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| Age | 51 |
| Place of birth | U.K. |
| Place of residence | Malta |
| Category | Developers |
| Alma mater | University of Exeter |
| Known for | Inventing Hashcash PoW, contributing to BTC Core |
Biography:
Adam Back is a cryptographer and one of the founding fathers of “Bitcoin-like” cryptocurrencies, developing Hashcash in 1997. He has become a major reference source in Bitcoin development, going on to co-found blockchain tech company Blockstream in 2014. Back’s work was one of the eight references Satoshi Nakamoto wrote in the original Bitcoin white paper.
Adam Back's 2019:
Since the launch of Blockstream’s federated sidechain, Liquid, in late 2018, the company has been working on expanding the network’s capabilities, such as enabling confidential transactions, integrating the Lightning Network, conducting atomic swaps between chains, and issuing custom assets. In early December, Dubai-based exchange BTSE announced plans to raise $50 million in a token offering slated for March 2020, bringing the Bitcoin-centric company into direct competition with established asset-issuance platforms like Ethereum.
What Cointelegraph expects for 2020:
Being a culmination of Blockstream’s research and development into Bitcoin sidechains, Liquid will likely see more integrations with existing blockchain networks and more activity in the realm of private and/or Lightning transactions. Liquid will also likely work to dethrone Ethereum as the go-to platform for digital asset issuance.