Unlocking Waldo: How Cryptography Meets the Classic Search Game 🔍

In this episode, Sohejl sits down with Howard Wu, Co-Founder of Aleo to discuss his journey from selling custom PCs and mining Bitcoin in high school to discovering zero-knowledge proofs at UC Berkeley under Professor Alessandro Chiesa (co-founder of Zcash and Starkware). His 2019 research paper on private smart contracts, called Zexe, attracted significant industry attention and led him to commercialize the technology through Aleo. Howard challenges the conventional wisdom that privacy and compliance are at odds, arguing instead that the issue lies in how technology is implemented. The conversation challenges the idea that wanting privacy means you're doing something sketchy. Howard argues that privacy and compliance actually work together through features like view keys and policy engines. Businesses have been evaluating crypto for years but keep hitting the same wall - their compliance departments can't accept transparent blockchain transactions. Current public blockchains are like having transparent bank accounts, which works fine for some uses but makes business adoption impossible. Companies like Revolut are already testing private payment rails through Aleo's partnerships. New stable coins with built-in privacy are launching this quarter through the Global Dollar Network. Howard positions this as the missing piece that could finally bring crypto to mainstream business adoption, providing the speed and cost benefits of blockchain with the privacy that traditional businesses require. 📣📣📣 Building something exciting & want to come on the show or collaborate with us? Email us at 👉👉 business@teachmedefi.de 👈👈 or DM us on X: https://www.twitter.com/teachmedefi 👉 Please share this if you learned something! What should we discuss next? Comment! 👉 Fed up with crypto influencers? Follow us for quality education. ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ Guest Links / Additional Material: Howard Wu Twitter: https://x.com/1HowardWu Aleo Twitter: https://x.com/AleoHQ Aelo website: https://aleo.org/ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ▸ Find us on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@teachmedefi ▸ Find us on 𝕏: https://x.com/TEACHMEDEFI ▸ Find us on Instagram: https://instagram.com/TEACHMEDEFI ▸ Find us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@teachmedefi_official ▸ Find us on Podcast Streaming Sites: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/teachmedefi ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ Timestamps: 0:00 - 3:00 - Early Bitcoin mining 3:00 - 6:00 - Berkeley research, Zexe paper 6:00 - 8:00 - Founding Aleo 8:00 - 12:00 - Privacy vs compliance myths 12:00 - 17:00 - Verifiable credentials, view keys 17:00 - 22:00 - Regulatory gaps, demos 22:00 - 27:00 - ZK simply explained 27:00 - 32:00 - Performance evolution 32:00 - 38:00 - Scaling advantages 38:00 - 43:00 - Business privacy problems 43:00 - 48:00 - ZK in AI, TEEs 48:00 - 53:00 - Revolut, partnerships 53:00 - 58:00 - Other blockchains' limitations 58:00 - 63:00 - Aleo's approach, stable coins -------------- Disclaimer: TEACHMEDEFI is a provider of entertainment and opinions. We are neither a broker/dealer nor an investment advisor. This is not a service for issuing or receiving financial or investment advice. None of our content constitutes a recommendation – or should be understood as such – to conduct transactions in securities, cryptocurrencies, or crypto-assets, or to engage in any of the investment strategies presented in our discussions or provided content. We do not provide personalized recommendations or views on whether a stock, cryptocurrency, crypto-asset, or investment approach is suitable for the financial needs of a particular individual.