Crypto networks like Bitcoin can fight online identity and trust issues in cyberspace: Michael Saylor

Michael Saylor of MicroStrategy elaborated in an interview on how Bitcoin and other crypto networks can help make digital platforms more secure and prevent various identity scams that occur on them

By Shashank Bhardwaj

Published: May 29, 2023 09:21:10 AM IST

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Executive chairman of MicroStrategy Michael Saylor speaks on stage during Bitcoin Conference 2023 at Miami Beach Convention Center on May 19, 2023 in Miami Beach, Florida. Image: Jason Koerner/Getty Images for Bitcoin Magazine

Executive chairman of MicroStrategy, Michael Saylor has proposed Bitcoin as a potential solution for AI caused cybersecurity issues like deepfakes etc. Sharing the example of robot created social media accounts, Saylor highlighted how in today’s digital world, billions of fake accounts are responsible for spreading hatred among the actual users on these platforms.

MicroStrategy is one of the companies that is currently working on developing encrypted signatures for the purpose of corporate solutions and for social users.

“The risk in cyberspace is I can spin up a billion fake people, and I can create a civil war by having the fake Republicans hate on the fake Democrats, or the real Democrats. Having the fake Democrats hate on the real Republicans," he said while explaining the role of artificial intelligence (AI) and other modern technologies in the rise of deepfakes and other digital crimes which are hard to trace back.

With over three million Twitter followers, Saylor said that nearly 2,000 fake followers get added to his follower base every day. “I literally saw in a matter of one hour, 1500 bot accounts got scrubbed off my account, and they were bots. So, we can no longer live with that status quo,” he continued. According to Saylor, decentralised identities (DIDs) are the perfect solution for the problem of deepfakes and other digital safety problems.

A decentralised identity is one which is independent and self-owned. It facilitates the exchange of data in a secure manner and helps to verify an online identity and personal information.

“If someone wants to launch a billion Twitter bots, that’s going to cost them a billion transactions. By combining the power of cryptography with the power of a decentralised crypto network like Bitcoin, we can bring cost and consequence into cyberspace,” he said.

Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, is also currently in the process of creating a technology for verifying identities online with his crypto project, Worldcoin. Last week, the company even closed a funding round of $115 million in order to build decentralised identification tools.

In March, layer-2 protocol Polygon also launched a decentralised identity solution which is backed by zero-knowledge proofs (ZK proofs). It allows users to verify their identity online by making use of cryptographic techniques. They don’t need to disclose any sensitive personal information that can be passed on or stored with a third party.

The writer is the founder at yMedia. He ventured into crypto in 2013 and is an ETH maximalist. Twitter: @bhardwajshash