Paraphrasing some relayed information related to this nomination:
Taylor’s known for security work, giving free mini-audits to free / open source software projects, and helped Least Authority to audit Ethereum before launch. Taylor found a critical vulnerability in the Zerocash protocol prior to Zcash’s launch, and has worked at the Electric Coin Co. (ECC) over the years, inventing Zcash and keeping it secure.
Namada’s privacy functionality comes from its “multi-asset shielded pool,” or MASP, which is based on Zcash’s Sapling circuit. Namada also intends to bridge beyond just Ethereum, but also to the Zcash ecosystem.
Taylor recently left the ECC and and is now the Zcash Community’s full-time, “independent security ronin.”
“Open source hero—author of Buildbot, Tahoe-LAFS, and Magic Wormhole. He was the founding engineer at Agoric.”
Buildbot is “a build/test automation system which helps software projects perform builds or run unit tests every time the codebase is changed.” Buildbot success stories
Brian has said that he wrote the majority of the code in Tahoe-LAFS, a Free and Open decentralized cloud storage system. It distributes your data across multiple servers [while] preserving your privacy and security.
a simple tool to move files from one computer to another, like “scp” but without the setup. By telling the recipient just a few secret words, the file is safely encrypted and delivered directly to the correct machine. The talk will explain the security mechanics, the cryptography (NaCl and SPAKE2), and how to use the underlying open-source library in your own applications.
“One of the greatest computer scientist of all time discovering better ways of providing privacy/security/decentralization, probably the longest-serving scientist in those fields who is still working today. He’s now the Chief Scientist at Agoric.”
Mark has a long history of contributions to secure open systems:
Gabriel Shapiro identified J.W. Verret when I asked for the most underrated privacy advocates/contributors
J.W. Verret is launching Crypto Freedom Lab “as a new non-profit dedicated to fighting for the rights of crypto users and builders that are being threatened by government regulation.”
“He is a cryptographer who has twice discovered a mathematical insight that changed the world. The first was that he discovered the mathematical flaw in the first zkp ever deployed — Zcash Sprout — and the second was that he discovered (with Zac Williamson and others) PLONK, which is used in almost all modern zkps including Zcash Halo.”
According to LinkedIn, Tomas Sander is currently ’ Technical Program Manager, Privacy at Google’:
"I’m passionate about advancing Privacy by Design methodologies and making Privacy by Design work for a broader range of organizations. I co-led a breakout session on PbD at the IAPP Privacy. Security. Risk. 2019 Conference. "
