The blockchain and cryptocurrency space cannot consider itself mature until the day its regulators are able to read and audit code, Ava Labs CEO and founder Emin Gün Sirer told attendees of the annual Cornell Blockchain conference.

Crypto, particularly in the U.S., is in the gunsights of regulators following the collapse of FTX and other calamities that befell the space in 2022. But even the most draconian of clampdowns will not crush crypto, Gün Sirer said.

Several areas, Gün Sirer said, need to improve in order to get the next billion users into crypto, such as scalability, ease of use and adaptability. However, when asked about the feasibility of the secret sharing technology known as zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) to reach that scale, he was skeptical.

(by Nick Baker)