====
News
====
**01.08.22**
    We have open sourced a fully succinct BLS signature aggregation achieved using custom SNARKs. This allows one to define and construct accountable light client systems that, in turn, are the core cryptographic primitive used for building bridges between PoS blockchains. See `the project page <https://github.com/w3f/apk-proofs>`_ for full details.
**02.12.21**:
    Our `research on accountable light clients <https://github.com/w3f/research-internal/blob/master/papers/LightClientPoster/poster.pdf>`_ has been accepted at the poster session of `Financial Cryptography 2022 <https://fc22.ifca.ai/>`_.
**01.07.21**:
    Jonas published a blog post about `Nominating and Validator Selection on Polkadot <https://polkadot.network/nominating-and-validator-selection-on-polkadot/>`_ where he stressing the importance of building and maintaining a trusting relationship between nominators and their validators and shows how various economic and socio-economic aspects can guide that process.
**21.06.21**:
   Handan will present her paper `Coin-based Multi-party Fair Exchange  <https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-78372-3_6>`_ on `ACNS 2021  <http://sulab-sever.u-aizu.ac.jp/ACNS2021/>`_
    
**15.05.21**:
    Alistair and Samuel finished a `working paper  <https://ssrn.com/abstract=3846363>`_ on front-running in the candle auction, showing that with many rounds the format essentially turns into a second-price auction.

**29.01.21**:
    Fatemeh shared her thoughts on "Interoperability - Where are we now and what can we expect for 2021" in an online-presentation at the Bitcoin Suisse Crypto Outlook 2021. Additionally, she features an article in the corresponding `research report <https://click.mlsend.com/link/c/YT0xNjA5OTk0MzE5NjA1Nzk4MjQ3JmM9ZTNvNCZlPTU5MTY4MzA0JmI9NTEyMjM3NDg1JmQ9djBqOHo2dw==.ngxPQKz29giu1TK1fdNRJdTJ8gEWu2BFos0tuJeD7AQ/>`_. 

**16.01.21**:
    The Web3 Foundation successfully hosted the `Workshop on Real-World Decentralized Cryptography <http://rwc2021-real-world-decentralised-cryptography-workshop.w3f.community/>`_ with presentations of leading experts in topics such as distributed key generation, threshold cryptography, and multiparty computation. 

**10.11.20**:
    Is slashing a good idea? Alistair `talks <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8q16k4U2fA>`_ about slashing and how to apply it to scaling in proof of stake at the DISC 2020 workshop on "Blockchain Interoperability and Sharding".

**23.09.20**:
    Register today for `DISC 2020 <http://www.disc-conference.org/wp/disc2020/registration/>`_ (October 12-16, 2020)! W3F will host a `Workshop on Blockchain Interoperability and Sharding <https://disc2020-sharding-and-interoperability-workshop.w3f.community/>`_. Participation is free and the conference is held online.

**27.08.20**:
    Fatemeh has been program committee member of USENIX Security 2021.

**21.08.20**:
    After the first `democratic vote <https://medium.com/polkadot-network/the-first-polkadot-vote-1fc1b8bd357b>`__ in Polkadot the community decided that the “DOT” token will undergo a redenomination (1 DOT will now hold 1e10 plancks, instead of 1e12). More information can be found `here <https://polkadot.network/denomination-day-ecosystem-project-guidance/>`_.

**18.08.20-20.08.20**:
    W3F researchers and some Parity Technology developers joined together for a 2 day workshop in Berlin discussing implementations details of Polkadot components such as the AnV and XCMP protocols.

**18.08.20**:
    Token transferrability in Polkadot was enabled at block number 1,205,128.

**10.08.20**:
    Alistair has developed a design for ultralight clients that can be used for Ethereum bridges.

**01.08.20**:
    Oana joined the research team and will be working on security and privacy projects, with a focus on (ZK)snarks.

**31.07.20**:
    Our proposal to organize a workshop on Sharding and Interoperability at `DISC 2020 <http://www.disc-conference.org/wp/disc2020/>`__ got accepted.

**22.07.20**:
    Alfonso gave a talk on “Incentive Schemes and Blockchain Security” in CAS summer school organised by University of Zurich.

**20.07.20**
    The sudo module was removed by council motion and Polkadot officially becomes a self-governed and permissionless blockchain!

**02.07.20**:
    Alistair gave a `talk <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mk8GWCczXHo>`__ in CV labs on shared security.

**01.07.20**:
    `Jonas <team_members/Jonas.html>`_ has started an internship research position to apply insights from behavioral economics and to analyze the human interaction with the protocol.

**28.06.20**:
    Alistair has designed a succinct GRANDPA protocol.

**23.06.20**:
    Alfonso and Alistair came up with an efficient algorithm to test the quality of solutions that can be submitted for a validator-nominatior setup on chain.

**15.06.20**:
    Jeff got invited to be on the program committee of the Financial Cryptography 2021 conference.

**09.06.20**:
    Alistair has designed a succinct GRANDPA protocol.

**01.06.20**:
    Samuel has started a part-time researcher position to analyze the theoretical properties of the auctions, which will be used to allocate parachain slots.

**26.05.20**:
    After many years of hard work, the initial version of Polkadot has finally `launched <https://polkadot.network/web3-foundation-initiates-launch-polkadot-is-live/>`__ today! During this phase, we retain superuser control of the network via a “sudo module”, which can be used easily deploy runtime upgrades containing fixes.

**15.05.20**:
    Aleixo will start his Master thesis at W3F desiging a private interoperability protocol between Polkadot and zCash.

**09.05.20**:
    Fatemeh is giving guest lecture on Interoperability at CAS courses organised by University of Applied Science of Zurich (ZHAW).

**06.05.20**:
    Al will give a talk at Layer One online conference titled “Polkadot’s cross-chain Messaging Protocol”.

**04.05.20**:
    Jeff gave a talk at Layer One online conference titled “Availability & Validity on Polkadot”.

**02.05.20**:
    The first version of the `Polkadot Overview paper <https://github.com/w3f/research/blob/master/docs/papers/OverviewPaper-V1.pdf>`__ is ready. Have a look!

**27.04.20**:
    Alfonso and Alistair prepared the first draft of the `NPoS paper <https://arxiv.org/abs/2004.12990>`__. Have a look!

**27.03.20**:
    Fatemeh is programm committee member of IWPE 2020.

**05.03.20**:
    The interlay (http://interlay.io) project has been comissioned by Web3 Foundation to work on Bitcoin-Polkadot bridge specification.

**19-20.02.20**:
    Alistair is going to attend the Standford Blockchain Conference 2020 and a co-located `Polkadot meetup <https://www.meetup.com/Polkadot-San-Francisco/events/268426884/>`__ organized by Web3 Foundation.

**10.02.20**
    Handan and Jeff attended Financial Crypto 2020 and presented their posters.

**13.01.20**
    We published a medium blogpost on `XCMP <https://medium.com/web3foundation/polkadots-messaging-scheme-b1ec560908b7>`__ giving an overall overview of XCMP and descriping a number of design decisions.

**20.12.19**
    We updated our `XCMP implementation considerations <polkadot/XCMP>`_.

**05.12.19**
    Handan has finished a paper titled: `Consensus on Clock in Universally Composable Timing Model <https://eprint.iacr.org/2019/1348.pdf>`__. It is an updated version of Ouroboros Clepsydra that doesn’t rely on existence of some syncronized parties anymore.

**03.12.19**
    Syed attended the `ECC workshop <https://eccworkshop.org/2019/>`__ in Bochum, Germany.

**02.12.19**
    A poster from Jeff on incentivized mixing and a poster from Handan on consensus on clocks have been accepted at Financial Crypto 2020.

**28.11.19**
    Alistair gave a presentation on Polkadot's governance and participated in a panel at "the Governance on blockchain systems" meetup in Geneva, Switzerland.

**20.11.19**
    Some members of the research and HR teams will present a recruitment talk for masters and PhD students at EPFL, Switzerland.

**12.11.19**
    Alistair presented a poster session about the Grandpa finality gadget at the  Conference on Computer and Communications Security (CSS) in London.

**08.11.19**
    Alfonso and Syed hosted a 3 hour Thinktank session about Polkadot in Paris, organized by LaBChain and hosted by Caisse des Dépôts.

**30.10.19**
    Fatemeh gave a talk titled 'Decentralization and privacy' and Alfonso gave a talk introducing Polkadot's at a Web3 meetup.

**12.10.19**
    Alistair will be participating in panel at an event on cross-app communication organized by Near protocol right after Devcon 5.

**09.10.19**
    At Devcon day 1, Fatemeh will give a short presentation about Polkadot's needs for p2p. On day 4, Alistair will give a devcon talk on our availabiltiy and validity scheme. Also on day 4, Alfonso will give a short presentation about governenace.

**05.10.19**
    Alistair gave a talk at the `NodeTokyo 2019 <https://nodetokyo.jp/>`__ about our NPoS solution.

**17.09.19**
    Alistair's poster on GRANDPA has been accepted as an ACM CCS poster and will be pesented in CCS'19 in London.

**16.09.19**
    Alistair will be giving a number of talks in China in the next two weeks.

**18.08.19**
    Handan wrote a paper describing the relevant time technique used in Polkadot’s block production protocol BABE with the title: “Ouroboros Clepsydra: Ouroboros Praos in Universally Composable Relative Time Model” that will be shortly available online.

**15.08.19**
    Syed and Alfonso will hold an exercise session for Polkadot’s bridge design in Copenhagen Blockchain Summer School. In addition, Alfonso will be giving a talk at the Nordic Blockchain Summit 2019.

**05.08.19**
    Alistair, Fatemeh, and Jeff are in Berlin for our networking workshop with Parity.

**22.07.19**
    Alistair gave a number of talks focusing on Polkadot’s Validity and Avalibility scheme in Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Chengzhu during Polkadot China tour in July.

**28.06.19**
    Fatemeh is PC member for CBT 2019.