By
Bena Ilyas
April 10th, 2024
Google co-founder Sergey Brin revealed he is mining Ethereum. Speaking at the Blockchain Summit, he stated that the concept of zero-knowledge proofs is “really mind-boggling”.
The Blockchain Summit, a global series of elite gatherings connecting blockchain gurus and technology players in this space, took place in Morocco over the weekend. The event included emerging startups with regional businesses, governments, and IT leaders from across key industry verticals. Among them was Google co-founder Sergey Brin. During the conference, he revealed he is mining Ethereum with his 10-year old son.
Brin said that he first paid attention to blockchain when his son asked for a gaming PC. He said: “A year or two ago, my son insisted that we needed to get a gaming PC. I told him, ‘Okay, if we get a gaming PC, we have to mine cryptocurrency. So we set up an ethereum miner on there, and we’ve made a few pennies, a few dollars since.”
Currently, Brin is the president of Google’s parent company Alphabet. Being the ninth richest man on the planet, he has an estimated net worth of $52 billion. Brin admitted that Google missed the boat when it came to the distributed ledger technology. “We probably already failed to be on the bleeding edge,” he said. “I’ll be honest.”
Brin also spoke on the potential of zero-knowledge proofs which underlie the privacy option of Zcash. According to Brin, the potential behind zero-knowledge proofs as ‘really mindboggling’.
Google co-founder Sergey Brin on zcash's zero knowledge proof's widespread use: "It's really mindboggling." #BlockchainSummit via @ForbesCrypto pic.twitter.com/04shCk9wbY
— Michael del Castillo @[email protected] (@DelRayMan) July 8, 2018
Brin said:
“Every month, there are stunning new applications and transformative new techniques. We are truly in a technology renaissance, an exciting time where we can see applications across nearly every segment of modern society”.
Sergey Brin #Google #Alphabet on Authentication of Records and the Potential of #Blockchain #BlockchainSummit Could see the future in this mind blowing technologies #Cryptography #ProofOfWork pic.twitter.com/kRU2m9eK32
— Eva Kaili (@EvaKaili) July 8, 2018
Google has publicly began testing blockchain technology in different fields. Earlier this year, the Mountain View company revealed its plans to leverage blockchain for creating a transparent auditing platform, as a patent filed in September of 2017 details plans to create a “tamper-evident” ledger. Moreover, Google is seeking to work out a blockchain-based integrity tracking solution for its cloud operations. And this is a kind of ironical, as earlier this year tha company decided to ban cryptocurrency-related advertisements on its core advertisement platforms.
The conference has also been attended by former US SEC Commissioner Annette Nazareth, former Guns n’ Roses drummer Matt Sorum, former CFTC chair Jim Newsome, and other prominent figures.
Sorum, who now works at concert-hosting platform Artbit, said that blockchain technology feels ‘rebellious’ and ‘very rock and roll.’ He stated: “A user should be able to own content in a way that rewards the artist. When the blockchain came along, I said, this can happen. And the way it will work is through smart contracts.”
Annette Nazareth said that regulators are aware of blockchain being a ‘tremendous opportunity.’ Jim Newsome agreed that regulators are heading in the right direction. He said: “We are still in the early stages of this technology’s development. We’re in the first inning of a very long ball game. So we need to be careful not to rush regulators too much. Because typically when you rush regulators, they tend to get it wrong.”
Neha Narula, director of the Digital Currency Initiative at MIT Media Lab, supported Brin and said that zero-knowledge proofs — one of the most fascinating blockchain solutions in the near future.