In an announcement as part of an X space on 9th February 2024 from the Worldcoin project, and a subsequent announcement from the XX Network, several grants (1, 2, 3) have been issued by Worldcoin to development teams of the XX Network to introduce unique privacy technology for use within the Worldcoin ecosystem. Worldcoin’s Wave0 grants programme attracted more than 1,000 applicants with 28 successful projects in this wave, meaning over 10% of them were awarded to XX related ventures.
Aaron from the XX Foundation describes how XX will add value to Worldcoin with this work, in a clip from the X space:
Over three million people have already enrolled in the Worldcoin network which involves a physical interaction with a piece of hardware known as an ‘orb’. This orb scans peoples’ eyes and produces special “iris codes” which are derived from the texture of the iris itself.
The transmission, storage and usage of these iris codes, whilst not directly tied to a human identity, is still a contentious issue because of the conception of a company handling and potentially mishandling the data, or indeed adversaries tracking such interactions over the network.
XX Network’s work will include the introduction of cMixx+ from the point of registration (the orb transmitting the iris code) to the users authenticating (from within their “World App”), in a way where nobody, not even Worldcoin, will know when a new user has registered, nor who is authenticating or potentially updating any information against that record.
Much of the crypto world was sceptical when Worldcoin announced its original project plans but it has sought to explain in meticulous detail the extreme lengths it is going to in regards to privacy, to prevent misuse of the data they capture. It is a natural shoe-in that the XX Network (with its pedigree of cryptographers including its founder David Chaum) should be the ones leading the charge to further enhance user privacy for Worldcoin.
Founded by Sam Altman (who runs OpenAI of ChatGPT fame), the premise of the Worldcoin project comes from the fact he foresees, perhaps unsurprisingly, a time in the not-so-distant future where we will need to distinguish ourselves as actual human beings in a world of hyper intelligent AI and impersonation fraud. So Worldcoin gives individuals a chance to prove their humanness to systems, and therefore partake in an open ecosystem of trade and governance.
cMixx, to be employed by Worldcoin in this development, is a decentralised metadata-shredding mix network designed over several decades by David Chaum and developed, implemented and enhanced by his team in the XX Network from 2016 to the present day. It is run by several hundred independent node operators of the XX Network over 5 continents and 150+ countries who also run an independent Layer1 blockchain with its own governance and its native XX Coin.
cMixx(+) has had several other projects being developed with it, including echoexx (a completely private direct messaging and payment platform using Ethereum identities), Project Tourbillon (a privacy centric CBDC pilot for the Swiss National Bank), Better Than Money (David Chaum’s ‘commodities as money’ futuristic app in progress), Speakeasy (group messaging) and the original XX Messenger to name a few.
The XX Foundation has its own development grants, for which further announcements are expected, and many of the awarded projects are expected to be involving cMixx(+).
Mário Yaksetig, one of the developers with XX spoke of the announcement in Telegram shortly after:
“Very exciting times! We’ll be exploring 3 projects with the Worldcoin foundation.
Votexx (for Worldcoin governance), cMixx+ for privacy in their DB, and actually covering their network traffic from the Orbs.
I think it’s a great fit for us and very aligned with the requests we’ve gotten from the community.”
I interviewed Mário a few days later where he fleshed out the details of the grants a little further. See this page to listen to/read that.
Worldcoin was founded in 2019 and originally raised $125.5m investment from Andreessen Horowitz, Variant, Khosla Ventures, Coinbase and Tiger Global.
XX Network went live to mainnet in November 2021 after many years in stealth development and did not take VC investment, to have more control over its direction. Instead it raised seed capital from Roger Ver and Chris Larsen and conducted and a series of coin sales between 2020-2021.
News
- XX Network Delivers Worldcoin Network Anonymizer Application
- David Speaks on the X Space for the BTC Olympics 2024 Launch
- XX Foundation Clarifies Recent Social Engineering Incident
- David Chaum Spoke at PlasmaCon in Tokyo on July 31st
- XX Network African Community Hosted Web3 Summit, July 26th
- David Chaum at the Global Blockchain Show, Dec 11-12th
- The XX Network Bridge is Live!
- XX Network Q3 Roadmap Released
- Watch David and Mário’s Keynote, Blockchain Expo World, July 2024
- XX Network Runtime Upgrade ‘206’ Complete
- Echoexx Is Now Phoenixx – A New Name With Cutting Edge Ambitions
- Turkish XX Community Starts Series of Educational Sessions
- XX Nodes: Countdown to the End of the Team Multiplier
- WXX/XX Indirect Bridge with Native XX Listings on CEXs
- Crypto Eri Interviews Mário Yaksetig About Privacy and the XX Network
- Fearless Wallet Integrates Native XX Coin
- David Speaking at the PWR Summit Token 2049 Event on 20th April
- David’s Keynote at ETHDam, 12th April 2024
- David and Jim Speak to Burak Kesmeci About the XX Network
- XX Foundation Releases Q2 2024 Roadmap + Interview with Aaron
- David Chaum at the Global Blockchain Show, 17th April
- WXX: All You Need To Know About The Wrapped XX Coin
- XX Foundation Interim Update for Q1, 2024
- XX Integration Announced With The Web3 Talisman Wallet
- xxDK Multi-Platform Example Apps & Demo From Rick Carback
- XX Hackathon in Delhi, India on March 16-17th
- Video: David Chaum at Blockchain Days Conference, March 10th
- XX Network & Carbon Browser Integration Announced
- Generation Infinity: XX Network Updates
- Echoexx Releases First Public Alpha – Try it Today!
- Worldcoin & XX Network Collab: Interview with Mário Yaksetig
- XX Network Partners with Worldcoin to Further Enhance User Privacy
- Stunning XX Artwork from 3D Graphics Guru StrobFX
- David Chaum Speaking at BlockShow x BlockDown, May 8-9th
- Initial Alpha of echoexx Released to Mailing List Invitees
- First New XX Grant Awarded for Development of EVM Bridge
- XX Foundation Releases Q1 2024 Roadmap
- XX Network Foundation Announces Rebooted Grants Programme
- A Glimpse of Current XX Network Research
- BIS Publish Project Tourbillon Trial Results
- XX Community AMAs Part 1 – Full Meeting Audio and Transcript
- XX Network Community AMAs, Part 1 Announced
- David Chaum Unveils ‘Better than Money’, Utilising XX’s cMixx+
- ‘cMixx+’ – Enhanced Privacy & Speed in Various Use Cases
- Demo: Private Polkadot Transaction via Proxxy
- Echoexx – Web3 Identities, Comms, Payments and More
- Tourbillon at BIS Conference, November 8th
- David at the Singapore Fintech Festival, November 15-17th, 2023
- Next Level Proxxy: cMixx DEX Proposed for an XRPL Grant
- Phoenixx – The Future of XX Consensus?
- Official Telegram Community Takeover
- Plans for Postage v1.0 Announced
- An Important XX Network Update – Audio & Transcript
- XX Network – State of the Network Update