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Bitcoin creator Dr. Craig S. Wright has given another explanation of how Bitcoin<\/a> could work with IPv6 to create a more secure internet. This model would see hundreds of billions of connected devices, with users knowing their data is safe from hacks or snooping.<\/p>\n Dr. Wright re-presented the IPv6\/Bitcoin recommendations he recently made to the IEEE standards committee, at the University of Dubai recently. IPv6 has been central to his model for Bitcoin for a long time. For some more background on why it\u2019s important, take a look at CoinGeek\u2019s The Bitcoin Bridge interview on IPv6 here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Bitcoin, \u2018cryptocurrencies\u2019 and underlying value<\/strong><\/p>\n He opened his presentation by explaining how he had some knowledge of Islamic Finance<\/a> before he created Bitcoin. While some have a shallow understanding of IF as being all about its prohibition of interest rates and usury, there\u2019s more to it than that\u2014it\u2019s about a system that doesn\u2019t create wealth underlying capital.<\/p>\n Adding that \u201cBitcoin\u2019s not a cryptocurrency,\u201d he said the network was IPv6 enabled in its first version in 2009\u2014but that this capability was turned off after he left the development team. He also noted that Bitcoin technology is not \u201cpeer-to-peer\u201d in the way most people describe it (like Napster or BitTorrent) but rather \u201cend-to-end,\u201d between individuals.<\/p>\n Rejecting the Silicon Valley model<\/strong><\/p>\n And that\u2019s where IPv6<\/a> comes in. 100 billion machines will be connected to the internet over the next couple of years, and they will need to communicate in a secure way with unique addresses. Leaving all data to large corporations, with centralized databases that can be hacked, is the wrong way to do it.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re always going to have big Silicon Valley companies sitting there in the middle, sucking your data. I don\u2019t like that model,\u201d Dr. Wright said.<\/p>\n These 100 billion devices include products with RFID tags, disposable communications tablets, smart home devices\u2026 everything. This proliferation of connections would actually make the internet more secure, because of the impossible time it would take to brute-force scan the entire network looking for vulnerabilities.<\/p>\n A well-defined cloud-and-IPv6 system will be far more secure than the existing \u201cshell-firewall\u201d model, Dr. Wright said.<\/p>\n Bitcoin provides the base layer to this network. For it to work, you can\u2019t have multiple ledgers (i.e., blockchains). To maintain security and prevent fraud you must have a single ledger, a single set of records that everyone trusts. VISA is expensive; BTC\u2019s Lightning Network is unreliable and off-chain.<\/p>\n Silicon Valley companies may resist Bitcoin\u2019s model, but \u201cIf the Americans don\u2019t want to do it, I don\u2019t care. It\u2019s a big world,\u201d Dr. Wright said.<\/p>\n How IPv6 and Bitcoin create a secure internet<\/strong><\/p>\n With IPv6 we will have the ability to connect every device and user directly. IPv6 has its expanded address space, extended routing, improved scalability, simplified headers and faster processing, support for authentication and privacy, support for source routes, and quality of service capabilities.<\/p>\n IPv6 will see the death of the current internet\u2019s SSL (secure sockets layer) and its application-based security through host-identification and authorization schemes. It uses CGA (cryptographically-generated addresses) instead. Cryptography is hard, but if we use it once in the OS rather than at each later, we all win.<\/p>\n That only happens \u201cif we do it right\u201d, Dr. Wright added. Using Bitcoin\u2019s key structure is that way. It can be linked to real-world identities, but in a secure way\u2014using different keys for every transaction, generated from a single source. You therefore have a provable audit trail linking that identity to all its communications (or \u201ctransactions\u201d) but not in a way where the data can be mined.<\/p>\n He gave the examples of Paymail and HandCash as using Domain Name System Security Extension (DNSSEC). This can be extended into CGA by having an IPv6 address that is cryptographically derived from\/linked to a public-private key pair.<\/p>\n This takes us back to a more distributed model of the internet, as it was originally intended to be\u2014rather than the current network of centralized services run by large oligarchies more interested in data mining and control.<\/p>\n Freeing the market, freeing the world<\/strong><\/p>\n The freedom to transact and perform unlimited commercial activities at almost no cost (for payments) is what will truly create wealth for all people, Dr. Wright said. This includes people in wealthy countries, and those from less-wealthy ones working for lower amounts, or overseas.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to push down the prices of transactions so low that Amazon cries. If they don\u2019t deal with this, they\u2019ll be out of business,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Some in the University of Dubai audience were slightly skeptical that Dr. Wright\u2019s model could find acceptance in the real world, saying it \u201csounds too good to be true.\u201d This is pertinent given the current world\u2019s pursuit of \u201cequality\u201d and oligarchical control. Dr. Wright vehemently disagreed with these so-called principles, referring back to the Islamic Golden Age where opportunity was held in higher regard, and wealth came from the creation of real value.<\/p>\n Most long-time Bitcoiners have always known their system could produce better outcomes for humanity\u2014but also wondered if it could fit into the current world\u2019s political paradigms. That is still uncertain. But if the current world\u2019s political goals set it on a path to failure, there will need to be alternatives. The best alternative that exists today is Bitcoin, working in tandem with the internet on which it operates.<\/p>\n Watch: Dr. Craig Wright tackles IPv6, blockchain integration on The Bitcoin Bridge<\/p>\n New to Bitcoin? Check out CoinGeek\u2019s\u00a0<\/i><\/b>Bitcoin for Beginners<\/i><\/b><\/a>\u00a0section, the ultimate resource guide to learn more about Bitcoin\u2014as originally envisioned by Satoshi Nakamoto\u2014and blockchain.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n