Concern about Russian influence over blockchain standards

As reported earlier, the International Standards Organisation (ISO) is working on a set of standards for blockchain that includes privacy and security. Meetings to discuss potential standards involve delegates from many countries. Yesterday the New York Times reported that at the last meeting in Tokyo, Russia had a delegation of four, three of whom allegedly work for Russia’s F.S.B, the successor to the K.G.B. The article quoted a delegate as hearing one of the Russians saying “The internet belonged to America. The blockchain will belong to the Russians.” A second delegate remembered a very similar quote. But if Russia had these intentions, would they voice them at an ISO meeting? Or are these comments part of the game?

Cryptography

The concern is that one country could push their preferred cryptographic algorithms to be the standard, potentially creating so-called backdoors to spy on blockchain activity. Cryptographic algorithms are peer-reviewed for many years before adoption. So it’s not likely that some unknown methodology will be adopted. There are also a number of cryptographic standards bodies. One of the better-known ones is the US government’s NIST.

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