankruptcy/)
* [How Can We Keep Digital Identity Safe (Foremembrance Day 2024)](https://www.blockchaincommons.com/videos/Foremembrance2024/)
* [Edge Identifiers & Cliques](https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/musings-cliques-1/)
* [Open & Fuzzy Cliques](https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/musings-cliques-2/)

There's lots more in the report, including presentations on BIP-85, Payjoin, and Ledger Seed Tool, plus a look at the updated reference apps we released in 2024 and the Open Integrity project. Take a look at the report for everything.

Thanks to HRF, who supported much of Blockchain Commons' FROST work in 2024, and Zcash Community Grants, who is sponsoring new interop work that we've just begun in 2025. 

If you want to support, and even request direction, for Blockchain Commons' future work making digital assets resilient, secure, and private, talk to me about becoming a sponsor or partner. You can also become a GitHub patron to support more work like this in 2025. 

## Values/Design

(I've posted about this article on social media at https://x.com/ChristopherA/status/1877059043102962127 & https://bsky.app/profile/christophera.bsky.social/post/3lfatf7t5ys25 & https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-my-values-inform-design-christopher-allen-nfxgc)

What are the principals of design for enabling autonomy, dignity, and trust in digital systems? I wrote about that today. [1/9] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/ValuesDesign/#appendix-1-principles-of-dignity-autonomy-and-trust-in-digital-systems

It was part of a larger article that I called "How My Values Inform Design". My digital architecture designs focus on the fact that I think we need to have human dignity in online endeavors. [2/9] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/ValuesDesign/

A number of requirements can help us to dignify our digital presence. Data protection. Freedom from coercion. Interaction with trust. Transaction participation. There's more! [3/9] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/ValuesDesign/#the-core-values-of-autonomy--dignity

Maintaining human dignity online is important because the digital world is today our second home! [4/9]

We have to turn those human requirements into tech requirements. Data minimization. Peer-to-peer protocols. Selective disclosure. Offline-first capabilities. Ultimately, decentralized protocols. Again, there's more! [5/9] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/ValuesDesign/#from-values-to-design-principles

My article, "How My Values Inform Design", is about the whole pipeline, from values to design to education to implementation to deployment. We need to hold onto our values the whole way through! [6/9] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/ValuesDesign/

I invite you to join me in conversation. What values are important to you in designing online identities & communities? How can we make sure our final products reflect them? [7/9]

The desire to implement values in design is what caused @BlockchainComns to develop its Gordian Principles. [8/9] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/principles/

Support autonomy, dignity, and trust; support privacy resilience, independence, and openness. Become a patron of @BlockchainComns! [9/9] https://github.com/sponsors/BlockchainCommons

### LinkedIn Version

(posted at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-my-values-inform-design-christopher-allen-nfxgc)

![LinkedIn-Values](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/B1MQ0mo8Jx.jpg)


What are the principals of design for enabling autonomy, dignity, and trust in digital systems? I wrote a list of ten today as part of an article that I call "How My Values Inform Design". My digital architecture designs focus on the fact that I think we need to have human dignity in online endeavors. 

* https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/ValuesDesign/

Maintaining human dignity online is important because the digital world is today our second home! A number of requirements can help us to do so. Data protection. Freedom from coercion. Interaction with trust. Transaction participation. There's more! 

We have to turn those human requirements into tech requirements. Data minimization. Peer-to-peer protocols. Selective disclosure. Offline-first capabilities. Ultimately, decentralized protocols. Again, there's more!

My article, "How My Values Inform Design", is about the whole pipeline, from values to design to education to implementation to deployment. We need to hold onto our values the whole way through! 

I invite you to join me in conversation. What values are important to you in designing online identities & communities? How can we make sure our final products reflect them?

The desire to implement values in design is what caused Blockchain Commons to develop its Gordian Principles (https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/principles/).

You can support autonomy, dignity, and trust and privacy resilience, independence, and openness by becoming a patron of Blockchain Commons.

* https://github.com/sponsors/BlockchainCommons

## Zcash Meeting

We will be holding a @BlockchainComns meeting on January 24th at 10am to discuss the upcoming Zcash extensible Wallet Interchange Format (ZeWIF). If you're a wallet developer using or interested in using Zcash, I invite you to attend! [1/7] https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/zcash-extensible-wallet-interchange-format-zewif-meeting/49927

The most immediate goal of the meeting is to identify all the secret bits of seed, key, and transaction info, as well as metadata, that might be stored in Zcash wallets. We'll then be creating a spec for wallet interchange to support it. [2/7]

This will support the deprecation of the zcashd reference client that's occurring this April. [3/7]

The creation of an extensible wallet interchange format also will vastly improve Zcash's interoperability. We don't want you to get locked into a single wallet. Independence & Openness are two of the core principles of @BlockchainComns. [4/7] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/principles/

Join us at the January 24th meeting to have your say on the upcoming Zcash extensible Wallet Interchange Format. Full details are at the link. [5/7] https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/zcash-extensible-wallet-interchange-format-zewif-meeting/49927

The @BlockchainComns work on ZeWIF is sponsored by @ZcashCommGrants and done in coordination with @ZingoLabs. [6/7]

If Openness and Independence for all digital assets is important for you, you can become a Blockchain Commons Patron. [7/7] https://github.com/sponsors/BlockchainCommons


## After FROST Meeting

Last week @BlockchainComns held its second FROST Developers meeting, meant to help wallet developers to incorporate FROST into their projects in 2025. We've got a full video [1/10]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbrB1SCXCNc

Our FROST meeting pages include all of the details on the FROST Developers meeting, including the presentations, key quotes, and key links [2/10]. https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/frost/developers2/

The meeting's first presentation was an intro to FROST. What is it? How does it work? Why would you want to use FROST? [3/10] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbrB1SCXCNc&t=165s

Here's a TL;DR on why you'd use FROST: security, scalability, privacy, and flexibility. They're all in the Intro slides starting on page 15 if you don't want to watch the video. [4/10] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/assets/pdfs/frost-dev2-intro.pdf

Our second presentation was called "FROST for the Masses" and focused on UX Issues with FROST. It was from StackWallet, the first production wallet to incorporate FROST! [5/10] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbrB1SCXCNc&t=1196s

“The user experience is bad. The user experience of crypto as a whole is bad. … The features can be as good as they can possibly be. They can be the best in the business. But if it’s so difficult to use, nobody’s going to use it.” [6/10]

Ready to start implementing FROST now? That's where the third presentation comes in, on the FROST UNiFFI SDK, bringing ZF FROST Rust crates to GoLang, Kotlin, and Swift [7/10]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbrB1SCXCNc&t=3944s

Finally, FROST isn't just for wallets! Our final presentation talked about its use to create a mining federation! [8/10] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbrB1SCXCNc

Thank you to @HRF for sponsoring our FROST work this year. [9/10] https://hrf.org/

We need sponsors and patrons at @BlockchainComns to keep doing our work to advance interoperable standards for assets & identity. Become a GitHub patron or talk to me about a closer partnership! [10/10] https://github.com/sponsors/BlockchainCommons

### LinkedIn

Last week Blockchain Commons held its second FROST Developers meeting, meant to help wallet developers to incorporate FROST into their projects in 2025. Our FROST meeting pages include all of the details on the FROST Developers meeting, including the presentations, key quotes, and key links.

* VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbrB1SCXCNc
* MEETING PAGE: https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/frost/developers2/

The meeting's first presentation was an intro to FROST. What is it? How does it work? Why would you want to use FROST? Here's a TL;DR on why you'd use FROST: security, scalability, privacy, and flexibility. They're all in the Intro slides (https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/assets/pdfs/frost-dev2-intro.pdf) starting on page 15 if you don't want to watch the video.

Our second presentation was called "FROST for the Masses" and focused on UX Issues with FROST. It was from StackWallet, the first production wallet to incorporate FROST! 

> “The user experience is bad. The user experience of crypto as a whole is bad. … The features can be as good as they can possibly be. They can be the best in the business. But if it’s so difficult to use, nobody’s going to use it.” 

Ready to start implementing FROST now? That's where the third presentation comes in, on the FROST UNiFFI SDK, bringing ZF FROST Rust crates to GoLang, Kotlin, and Swift Finally, FROST isn't just for wallets! Our final presentation talked about its use to create a mining federation!

* INTRO PRESENTATION: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbrB1SCXCNc&t=165s
* FROST FOR THE MASSES: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbrB1SCXCNc&t=1196s
* FROST UNiFFI SDK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbrB1SCXCNc&t=3944s
* FROST FEDERATIONS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbrB1SCXCNc 

Thank you to The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) for sponsoring our FROST work this year. We need sponsors and patrons at Blockchain Commons to keep doing our work to advance interoperable standards for assets & identity. Become a GitHub patron at https://github.com/sponsors/BlockchainCommonsor talk to me about a closer partnership!

## FROST December 4th [post Nov 27]

I know the US is about to get swept up in Thanksgiving, but I wanted to be sure people had the info on our FROST Developers meeting on Wednesday December 4th. (See next post for link.) [1/4]

This is a meeting for engineers and developers who might want to integrate FROST into their wallet or other system in 2025. Or forxd552 folks who want to know why FROST might even be interesting! [2/4] https://github.com/BlockchainCommons/Gordian-Developer-Community/blob/master/meetings/frost-dev-meeting.md

We've got a introduction to FROST presentation explaining the how and why, then we've got presentations from a wallet developer, a library developer, and a federation developer! [3/4]

It's the many ways you can use FROST and some guidelines for diving straight in. We hope you'll join us Wednesday, December 4th at 10am PST. Click through for a calendar invite and a Zoom link. [4/4] https://github.com/BlockchainCommons/Gordian-Developer-Community/blob/master/meetings/frost-dev-meeting.md

## FROST December 4th [post Mon Dec 2]

Hey Folks, just a reminder that the @blockchaincomns FROST Developer meeting is this Wednesday at 10am PT. [1/2]

If you're an engineer or developer and you want to know how to implement FROST in 2025, or just why you might want to, this is the meeting for you. Follow the link for a Zoom URL and a calendar invite [2/2] https://github.com/BlockchainCommons/Gordian-Developer-Community/blob/master/meetings/frost-dev-meeting.md

## FROST December 4th

https://bsky.app/profile/christophera.bsky.social/post/3lbrontynko2r

https://x.com/ChristopherA/status/1861047373419491661

FROST is coming! This December 4th (10am PT/1pm ET/7pm CET), @BlockchainComns will be holding a special meeting for developers interested in incorporating FROST into their wallets or other programs [1/9] https://github.com/BlockchainCommons/Gordian-Developer-Community/blob/master/meetings/frost-dev-meeting.md#frost-developer-meeting

FROST is a next-generation multisig system. It uses Schnorr signatures and has advantages in scalability and privacy. [2/9] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/frost/

But, deployments are still very limited, and so developers don't have much guidance for how to make FROST work. We'll show you how. We currently have four presentations planned! [3/9]

First, we'll give you our own thoughts on why FROST is exciting and why you'll want to use it. [4/9]

Second, we'll get a presentation from Stack Wallet (@stack_supports), the first production wallet to successfully integrate FROST, including features such as changing and reconstructing thresholds. [5/9] https://stackwallet.com/

Third, we'll take a look at Zcash FROST UniFFI SDK. It converts the Zcash Rust FROST system into GoLang, Kotlin, and Swift. [6/9] https://github.com/zecdev/frost-uniffi-sdk

Finally, we'll look at alternative uses for FROST with a FROST Federation that has a use case for a mining pool! [7/9]

The December 4th FROST Developers Meeting will give you a kickstart for implementing FROST in your wallet (or other app!) next year. Put it on your calendar & we'll see you then! [8/9]

Our FROST meetings in 2024 have been supported by @HRF. If you'd like to see more developer meetings of this type, let us know & become a GitHub patron. [9/9] https://github.com/sponsors/BlockchainCommons


ZCASH FROST UniFFI SDK. If you want to implement FROST, another option is the UniFFI SDK, which converts the Zcash Rust FROST system into GoLang, Kotlin, and Swift.
FROST FEDERATIONS. There are lots of uses for FROST! Our final presentation will talk about its use to manage a federation with a mining pool as a case study.


## Gradients of Trust

https://x.com/ChristopherA/status/1857085338587382141
https://bsky.app/profile/christophera.bsky.social/post/3lawmdjzywd2d
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/building-trust-gradients-christopher-allen-3fhgc/

In real life, we extend trust gradually, slowly learning about people we're interacting with & revealing more of ourself in the process. Why don't we do that in the digital world? That's the topic of "Building Trust in Gradients", today's Musings. [1/11] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/musings-progressive-trust-lifecycle/

It's my newest article on "Progressive Trust", a topic that I've been writing about for decades. [2/11] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/musings-progressive-trust/

The short answer for "why" digital trust is binary is that tech giants have centralized trust by turning it into a binary choice: trust a certificate or not; block a user or not. That's not how trust has worked for thousands of years. [3/11]

Now we have the opportunity to rewrite trust on the internet using decentralized technologies such as DIDs and clique identifiers. We can design Progressive Trust that models how trust actually works in real-life, where we reveal things a bit at a time. [4/11]

But that raises another question: what does a model of real-world trust really look like? That's what today's article, "Building Trust in Gradients" tries to tease out. [5/11] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/musings-progressive-trust-lifecycle/

By adapting the life cycle of progressive trust as it exits in physical reality to trust in the digital world, we can create a solid foundation for reimagining how critical personal interactions can be successful online. [6/11]

"Building Trust in Gradients" also attempts to lay out a foundation for a language of trust. Validation. Verification. Authentication. Proof. What do they all means? Here's one set of consistent answers. [7/11]

INCLUDE:
![Screenshot 2024-11-13 at 1.47.51 PM](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/Skw2c2zGJe.png)

Context, Introduction, Wholeness, Proofs, References, Requirements, Approval, Agreement, Fulfillment, Escalation, and Dispute form a whole life cycle of trust (with some of that stuff, such as Dispute, being thankfully optional). [8/11]

"Building Trust in Gradients" summarizes this crucial life cycle from a longer article that focuses even more on the language of trust and its origins. It's available on the @BlockchainComns developer website. [9/11] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/progressive-trust/

I'd love to talk about Progressive Trust and its life cycle and how our understanding of it can be improved, as well as how we can better standardize our usage of some of these tricky words! [10/11]

If you're interested in working on a progressive-trust system, drop me a line. I currently have executive consulting time available and would love to see a signal that @BlockchainComns should focus more on the topic. [11/11]

### LinkedIn

![LinkedIn-ProgressiveTrust-LC](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/HJUia2fzJx.jpg)

[Graphic in DropBox as LinkedIn-ProgressiveTrust-LC.jpg]

In real life, we extend trust gradually, slowly learning about people we're interacting with & revealing more of ourself in the process. Why don't we do that in the digital world? That's the topic of "Building Trust in Gradients", today's Musings. 

* ["Musings of a Trust Architect: Building Trust in Gradients"](https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/musings-progressive-trust-lifecycle/)

The short answer for "why" digital trust is binary is that tech giants have centralized trust by turning it into a binary choice: trust a certificate or not; block a user or not. That's not how trust has worked for thousands of years. But now we have the opportunity to rewrite trust on the internet using decentralized technologies such as DIDs and clique identifiers. We can design Progressive Trust that models how trust actually works in real-life, where we reveal things a bit at a time. 

But that raises another question: what does a model of real-world trust really look like? That's what "Building Trust in Gradients" tries to tease out. By adapting the life cycle of progressive trust as it exits in physical reality to trust in the digital world, we can create a solid foundation for reimagining how critical personal interactions can be successful on line.

"Building Trust in Gradients" also attempts to lay out a foundation for a language of trust. Validation. Verification. Authentication. Proof. What do they all means? Here's one set of consistent answers: Context, Introduction, Wholeness, Proofs, References, Requirements, Approval, Agreement, Fulfillment, Escalation, and Dispute form a whole life cycle of trust (with some of that stuff, such as Dispute, being thankfully optional).

"Building Trust in Gradients" summarizes this crucial life cycle from a longer article that focuses even more on the language of trust and its origins. It's available on the @BlockchainComns developer website.

* [Full "Progressive Trust Live Cycle" Aritcle](https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/progressive-trust/)

I'd love to talk about Progressive Trust and its life cycle and how our understanding of it can be improved, as well as how we can better standardize our usage of some of these tricky words! Give me your thoughts! Also, if you're interested in working on a progressive-trust system, drop me a line. I currently have executive consulting time available and would love to see a signal that @BlockchainComns should focus more on the topic. 

This work builds on writings about Progressive Trust over the last few decades. Here's a few of my older pieces:

* ["Musings of a Trust Architect: Progressive Trust" (2022)](https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/musings-progressive-trust/)
* ["Life with Alacrity: Progressive Trust" (2004)](https://www.lifewithalacrity.com/article/progressive-trust/)

## Identifier Meeting Announcement

## Identifier Meeting

The @BlockchainComns meeting this month focused on identifiers: a new form of decentralized identifier; our new clique identifiers, and MuSig signatures (which can enable cliques & edge identifiers). [1/9] https://github.com/BlockchainCommons/Gordian-Developer-Community/tree/master/meetings#detailed-list-of-meeting-summaries-with-archives-of-video-mp3-and-transcripts

The first presentation was on XIDs, a new sort of decentralized identifier built on Gordian Envelope. [2/9] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKVp5WzBZD4

The big benefit of XIDs? Elision! You can just reveal some of the keys, endpoints, or other data that a DID Controller Document contains and only release the rest, if it's needed, through progressive trust. [3/9]

The second presentation was on Edge Identifiers & Cliques. These are new way to create identifiers based on relationships [4/9] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFHvyrUj7Kk

Relational identifiers of this sort can better model the way that identity actually works, and can also help reduce single points of failure and compromise. You need to be able to keep your digital identity. Cliques can help you do so. [5/9]

Cliques are built with Schnorr signatures. A look at how to create a MuSig signature was thus our third and final presentation for the day. [6/0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaNypFsGczg

A two-person MuSig is easy enough, but it starts to get trickier when you want to create a 3-of-3. The presentation talked about how to do so using Gordian Envelope's GSTP and a trustless coordinator [7/9]

Though I've worked with identity for the last decade, including work on the DID and VC standards, it's a fairly new topic for @BlockchainComns. We're looking for sponsors interested in the work. If that's you, drop me a line! [8/9]

The next Gordian Developer Meeting will have presentations to help wallet developers to integrate FROST in 2025. It's on Dec. 4th. If you're a wallet developer, sign up for our announcement list to get the complete info on the meeting! [9/9] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/subscribe/


(posted at https://x.com/ChristopherA/status/1852404335004790964)

Next Wednesday, @BlockchainComns will be holding a meeting on a topic that I've long advocated for: digital identifiers. It's at 10am PST, and if you're interested in the future of identity, I hope you'll attend. [1/7] https://github.com/BlockchainCommons/Gordian-Developer-Community/blob/master/meetings/identifier-meeting.md

My feature presentation will be on Edge Identifiers & Cliques, a new relational sort of identity that I've written about in recent articles. TL;DR? What if identity were about our connections & communities? [2/7] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/musings-cliques-1/

Speaking of identity, I hope you'll also read an article I wrote for #IIW on whether self-sovereign identity is now failing its foundational aspirations. [3/7] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/musings-ssi-bankruptcy/

Also at the meeting, we'll be looking at how Gordian technology can improve digital identity. I'll be presenting on using Gordian Sealed Transaction Protocol to create MuSig 2 signatures securely. [4/7]

Our lead researcher @WolfMcNally will be presenting on using Gordian Envelope to create a DID-like identifier we're calling a XID, which has unique advantages due to Envelope's elision capabilities. [5/7] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/xid/

We've come a long ways from specing out DIDs at Rebooting the Web of Trust, but there are still many exciting futures for identity and identifiers. Join me next Wednesday to talk about some of them! [6/7] https://github.com/BlockchainCommons/Gordian-Developer-Community/blob/master/meetings/identifier-meeting.md

There's hasn't previously been a huge focus on identity at @BlockchainComns primarily because none of our patrons were in the space. If you'd like to work with me on identity, talk to me about becoming a sponsor! [7/7]

## Cliques 2

(posted with changes to https://x.com/ChristopherA/status/1847285114155483260, updated below)

Last week, I introduced "cryptographic cliques"—a novel way to view identity based on your connections & relationships. This week, I expand on that concept with a new article detailing three variants: open cliques, closed cliques, and device cliques. 1/11 https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/musings-cliques-2/

In my previous article, I focused on "closed cliques"—these are groups where every member of a group has a connection to every other member. A Schnorr-based public key defines the group, while a shared private key enables joint collaboration and decision-making. [2/11] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/musings-cliques-1/

Closed cliques are a great starting point, but there are several variants of cryptographic cliques, each offering unique advantages for specific identity use cases. This new article discusses those variants. [3/11] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/musings-cliques-2/

Open cliques may offer a more realistic approach to identity modeling, as they don’t require everyone to be connected. This allows for organic growth and evolution, better reflecting how real-world relationships form. [4/11]

IMG: https://www.blockchaincommons.com/images/cliques/cliques-5.png

Fuzzy cliques use Schnorr-based threshold signatures like FROST. They enable semi-anonymous group decisions, requiring only a subset of members to agree—ideal for collaborative contexts without full unanimity. [5/11]

IMG: https://www.blockchaincommons.com/images/cliques/cliques-6.png

Device cliques represent identity models that might involve oracles, AIs, wallets, or fact checkers—demonstrating how identities can extend beyond humans to include interconnected digital entities. [6/11] 

IMG: https://www.blockchaincommons.com/images/cliques/cliques-8b.png

Clique of cliques? Yes, cliques can also connect to form larger structures. By modeling identity in a recursive way, cliques can scale to represent increasingly complex social structures—a powerful feature for digital identity. [7/11]

IMG: https://www.blockchaincommons.com/images/cliques/cliques-7b.png

Living systems theory informs this work: identity isn’t just about isolated nodes (like individuals), but about their connections. Edge identifiers and cryptography cliques allow us to reflect this interconnectedness in a cryptographic framework. [8/11] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/origins-SSI/#living-systems-theory

Modeling identity is a crucial building block for the digital age. Cliques provide an intriguing new approach thanks to their focus on relationships and consensus—offering increased resilience, security and scalability. [9/11] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/musings-cliques-2/

Modeling identity is a crucial building block as we move further into the digital age. I think that cliques offer an intriguing way to do so, thanks to their focus on relationships and consensus. [7/9] 

Curious about cryptographic cliques and how they could transform digital identity? Let's collaborate on how we can shape a more secure & connected future together. Join the discussion here or at https://github.com/orgs/BlockchainCommons/discussions—your insights could drive the next big leap in identity! [10/11]

Sponsor our work on cliques at @BlockchainComns! Your patronage fuels the development of decentralized privacy-enhancing, relationship-focused digital identity solutions. Together, we can build a resilient future. Help make a difference! [11/11] https://github.com/sponsors/BlockchainCommons

### Cliques 2 LinkedIn

(published with changes at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/open-fuzzy-cliques-christopher-allen-gnrkc)

![LinkedIn-Cliques-2](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/Bk0EripkJl.jpg)

Last week I introduces "cryptographic cliques", a new way to view identity based on who you're connected to & how you relate. This week I expanded the concept in a new article that details three variants: open cliques, closed cliques, and device cliques.

* OPEN & FUZZY CLIQUES: https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/musings-cliques-2/

In my previous article, I focused on "closed cliques". These were groups where every member of the group had a connection to every other member. A Schnorr-based public key defined the group and a private key allowed for group decisions. It was a great starting point, but there are several variations of cryptographic cliques that each offer different advantages for specific types of identity modeling.

* CLOSED CLIQUES: https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/musings-cliques-1/

**Open cliques** offer what might be a more realistic way to model identity, because they don't require everyone to be connected. This allows for the organic evolution and growth of a clique.

**Fuzzy cliques** require a Schnorr-based signature method that supports threshold signatures, such as FROST. They allow groups to engage in semi-anonymous decision making where only some of the members agree. 

Finally, **device cliques** demonstrate identity modeling that might involve oracles, AIs, wallets, fact checkers, or any number of other entities.

Modeling identity is a crucial building block as we move further into the digital age. I think that cliques offer an intriguing way to do so, thanks to their focus on relationships and consensus.

Interested in more on cliques? I'd love to chat on the topic, here or at Blockchain Commons. Want to support the continued development of cliques? Become a sponsor of Blockchain Commons on GitHub: https://github.com/sponsors/BlockchainCommons

## Q3 2024

BC:
Our new quarterly report is out, covering FROST, Gordian Envelope, Seed Recovery, and more. https://www.blockchaincommons.com/quarterlies/Q3-2024/

(posted at https://x.com/ChristopherA/status/1846630018505756775)
CRA:
The Q3 report was published by @BlockchainComns today. The FROST Implementers meeting was perhaps the highlight, but there was a lot of good work advancing the state of wallet design this quarter. [1/10]

FROST is a threshold signature system that supports MPC and improves the resilience and security of digital assets. We held an implementers meeting where designers & cryptographers talked about challenges, successes, and the state of the art. [2/10] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/frost/meeting2/

It was one of two big meetings for the quarter, the other being a seed recovery meeting, where we had presentations both on BIP-85 and a new Ledger app that uses our SSKR functionality. [3/10] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6Ag1X2oC1Y

If one thing's important at @BlockchainComns, it's our ability to talk with wallet developers to produce specifications & references that are useful to everyone. (Become a member of our community by signing up for our Gordian meetings!) [4/10] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/subscribe/

We also published some minor updates to Gordian SeedTool for iOS in Q3. It continues to be our reference implementation for best practices for seed storage. [5/10] https://apps.apple.com/us/app/gordian-seed-tool/id1545088229

We made some bigger changes to our whole Swift stack, updating it to Swift 6 to take advantage of the new concurrency model, but we're waiting for some other updates before we roll that into a new SeedTool release. [6/10]

Our developer pages are intended to help anyone who wants to use our specs. They explain the importance of our specs and their usage. This quarter we revamped them to demonstrate a new stack-based model that better puts everything in its place. [7/10] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/

We also wrote some new Envelope subpages on Gordian Sealed Transactions (GSTP) and on Encrypted State Continuation (ESC), powerful and interoperable way to use Envelope to communicate. [8/10] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/envelope/

Read the new @BlockchainComns quarterly report for all of these details and more. [9/10] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/quarterlies/Q3-2024/

If you find @BlockchainComns work valuable, become a sponsor. We need your support so that we'll be around to bring in the next wave of innovations, including releasing Gordian Depots, Gordian Companion, and more! [10/10] https://github.com/sponsors/BlockchainCommons


## Cliques 1 (major revision)

(posted at https://x.com/ChristopherA/status/1844106609552916560)

Identity isn't just about who you are, it's about who you're connected to & how you relate. My new article, "Edge Identifiers & Cliques", explores how cryptographic innovations redefine identity, making it more connected, resilient & decentralized. [1/14] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/musings-cliques-1/

This builds on my foundational article from 2016, "The Path to Self-Sovereign Identity", where I envisioned as a digital identity we truly control. Today #SSI is becoming reality! But we can do more. [2/14] https://www.lifewithalacrity.com/article/the-path-to-self-soverereign-identity/

Many interpret self-sovereign identity as being self-centric. That was not the goal! Identity is also about how others know you—such as your relationship with a community, a team, or family.[3/14] https://www.lifewithalacrity.com/article/origins-SSI/

I may be a unique person, but my identity is shaped by my connections—to my partner, my co-workers, and the communities I belong to: @RWOTEvents supports #SSI, @BlockchainComns upholds human dignity with digital infrastructure, and @DyversHands reflects my creative side. [4/14]

Most self-sovereign identity today follows the "Single Signature Paradigm": each identity is isolated, represented by a single key. This approach is risky and inherently limited. If you lose your single key, you lose access, which highlights the inherent vulnerability. [5/14]

Imagine instead a cryptographic key representing the relationship between two people: the private key empowers joint decisions, the public key identifies the pair. This is a "relational edge key". [6/14]

Next, consider a group identity (a "clique") formed the same way: a private key for group consensus, a public key to identify the group. These build a new foundation for securely supporting group activities. [7/14]

Clique identities in action can represent anything from a cooperative of engineers using a shared key for voting on project direction, to a family managing shared digital assets securely without a central point of failure. [8/14]

Why edge and clique identities? They're decentralized, resilient to Single Points of Failure, enhance privacy, allow secure group collaboration & decision-making, and foster true, relational identity. [9/14]

Using Schnorr signatures, these edge and clique identities can be aggregated efficiently, making them indistinguishable from individual identities, offering built-in privacy advantages while scaling in decentralized networks. [10/14] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/Schnorr-Intro/

Schnorr-based signatures have become reality in MuSig2 and FROST. These methods allow multi-party consensus and better security, but they also allow us to model digital signatures in a new way, to better capture the relational essence of identity. [11/14] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/Schnorr-Intro/

Redefining identity means redefining how we trust and collaborate at scale. Edge and clique identifiers push us beyond isolated digital identities to a model where trust is embedded in our connections. Read the full article, 'Edge Identifiers & Cliques,' to dive deeper. [12/14] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/musings-cliques-1/

Stay tuned for my next article in my "Musings of a Trust Architect" on open cliques, fuzzy cliques, and cliques of devices! Curious about 'fuzzy cliques'? They’re about adaptive group identities where members change but trust remains. [13/14] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/

Join us to redefine digital identity and build a resilient, privacy-preserving future. Collaborate with us to develop cutting-edge solutions or support our work via @BlockchainComns. Together, we can make edge & clique identities a reality![14/14] https://github.com/sponsors/BlockchainCommons

## Cliques 1

Identity is all about relationships. That's the thesis of my new article on "Edge Identifiers & Cliques". It looks at how new cryptographic techniques can be used to better define digital identity. [1/12] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/musings-cliques-1/

The topic goes back to my foundation identity article, "The Path to Self-Sovereign Identity", where I imagined digital identity that we could control ourselves. (It's now a reality!) [2/12] https://www.lifewithalacrity.com/article/the-path-to-self-soverereign-identity/

However, many people have taken self-sovereign identity to mean self-centered identity. That was never the intent! Identity is fundamentally about our connections with other people! [3/12] https://www.lifewithalacrity.com/article/origins-SSI/

My connection to my partner, to my co-workers, to Rebooting the Web of Trust, to Blockchain Commons, to Dyvers Hands. Those are ultimately what define me in society. It's all about relationships. [4/12]

But self-sovereign identity has mainly focused on what I call the Single Signature Paradigm, where each digital identity is its own island, represented by a single key. It's dangerous and it's limited. [5/12]

Schnorr-Based signatures such as MuSig2 and FROST are now opening up the door for modeling digital signature in a new way, one that better matches the relational basis that truly underlies identity. [6/12] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/Schnorr-Intro/

Imagine creating a cryptographic key to represent the edge between two people: the private key could be used to indicate their joint consensus and the public key could identify the pair. That's a relational edge key. [7/12]

Imagine the next step, creating a group identity for a "clique", again with the private key representing decisions and the public key identifying the group. [8/12].

With Schnorr-based signatures this can be done efficiently, and more than that, you can't differentiation an edge-based or clique-based identity from an individual identity, because Schnorr signatures are aggregated. [9/12] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/Schnorr-Intro/

Why use edge identities and clique identities? They're decentralized, they're validated, they're resilient to Single Points of Failure, they enhance privacy, and they allow secure group decision making. [10/12]

Take a look at the full article, "Edge Identifiers & Cliques", for more. I'll have another article next week talking about open cliques, fuzzy cliques, and cliques of devices. [11/12] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/musings-cliques-1/

I'd love to get cliques into real deployment! Drop me a line if you're interested in working on the topic, or become a patron of @BlockchainComns so that we can work with you on clique identities! [12/12]
https://github.com/sponsors/BlockchainCommons

### Cliques 1: Linkedin

Identity is all about relationships. That's the thesis of my new article on "Edge Identifiers & Cliques". It looks at how new cryptographic techniques can be used to better define digital identity. 

* CLIQUES: https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/musings-cliques-1/

The topic goes back to my foundation identity article, "The Path to Self-Sovereign Identity", where I imagined digital identity that we could control ourselves. (It's now a reality!) However, many people have taken self-sovereign identity to mean self-centered identity. That was never the intent! Identity is fundamentally about our connections with other people! 

* THE PATH TO SELF-SOVEREIGN IDENTITY: https://www.lifewithalacrity.com/article/the-path-to-self-soverereign-identity/
* THE ORIGINS OF SELF-SOVEREIGN IDENTITY: https://www.lifewithalacrity.com/article/origins-SSI/

My connection to my partner, to my co-workers, to Rebooting the Web of Trust, to Blockchain Commons, to Dyvers Hands. Those are ultimately what define me in society. It's all about relationships. But self-sovereign identity has mainly focused on what I call the Single Signature Paradigm, where each digital identity is its own island, represented by a single key. It's dangerous and it's limited.

Schnorr-Based signatures such as MuSig2 and FROST are now opening up the door for modeling digital signature in a new way, one that better matches the relational basis that truly underlies identity. Imagine creating a cryptographic key to represent the edge between two people: the private key could be used to indicate their joint consensus and the public key could identify the pair. That's a relational edge key. Then, imagine the next step, creating a group identity for a "clique", again with the private key representing decisions and the public key identifying the group.

With Schnorr-based signatures this can be done efficiently, and more than that, you can't differentiation an edge-based or clique-based identity from an individual identity, because Schnorr signatures are aggregated. 

* INTRODUCTION TO SCHNORR: https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/Schnorr-Intro/

Why use edge identities and clique identities? They're decentralized, they're validated, they're resilient to Single Points of Failure, they enhance privacy, and they allow secure group decision making. Take a look at the full article, "Edge Identifiers & Cliques", for more. I'll have another article next week talking about open cliques, fuzzy cliques, and cliques of devices.

* CLIQUES (AGAIN): https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/musings-cliques-1/

I'd love to get cliques into real deployment! Drop me a line if you're interested in working on the topic, or become a patron of @BlockchainComns so that we can work with you on clique identities!
* BLOCKCHAIN COMMONS PATRONAGE: https://github.com/sponsors/BlockchainCommons

## Understanding Envelope Video

(posted at https://x.com/ChristopherA/status/1823508559566705124)

Gordian Envelope is a Smart Document system that supports secure data storage and holder-based elision. We've created a new Understanding Gordian Envelope video that introduces the technology. [1/11] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vcLCFKQvik&list=PLCkrqxOY1Fbqpl8FLvG2uoA2xAMoR0FtS

Why use Gordian Envelope? The fundamental reason is hashed elision. It empowers Data Minimization, allowing any holder of data to redact data that should be private, while still maintaining validation & integrity. The video explains more! [2/11]

Part one of the video focuses on the Envelope metaphor and key concepts such as cryptographic hashes, elision and redaction, determinism, and dCBOR. It also talks about how data is represented in an Envelope. [3/11] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vcLCFKQvik&list=PLCkrqxOY1Fbqpl8FLvG2uoA2xAMoR0FtS

Part two of Understanding Gordian Envelope then looks at Envelope's Extensions. [4/11] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFxStP3ATkw&list=PLCkrqxOY1Fbqpl8FLvG2uoA2xAMoR0FtS

Gordian Envelope Extensions allow you to do more! Signing, encryption, compression, functions, it's all here. But you only pay for what you use! Envelope can be as simple or complex as you need. [5/11]]

Many of Gordian Envelope's extensions combine to support Gordian Sealed Transaction Protocol, which was also the subject of a recent video. [6/11] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnH14LkJOnI&list=PLCkrqxOY1Fbqpl8FLvG2uoA2xAMoR0FtS

If you need communication that's secure, transport-agnostic, and distributed, that's GSTP. Whether you communicate via the internet, bluetooth, NFCs, or QRs, GSTP supports the security of your data. [7/11]

If you prefer reading to videos, @blockchaincomns also has considerable information about Gordian Envelope on its Developer pages. [8/11] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/envelope/

But TL;DR? Envelopes allow users to control what data they send from a larger data store. It's crucial for regulations like HIPAA and GDPR. It allows you to maintain your privacy and keep your data safe! [9/11]

Stay up to date with new specifications for wallet interoperability by joining the Blockchain Commons announcements-only mailing lists or Signal channels. [10/11] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/subscribe/

In order for our work to continue, we need the support of patrons. Please join us! [11/11] https://github.com/sponsors/BlockchainCommons

## Gordian Developer


(posted with minor changes to https://x.com/ChristopherA/status/1821581666428842428)

This month's Gordian Developer Meeting for @BlockchainComns was all about seed resilience. It's the vitally important "Level 0" for cryptographic security. We've got a video of the complete discussion [1/9]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6Ag1X2oC1Y

Blockchain Commons has done a lot to support the resilience of seeds, so they won't be lost, as we think that's the number one adversary for most self-sovereign digital-asset holders. But there's plenty of new stuff coming out. [2/9]

One is BIP-85, a seed-of-seeds methodology that lets you use one seed to generate seeds for all of your devices. Aneesh Karve, BIP-85 Champion, gave a presentation on the topic. [3/9] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4W4kmV-oHrA

Blockchain Commons hasn't focused on BIP-85 much to date, but it's starting to gain momentum, with implementations from people like Foundation Devices & Cold Card. We think it deserves more attention in the future! [4/9]

Another new seed-related innovation actually built on our own work. Aido has released Ledger Seed Tool, which brings Shamir's Secret Sharing to Ledger using our own SSKR. Here's his presentation. [5/9] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GjnZjZloec

The Ledger Seed Tool app has been security-reviewed by Ledger and is available through Ledger Live. [6/9] https://www.ledger.com/blog/seed-tool-app

There are lots of interesting futures for seeds. BIP-85, various cryptocurrency key derivations, online backup mechanisms like our own Gordian Depository, NFC backups, Distributed Key Generation, MuSig2, FROST ... [7/9] 

Join @BlockchainComns to talk about these futures and more by signing up to receive announcements about *next* month's wallet developers meeting (September 4th). [8/9] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/subscribe/

Support our work on improving the resilience and security of not just seeds, but all the digital assets they protect, by becoming a GitHub sponsor. [9/9] https://github.com/sponsors/BlockchainCommons


## Linkedin

![2024-Q2-Report-linkedin](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/rkeFoRCdC.jpg)

posted with minor changes: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/blockchain-commons-q2-report-blockchain-commons-dlbac

Blockchain Commons has closed the book on Q2, 2024. It was another busy quarter, with a focus on Envelope, dCBOR, SSH, and lots more. The quarterly report has all the details:

    https://www.blockchaincommons.com/quarterlies/Q2-2024/

**Envelope** is Blockchain Commons' foundational "Smart Document" system. It saw considerable work this spring including a [new executive summary](https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/envelope/summary/) and [a video on the Request/Response system](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXDf2cmfX1k). Request/Response is just one of many advanced capabilities used by Gordian Envelope; it can automate processes by taking out unnecessary human intervention, which can offer considerable benefits to common cryptocurrency tasks such as creating resilient multisigs.

Envelope is built on **deterministic CBOR (dCBOR)**, which @BlockchainComns also talks about in the quarterly report. The biggest news? Increased uptake of dCBOR by developers and CBOR experts. There are now at last three external libraries supporting dCBOR as we working on finalizing [the spec](https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-mcnally-deterministic-cbor/) as a standard.

Blockchain Commons holds monthly [**Gordian Developer Meetings**](https://www.blockchaincommons.com/subscribe/) to work with the wallet community to advance its interoperable specs like Gordian Envelope. In the spring, two Bitcoin experts offered feature presentation. Jesse Posner talked about [FROST](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCM8dDql6oo) and Dan Gould discussed [PayJoin](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMGL-Y498ZQ).

One of Blockchain Commons' biggest expansions this quarter was into **SSH**. We're working on making it more secure to distribute software. Our first step has been to update the [Envelope CLI](https://github.com/BlockchainCommons/bc-envelope-cli-rust) to support SSH signing. The quarterly report has more on what that means and why it's important.

Blockchain Commons also did some major work on the **Gordian Sealed Transaction Protocol**, which uses Envelopes for secure communication with a new and innovative system we call Encrypted State Continuations (ESC). Take a look at [the video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnH14LkJOnI)!

A new article article on [**Minimum Viable Architecture**](https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/musings-mva/), and why it's a better development methodology than MVPs, was another highlight of the quarter. [9/12] 

But there was so much more. Take a look at the quarterly report for design patterns, DID futures, graphs in Envelope, and all of the other stuff I missed!

    https://www.blockchaincommons.com/quarterlies/Q2-2024/

Subscribe to the [Gordian Developers announcement-only mailing list](https://www.blockchaincommons.com/subscribe/) so that you can be notified of our latest feature presentations and wallet developer conversations. (We've got BIP-85 coming up in two weeks at the August meeting!) And please [become a sponsor](https://github.com/sponsors/BlockchainCommons) to support the continued development of private, resilient, open, and independent digital-asset systems.

## Q2 Report

FROM @blockchaincomns:

The Q2 report is out. Here's what we've been doing the last few months! It includes a pile of videos, presentations from some experts in the Bitcoin field, and info on our newest specifications. https://www.blockchaincommons.com/quarterlies/Q2-2024/

From Chris:

The Q2 2024 report is out from @blockchaincomns. There's info on our work on Envelope, dCBOR, SSH, and lots more! Take a look! [1/12]

[REPOST]

(posted with minor changes to https://x.com/ChristopherA/status/1816191085842243951)

Envelope is Blockchain Commons' foundational "Smart Document" system. Some of our work this quarter was to better explain it in a new executive summary. [2/12] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/envelope/summary/

But also take a look at our Request/Response video, which demonstrates some of the more advanced capabilities of Gordian Envelope, which can automate processes by taking out unnecessary human intervention. [3/12] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXDf2cmfX1k

Envelope is built on deterministic CBOR (dCBOR), which @BlockchainComns also talks about in the quarterly report. The biggest news? Increased uptake of dCBOR by developers and CBOR experts. [4/12] https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-mcnally-deterministic-cbor/

Community is important! Blockchain Commons is creating interoperable specs for use by everyone. We were thus thrilled to have a few presentations from the community this quarter. @jesseposner talked about FROST. [5/12] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCM8dDql6oo

Also at our Gordian Developer Meetings, @bitgould talked about PayJoin [6/12] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMGL-Y498ZQ

One of our biggest expansions this quarter was into SSH. We're working on making it more secure to distribute software. Our first step has been to update the Envelope CLI to support SSH signing. [7/12] https://github.com/BlockchainCommons/bc-envelope-cli-rust

We also did some major work on the Gordian Sealed Transaction Protocol, which uses Envelopes for secure communication with a new and innovative system we call Encrypted State Continuations (ESC). Take a look at the video! [8/12] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnH14LkJOnI

Our article on Minimum Viable Architecture, and why it's a better development methodology than MVPs was another highlight of the quarter. [9/12] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/musings-mva/

But there was so much more. Take a look at the quarterly report for design patterns, DID futures, graphs in Envelope, and all of the other stuff I missed! [10/12] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/quarterlies/Q2-2024/

Subscribe to the Gordian Developers announcement-only mailing list so that you can be notified of our latest feature presentations and wallet developer conversations. [11/12] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/subscribe/

And please become a sponsor to support the continued development of private, resilient, open, and independent digital-asset systems. [12/12] https://github.com/sponsors/BlockchainCommons

## GSTP

(posted at https://x.com/ChristopherA/status/1811438537272873199 with changes copied below)

Today's Gordian Wallet Community meeting focused on Gordian Sealed Transaction Protocol (GSTP), a secure, transport-agnostic request/response system that supports Encrypted State Continuations (ESC) [1/17]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnH14LkJOnI

Why GSTP? We need safe communication via a variety of transport methods, some of them unusual. We're not just talking about TLS for wired communication. (I co-authored TLS!) We need something more for many modern use cases, including data at rest. [2/17]

GSTP is SECURE. This means that it uses encryption and authentication to verify every message. It is bidirectional and supports P2P thanks to key agreement using ephemeral public keys, thus avoiding the problems of centralized certification. [3/17]

GSTP is TRANSPORT-AGNOSTIC. Sure, it could go out via TCP/IP, or it could use Tor. But it also might be sent via QR code, bluetooth, or NFC. Many of these are quite insecure as transit methods, which is why we need GSTP. [4/17]

GSTP is DISTRIBUTED. It supports ESC (Encrypted State Continuations), to securely encapsulate state information. This allows computation to be resumed later without needing to retain state locally, making it ideal for constrained devices and scalable server environments. [5/17]

Our video has an extensive description of how all the pieces of GSTP work together. [6/17] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnH14LkJOnI

The full specification for the Gordian Sealed Transaction Protocol (GSTP) can be found in one of Blockchain Commons' Research Papers. [7/17] https://github.com/BlockchainCommons/Research/blob/master/papers/bcr-2023-014-gstp.md

GSTP builds on Blockchain Commons' Gordian Envelope "Smart Document" system that is built to allow for the secure, safe, holder-controllable storage of sensitive data. [8/17] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/envelope/

Our GSTP release this month was only possible due to the financial support of @FOUNDATIONdvcs as a Resarch Sponsor. Thank you! [9/17] https://github.com/sponsors/BlockchainCommons

This week's presentation on GSTP was part of our monthly Gordian meeting, a regular meeting for digital asset and identity wallet developers & other parties interested in the field. [10/17] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLCuvJYnTFs

Also discussed in this July's Gordian Developer Meeting, @WolfMcNally offered a demo of two new and updated command-line tools he's written in Rust. [11/17]

Seedtool-CLI-Rust is our newest. It supports the creation, recovery, reconstruction, and transformation of seeds. Just install the seedtool-cli crate for Rust! [12/17] https://github.com/BlockchainCommons/seedtool-cli-rust

We've also released a comprehensive user guide for Seedtool-CLI-Rust that discusses all of its capabilities (and why to use them!) [13/17] https://github.com/BlockchainCommons/seedtool-cli-rust/blob/master/MANUAL.md

Our other CLI is an update of Envelope-CLI-Rust, which demonstrates some of the larger scale capabilities of Gordian Envelope, particularly its ability to elide data while retaining the validity of any signatures. That's the bc-envelope-cli crate. [14/17] https://github.com/BlockchainCommons/bc-envelope-cli-rust

That was this month's Blockchain Commons meeting! Sign up for the Gordian Developer announcements-only mailing list to get info on every monthly meeting. In August we'll have a presentation, then discussion, about BIP-85! [15/17] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/subscribe/

We are seeking patronage to support further development of these open wallet and infrastructure tools! If you would like to join @FOUNDATIONdvcs as a Research Patron to help us focus on some facet of open wallet infrastructure, let us know! [16/17] https://github.com/sponsor/BlockchainCommons

TL;DR: GSTP. Gordian Sealed Transaction Protocol. Secure, transport-agnostic, encrypted state continuation. Looking toward the future for the secure storage & communication of digital assets and secure private identity. [17/17] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnH14LkJOnI


## MVA

(posted at https://x.com/ChristopherA/status/1806022895258489215)

Minimum Viable Product (MVP) has become a standard business methodology of the 21st century thanks to the success of Twitter and others, but does it work? I say "maybe not" in this week's "Musings of a Trust Architect" article. [1/10] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/musings-mva/

To step back: MVP is an agile business methodology that suggests putting out a minimal, no-frills product to immediately begin generating market feedback. [2/10]

Twitter did great with their MVP. So did Facebook and Dropbox. That's a compelling argument. [3/10]

But how many failures were there? How many MVPs that were outcompeted? How many cases like Twitter whose architectural deficiencies almost cost them everything? [4/10] 

IMG: https://www.blockchaincommons.com/images/Survivorship.png

My article suggests an alternative: Minimum Viable ARCHITECTURE (MVA). You plan for your product's future needs, either specifically or modularly. [5/10]

I used MVA principles when I co-authored the SSL 3.0/TLS 1.0 spec and its reference implementation, whose success speaks for itself. I've also used it in the design of Blockchain Commons' Gordian system. [6/10] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/architecture/

This week's "Musing of a Trust Architect" article covers all of these topics: how MVP can fail; why MVA could be an alternative; and how this business methodology was used for TLS and Gordian. [7/10] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/musings-mva/

Take a look and tell me what you think! Are there other ways that an MVP overcomes its short comings? Does my MVA approach look like a viable alternative? Are there other possibilities? [8/10]

If this sort of architectural thought is important to you as a digital asset or identity wallet designer, join us in the Gordian Developer Community. We have monthly meetings to discuss advances in the industry. [9/10] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/subscribe/

Ensure this sort of trust architecture and strategic thinking continues by becoming a sponsor of Blockchain Commons through GitHub. Even a small monthly contribution helps, as your "social proof" makes it easier for to get funding from others. [10/10] https://github.com/sponsors/BlockchainCommons

## MVA for LinkedIn

Top Post https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:ugcPost:7211803777152999424/
TL;DR: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/rethinking-minimum-viable-product-introducing-christopher-allen-qoswc/

**Rethinking Minimum Viable Product: Introducing Minimum Viable Architecture**

In the fast-paced world of tech startups, the concept of the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) has become a cornerstone design philosophy. Prominent successes such as Twitter, Facebook, and Dropbox highlight the appeal of a company launching early with just the bare essentials so that they can swiftly begin learning from real user feedback. However, it's also crucial to consider the numerous unseen failures: MVPs that didn't survive competitive pressures or suffered from critical shortcomings in their foundational architecture.

In my latest "Musings of a Trust Architect," I explore an alternative approach: **Minimum Viable Architecture (MVA)**. This methodology advocates planning for a product's future needs from the outset, either through specific design or through modular flexibility. The key advantage of MVA is its focus on long-term sustainability and scalability, which can prevent costly overhauls and ensure that a product's architecture evolves seamlessly in response to market demands.

The MVA approach is not just theoretical but is rooted in practical application. I applied MVA principles when co-authoring the SSL 3.0/TLS 1.0 specifications and their reference implementations and later in designing the Blockchain Commons' Gordian system. The enduring success of these frameworks supports the case for using MVA over traditional MVP in certain scenarios.

For a deeper dive into how MVP might fall short and why MVA could serve as a robust alternative, check out the full article here: [Musings of a Trust Architect on MVA](https://www.blockchaincommons.com/musings/musings-mva/).

I invite all digital asset and identity wallet designers to join the conversation in the Gordian Developer Community, where we discuss such strategic advances monthly. Your insights are invaluable as we collectively push the envelope on what's possible in our field.

Finally, to support ongoing research and development in trust architecture, please become a sponsor of Blockchain Commons on GitHub. Every contribution, big or small, plays a crucial role in our collective success.

* [Join the Gordian Developer Community](https://www.blockchaincommons.com/subscribe/).
* [Become a Sponsor](https://github.com/sponsors/BlockchainCommons).

I look forward to your thoughts and discussions on moving beyond MVP to embrace a more robust architectural methodology.


## FROST

(with some changes, updated below, at https://x.com/ChristopherA/status/1798439205531771209)

Blockchain Commons @BlockchainComns is holding two more FROST meetings this year. On Sept. 18, we'll host a virtual round table for FROST library implementers & cryptographers. On Dec. 4 we invite wallet developers to coordinate their FROST efforts. [1/6] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/frost/#upcoming-events

Our 2024 FROST meetings are courtesy of @HRF, who  awarded Blockchain Commons a Bitcoin Development grant because they recognize FROST as "a crucial building block for allowing users to control their identities and Bitcoin in a self-sovereign way." [2/6] https://hrf.org/hrf-bitcoin-development-fund-grants-1-billion-satoshis-to-14-projects-worldwide/

Why is FROST important as a next-generation key-management & signature system? I wrote a bit about that in March. [3/6]

RT: https://x.com/ChristopherA/status/1774680107380048144

For more info on FROST, take a look in our archives of the talk with @jesseposner about some of the amazing advancements that FROST is already supporting, or is coming soon. [4/6] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCM8dDql6oo&t=1033s

You can join us for our next FROST meetings. If you're a FROST library implementer or a wallet developer, sign up for our announcements lists, to get info on attending our Sept. & Dec. meetings. [5/6] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/frost/#upcoming-events

We are very appreciative of @HRF's grant, but we are also looking for additional support to bring FROST into our own interoperable reference libraries, example code and apps. Become a monthly Blockchain Commons sponsor, or consider a one-time grant! [6/6] https://github.com/sponsors/BlockchainCommons

## Gordian Meeting Mayday, After the Meeting

Yesterday, @BlockchainComns held its May Gordian Developers meeting, with a special presentation from @bitgould on Payjoin, an important new privacy protocol for Bitcoin. [1/10] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-w80NJiss8

One of the crucial issues with Bitcoin privacy is that transactions can be analyzed. You can often look at a transaction and realize that it's a payment from one account to another, and how much. [2/10]

Payjoin instead lets both the sender and recipient contribute to a transaction, making it impossible to see who's in what role and how much money is really changing hands. It helps with scaling and fees too! [3/10] https://payjoin.org/

Bitcoin has a reputation for being anonymous. It's not. We're thrilled to have people like @bitgould looking deeper and helping improve the privacy on Bitcoin so it can become what many people already expect! [4/10]

Payjoin was previously released as a v1, but recipients needed  a server with a certificate. v2 improves that in a secure way through the use of relays and a store-and-forward server. We've got a video of just the Payjoin presentation if you want to know more. [5/10] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMGL-Y498ZQ

Our other major presentation was on Request & Response. This is an interoperable & automated way for apps & servers to communicate using Gordian Envelopes. [6/10] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXDf2cmfX1k

It's been a busy month at Blockchain Commons. We also made some major updates to our Gordian Envelope docs, put out our first quarter report, and wrote a research paper on using Gordian Envelopes to represent graphs. It's all covered in the video. [7/10] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-w80NJiss8

Our Meetings page includes a summary, the slides, and a raw transcript, if you prefer non-video content. [8/10] https://github.com/BlockchainCommons/Gordian-Developer-Community/tree/master/meetings#detailed-list-of-meeting-summaries-with-archives-of-video-mp3-and-transcripts

Sign up for our announcement-only Gordian list to learn about upcoming meetings and their feature presentations, which tend to be related to Bitcoin and other digital assets. [9/10] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/subscribe/

To help ensure our work continues to make digital assets more independent, resilient, private, and interoperable, please become a sponsor of @BlockchainComns. [10/10] https://github.com/sponsors/BlockchainCommons

### R/R from Gordian meeting, After Mayday

The Gordian Meetings at @BlockchainComns focus on improving the use of digital assets such as Bitcoin. Our May meeting included presentations on both Payjoin (which helps with privacy) and Request/Response (which helps with automation). [1/10] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-w80NJiss8

Request/Response is an interoperable way for apps & servers to communicate using Gordian Envelopes. [2/10] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/envelope/request/

Standardized interoperability can help resolve the NASCAR problem, but that's not necessarily Request & Response's biggest advantage. [3/10] https://indieweb.org/NASCAR_problem

Request & Response is also important because it allows automation. A few years ago we put together a #SmartCustody procedure for creating multisigs with off-the-shelf apps and devices. It proved too complex for many users. [4/10] https://github.com/BlockchainCommons/SmartCustody/blob/master/Docs/Scenario-Multisig.md

The problem with self-sovereign multisig creation is that it requires deep knowledge of all the devices and apps, plus piles of hands-on grunt work paging through menus and finding the data to transmit among the devices [5/10] 

The automation of Request/Response can resolve that. The user gets things started and confirms actions on various devices, but the system itself does most of the rest. An unmanageable task becomes easy! [6/10] 

IMAGE: https://www.blockchaincommons.com/images/2024-Q1-RR.jpg

Multisig creation is just the start. Key requests? Signing requests? Payjoins? They could all be interoperably automated with Request/Response. [7/10] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXDf2cmfX1k

A few years ago, @BlockchainComns changed digital-asset management with its introduction of Animated QRs built on fountain codes. We think Request/Reponse could be a similar advancement. [8/10] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsFF5HPKQIk

If you're interested in Bitcoin and other digital assets, we'd love to have you join us to collaboratively plot out an interoperable future. Sign up for our announcements-only Gordian list to join our monthly developer meetings [9/10]. https://www.blockchaincommons.com/subscribe/

To help ensure our work continues to make digital assets more independent, resilient, private, and interoperable, please become a sponsor of @BlockchainComns. [10/10] https://github.com/sponsors/BlockchainCommons

--

[next week]
[lots of folks doing UR]
[FD working on Envelope]
[looking for collaborative seed recovery servers]
[talk to us]
[come to meetings]

## Gordian Meeting Mayday, Post #

(posted)

One of the biggest fallacies about the Bitcoin network is the claim that it's anonymous. It isn't. But @bitgould is working on improving privacy with PayJoin v2. Join us for his presentation on the topic at @BlockchainComns on May 1 at 10am PT. [1/12] https://github.com/BlockchainCommons/Gordian-Developer-Community/blob/master/meetings/2024/05-01/payjoin-meeting.md

The problem with privacy on Bitcoin is that transactions can be forensically analyzed. One transaction going to two UTXOs? That's a payment from the first person to the second, plus some change. [2/12]

PayJoin offers more of a veil by allowing both transactors to contribute coins, but without the more complicated mixing of a system like CoinJoin. It can save fees too by allowing the recipient to consolidate coins! [3/12]

Join us at 10am PT on May 1st to learn more about how PayJoin v2 improves on the concept and makes PayJoin a reality. More info, including the Zoom link and a calendar invite, are at the link. [4/12] https://github.com/BlockchainCommons/Gordian-Developer-Community/blob/master/meetings/2024/05-01/payjoin-meeting.md

This special presentation is part of our monthly Gordian Developer meeting, where we bring the digital asset community together to talk about innovations, requirements, and interoperability. [5/12] https://github.com/BlockchainCommons/Gordian-Developer-Community/tree/master/meetings#detailed-list-of-meeting-summaries-with-archives-of-video-mp3-and-transcripts

We'll also be offering some presentations next Wednesday about Gordian Envelope, our privacy-focused smart document specification that uses hashed data elision. [6/12] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/envelope/

Our major Envelope presentation will look at how its Request & Response system can be used to automate hard-to-manage tasks such as creating multi-device multisigs. [7/12] https://github.com/BlockchainCommons/SmartCustody/blob/master/Docs/Scenario-Multisig-RR.md

We'll also talk briefly about our new research paper on modeling graphs with Envelope and our new integration of SSH keys with Envelope. [8/12] https://github.com/BlockchainCommons/Research/blob/master/papers/bcr-2024-006-envelope-graph.md

Join us on May 1st at 10am PT for PayJoin, Envelope, multisigs, and more. [9/12] https://github.com/BlockchainCommons/Gordian-Developer-Community/blob/master/meetings/2024/05-01/payjoin-meeting.md

If you're doing work for Bitcoin or other digital assets and would like to make a special presentation at our June meeting, send us a message! [10/12]

To make sure you stay up to date with our upcoming meetings, presentations, and round tables, join our announcements-only list or our Signal group. [11/12] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/subscribe/

And finally, we need your support to keep this work going! Join us as an individual or a business patron! [12/12] https://github.com/sponsors/BlockchainCommons


## RWOT-Ventura Tweetstorm

(posted with changes at ttps://twitter.com/ChristopherA/status/1781236408952516702)

After a few years abroad, I am thrilled to have Rebooting the Web of Trust, the collaborative design workshop on decentralized identity, back in his original home of California, with RWOT13 occurring October 7-11, 2024 in Ventura, California [1/10]

REPOST https://twitter.com/RWOTEvents/status/1781161198085714230

We started RWOT in San Francisco in 2016 to celebrate the anniversary of PGP. Since the start it's been a conference like no other, where experts gather together and produce papers or other collaborative artifacts. [2/10] https://www.weboftrust.info/about/#the-workshops

RWOT incubated DIDs. It introduced self-sovereign identity. It supported Verifiable Credentials. It's produced 68 papers on identity and related topics. RWOT is ground zero for the next generation of decentralized technology. [3/10] https://www.weboftrust.info/papers/

If you want to have a voice in what's coming next for decentralized identity, trust, PKI, or digital assets, or if you just want to see what's coming up, join us this October! [4/10] https://www.eventbrite.com/e/rebooting-the-web-of-trust-13-2024-ventura-tickets-881441755017

RWOT is a big tent! Maybe you're interested in business-focused DIDs. Maybe self-sovereign identity. Maybe web3 identity. Maybe legally-enabled identity. Maybe trustless identity. We want to support it! [5/10]

To join us, we suggest you write an advance reading paper. It just needs to be a few pages, and it'll tell everyone about your personal interests and expertise. Plus, it offers a steep discount on tickets! [6/10] https://github.com/WebOfTrustInfo/rwot13-ventura/blob/main/advance-readings/README.md

The Advanced Reading primer talks more about the process, but it's easy: pick a topic that interests you and write a few pages, even if they're just speculative questions! [7/10] https://github.com/WebOfTrustInfo/rwot13-ventura/blob/main/advance-readings/advance-reading-primer.md

Once you're done, upload it, ask the leadership team for a discount code, and then you can register! [8/10] https://www.eventbrite.com/e/rebooting-the-web-of-trust-13-2024-ventura-tickets-881441755017

DIDs were a huge innovation that we worked on through the first series of RWOT workshops. We're looking forward to seeing what's next! We hope it'll be your idea! [9/10]

Sponsorships are still available! If your company is interested in receiving attention at this meeting of identity experts, please email treasurer@weboftrust.info. [10/10]

## Next Gordian Meeting

(posted, with changes and two more tweets at https://twitter.com/ChristopherA/status/1781017344178810986)

The May 1st Gordian Developer Meeting will include a feature presentation by Dan Gould (@bitgould) on PayJoin v2. [1/6] https://github.com/BlockchainCommons/Gordian-Developer-Community/blob/master/meetings/2024/05-01/payjoin-meeting.md

The original PayJoin was a 2019 proposal that better preserved privacy in Bitcoin transactions and gave a receiver the opportunity to consolidate their own UTXOs without new fees (and without mixing!). [2/6]

The new version simplifies PayJoin's usage by not requiring the receiver to have a public server to help transmit the negotiations. [3/6] https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/pull/1483

Join us on May 1st at 10am PT to learn more  about why Payjoin is a great advancement on Bitcoin privacy and how Payjoin v2 improves the protocol! [4/6] https://github.com/BlockchainCommons/Gordian-Developer-Community/blob/master/meetings/2024/05-01/payjoin-meeting.md

Gordian Meetings bring together wallet developers and other members of the digital-asset ecosystem to learn about the newest advancements in the field. Drop me a line if you'd like to make a feature presentation at a future meeting! [5/6]

Become a supporter of Blockchain Commons to ensure that meetings like this continue! Individual and business patrons both very welcome! [6/6] https://github.com/sponsors/BlockchainCommons

## Q1 Report

### Blockchain Commons:

Posted https://twitter.com/BlockchainComns/status/1780638280876544208

Our Q1 Report is out! Advancing privacy with hashed data elision, work on dCBOR for hashed data formats like Gordian Envelope, and improving multisig usability. Also FROST signatures, MUR guide for Animated QRs, and updates on Gordian Seed Tool & Server: https://www.blockchaincommons.com/quarterlies/Q1-2024/

### Christopher Allen

Posted https://twitter.com/ChristopherA/status/1780642492255498740

Today @BlockchainComns posted its Q1 report. It covers updates to our digital asset wallet specifications, reference code, as well as new research into multisig, FROST, constrained devices and data provenance. Become a sponsor to support our work! [1/10]
REPOST @BC

[We made progress in the IETF with our dCBOR specification, which is deterministic CBOR. It's critical for hashed data elision formats such as Gordian Envelope. [2/10] https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-mcnally-deterministic-cbor/

Blockchain Commons is also pushing hard on the topic hashed data elision (aka provable redaction) in general, which resulted in a new IETF problem statement about why it's important for privacy and human rights. [3/10] https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-appelcline-hashed-elision/

The threshold signature system FROST was the third specification that @BlockchainComns focused on in Q1. Our most recent Developer's Meeting included a presentation by @jesseposner on what FROST is and where it's going. [4/10] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCM8dDql6oo

The threshold signature system FROST, used by Bitcoin and others, was the third specification that @BlockchainComns focused on in Q1. Our most recent Developer's Meeting included a presentation by @jesseposner on what FROST is and where it's going. [4/10] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCM8dDql6oo

The Gordian Sealed Transport Protocol (GSTP) Implementation Guide similarly discusses how to implement requests and responses using Gordian Envelopes, to allow for easy-to-use secure communication between airgapped devices. [6/10] https://github.com/BlockchainCommons/Research/blob/master/papers/bcr-2024-004-request.md

Why is GSTP request/response important? Because it makes complex procedures like multisig creation actually usable! [7/10] https://github.com/BlockchainCommons/SmartCustody/blob/master/Docs/Scenario-Multisig-RR.md

IMAGE: https://www.blockchaincommons.com/images/2024-Q1-RR.jpg

The quarterly report also includes details on other recent work from @BlockchainComns, including research on constrained devices, digital provenance, and the release of Gordian Seed Tool 1.6 on iOS/mac and Gordian Server 1.1 for macOS. [8/10] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/quarterlies/Q1-2024/

Read the Blockchain Commons quarterly for all the details! [9/10] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/quarterlies/Q1-2024/

Despite the current cryptocurrency prices, it's been a hard few years for wallet developers, with significant funding shortfalls. So we need your patronage more than ever. If you think this work is important, please become an individual or business sponsor! [10/10] https://github.com/sponsors/BlockchainCommons


## FROST Meeting

Wednesday's well-attended Gordian meeting at @BlockchainComns focused on FROST, with a special presentation introducing and updating the technology by @jesseposner. If you missed it, we have a full video [1/9] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCM8dDql6oo 

FROST is Flexible Round-Optimized Schnorr Threshold Signatures, which uses Schnorr signatures (now integrated into Bitcoin with Taproot) to allow a whole new type of multisig. [2/9] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/frost/

One of the most exciting elements is its support for Distributed Key Generation (DKG). With FROST's Schnorr signatures, individuals sign with their shares, which are then aggregated. The whole key never exists! [3/9]

Jesse also talked about some of the exciting experimental work going on with FROST, including the ability to REFRESH or REPAIR shares, ENROLL or DISENROLL participants, or change the THRESHOLD. [4/9] 

Lose a share? Want to update shares? Need to increase or decrease membership? Want to adjust your threshold? It's all possible off-chain WITHOUT moving funds! Take a look at the video for more. [5/9] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCM8dDql6oo 

We've also published a summary of the FROST Gordian meeting, its slides, and a raw transcript of the content, if you prefer those media. [6/9] https://github.com/BlockchainCommons/Gordian-Developer-Community/tree/master/meetings#detailed-list-of-meeting-summaries-with-archives-of-video-mp3-and-transcripts

Blockchain Commons believes in FROST as a crucial future for resilient and private digital-asset management. We also ran a Round Table for its Implementers last year, which we fully documented! [7/9] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/frost/meeting1/

If you want to stay informed about the cutting edge of digital-asset management, we hold open informational meetings like this on the first Wednesday of every month. Join our announcements list to get details each month. [8/9] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/subscribe/

Become a patron of @BlockchainComns so that we can continue producing informative content like this! Small individual donations and larger company sponsorships both help! [9/9] https://github.com/sponsors/BlockchainCommons

## Request/Response

Creating multisig accounts is hard! That's one of the reasons an interoperable Request/Response system is crucial, as we wrote in a new use case. [1/14] https://github.com/BlockchainCommons/SmartCustody/blob/master/Docs/Scenario-Multisig-RR.md

Taking a step back: we think multisigs are crucial for the safe storage of digital assets. At least in the current generation of technology, they're the only way to keep your assets truly secure from theft. [2/14]

We were thrilled when great coordinators like Sparrow Bitcoin Wallet appeared, allowing the average user to create a multisig by connecting up two or more wallets. [3/14] https://sparrowwallet.com/

The problem is, it's still complex. A user has to lead the way on a complex procedure and has to know how a bunch of different devices work. We outlined the procedure, but we've seen users struggle with it. [4/14] https://github.com/BlockchainCommons/SmartCustody/blob/master/Docs/Scenario-Multisig.md

It's not our write-up of the procedure (hopefully!). It's just that so much has to be done. Again and again. Across multiple devices. [5/14]

![](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/SJMzxSSpp.png)

The following example shows the complexity of creating a single recovery key (which is a key that you create, shard, and delete and then use as a backup for an m of n multisig). [6/14]

![](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/BybeQHSa6.png)

We count complexity based on Decision Points (user makes a decision), Research Points (user figures out something), and Human Actions (user does something). Creating this Recovery Key has 2 Decision Points, 4 Research Points, and 13 Human Actions. [7/14]

![](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/BybeQHSa6.png)

You multiply the complexity of creating a single key against two, three, or more keys and then add in the need to incorporate it all into a multisig ... and that's why this secure storage mechanism is not sufficently adopted. [8/14]

Our new Use Case shows how the creation of a multisig could be notably simplified by using Request and Response systems on the involved devices [9/14] 
https://github.com/BlockchainCommons/SmartCustody/blob/master/Docs/Scenario-Multisig-RR.md

With automation, the same recovery key can be created with 1 Decision Point, 2 Confirmation Points, no Research Points, and 4 Human Actions. We think this will make a big difference for many complex operations on digital assets. [10/14]

![](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/SkB7Errp6.png)

An Implementation Guide explains how Request & Response are implemented using Gordian Envelope. [11/14] https://github.com/BlockchainCommons/Research/blob/master/papers/bcr-2024-004-request.md

If you're a developer and you think ease of use would be appealing to your users and thus make your product more appealing, join us at the next Gordian Developer Meeting. [12/14] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/subscribe/

If you're interested in my becoming an advisor for your company to talk with you about these and other advances in the field, PM me directly. [13/14]

If you're a member of the digital-asset ecosystem, please become a patron of Blockchain Commons so that we can continue this crucial work. [14/14] https://github.com/sponsors/BlockchainCommons

## Developer Meeting 2/7

Today was February's Gordian Developer Meeting, focused on Gordian Seed Tool and Gordian Envelope. The full video is available online. [1/10] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkzCKpWvXXE&t=4s

Gordian Seed Tool is Blockchain Commons' examplar seed vault, which demonstrates how to safely secure a seed while still using it. We recently released version 1.6 for iOS. [2/10] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkzCKpWvXXE&t=4s

Gordian Envelope is our data format that support elision and encryption to ensure the privacy of your data. [3/10] https://developer.blockchaincommons.com/envelope/

At the meeting, the Gordian Seed Tool demos helped to show why we think this work is important! [4/10]

Gordian Envelope supports requests & responses, which are critical to create an ecosystem of  devices that are not only interoperable but also automated. [5/10]

As part of our #SmartCustody initiative, we've written a few scenario guides for securing your digital assets, most recently one supporting multisig, and they're _complex_. Requests & responses can help a user to make that simple. [6/10] https://www.smartcustody.com/#new-scenario

Gordian Envelope can also be used to store not just sharded seeds, but also metadata concerning that seed, which can be crucial to restore not just the seed, but also the proper paths to keys holding actual assets! [7/10]

Our Gordian Seed Tool demo shows how all of this works in actual practice. Take a look! [8/10] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkzCKpWvXXE&t=4s

Our next Gordian Developer Meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, March 6. Sign up to our announcements list or Signal group. [9/10] https://www.blockchaincommons.com/subscribe/

We need your support to get through the crypto winter. Please become a patron of our work to improve the digital-asset space. [10/10] https://github.com/sponsors/BlockchainCommons