Why? He argues that other people shouldn't get awards, but he's willing to take them himself? Honestly, I don't get it. His stance does real harm to young theorists, especially those doing cross-disciplinary research.
But I think this is a minor issue, and don't want to take away from the bigger point, which is the award that he very much deserves.
I think there is a difference between arguing "there shouldn't be as many awards" and being negative about people receiving them. Has he demanded/argued for other people to decline their awards before?
> Very few of these checks were actually cashed, even the largest ones. More often they have been framed and kept as "bragging rights".[4][5]
Cashing a check only removes it from your possession if you hand it in to do so. Banks these days need only a physical scan of a check, e.g. via mobile phone deposit. Why not do both? There's nothing wrong with taking payment for your efforts.
No, doubly efficient IPs do not have much to do with ZCash. deIPs are currently too weak to prove the general NP statements that ZCash requires.
ZCash relies on a different kind of "proof" system: SNARKs.
There's many differences between the two:
a) deIPs assume a computationally unbounded adversary, whereas SNARKs assume a polytime adversary.
b) deIP constructions currently suffice only for a limited class of languages, whereas SNARKs can prove any NP statement.
c) SNARKs have zero knowledge variants, whereas it is not clear how to extend many deIP constructions to be zero knowledge without changing the model (ala https://eprint.iacr.org/2017/305).
d) Most deIPs are interactive proof systems, whereas SNARKs are non-interactive.
Some pre-processing SNARK constructions (particularly ones used by some ZCash scientists) are based on multi-round interactive proof systems which reduce to one round (depending on how you count) when you relax some requirements. Such relaxations include weakening the adversary from being computationally unbounded to polynomial time bounded, forcing the prover and verifier to use a specific set of functions, or restricting what kinds of statements can be proven. Oded's work on efficient interactive proofs contributed to this effort. It is partially this efficiency that helps SNARKs actually be "succinct" and quick to verify.
You should check out some of the citations to Oded's work in https://eprint.iacr.org/2012/718.pdf (which is co-authored by Alessandro Chiesa of ZCash) and see for yourself.
One can construct SNARKs from succinct MIPs, but these are again very different from deIPs. Sure, both SNARKs and deIPs involve highly efficient verifiers, and there is some overlap between the techniques used for succinct MIPs and deIPs, but that's pretty much where the similarities end. Furthermore, MIP based SNARKs are way too inefficient, and definitely not the ones used in Zerocash.
There are no constructions of SNARKs from deIPs, nor vice versa. In particular, one cannot construct laconic IPs at all for NP like languages.
Looks like he does research in theoretical computer science, applied to cryptography. With his academic expertise, what kind of industry jobs would fit his skill sets? He wouldn't fit the typical tech security job.
From his FAQ:
"About My Areas of Non-Expertise (e.g., Applied Cryptography)
I believe that sound practice of Cryptography has to be based on firm theoretical foundations. Still, this necessary condition is not sufficient, and expertise in applied (or practical) aspects of cryptography requires more than understanding of the theoretical foundations of Cryptography. For example, although I consider myself an expert on the theoretical foundations of Cryptography, I have very little knowledge of the applied (or practical) aspects of cryptography. In particular, please do not ask me to evaluate the security of any specific construct.
About Consulting
My above statement of limited knowledge of the applied (or practical) aspects of cryptography means that I'm not the right person to ask for consulting regarding the latter aspect. On top of this, I am not interested at all in consulting to or being involved in any commercial enterprise. My main reason is my unwillingness to make any commitment to spend time on anything other than my research and personal interests. Unfortunately, for lack of time, I properly pursue only a tiny part of my research and personal interests, and I have no intentions of making this part even smaller."
