What is Multi-party computation (MPC)

What is MPC?

Multi-party computation (MPC) is a technique used in cryptography to allow multiple parties to compute a function together without revealing their individual inputs to each other. This allows the parties to securely compute a result while keeping their inputs private.

The history of MPC can be traced back to the early 1980s, when researchers first began exploring the concept of secure multi-party computation. In 1985, two researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, Andrew Yao and Mihir Bellare, published a paper titled "Theoretical Foundations of Secure Multi-Party Computation" that laid the theoretical foundations for MPC.

Since then, MPC has been widely studied and developed by researchers in the fields of cryptography, computer science, and mathematics. In the early 2000s, several practical MPC protocols were developed that could be used in real-world applications, leading to the widespread adoption of MPC in many different fields.

Today, MPC is used in a wide range of applications, including finance, healthcare, voting systems, and secure communication. In finance, MPC is used to enable secure collaboration between parties while maintaining the privacy of individual assets. In healthcare, MPC is used to enable secure collaboration between researchers while preserving the privacy of individual patient data. In voting systems, MPC is used to enable secure and transparent voting without revealing individual votes. And in secure communication, MPC is used to enable secure messaging without revealing the contents of the messages.

The idea behind MPC and its benefits

The idea behind MPC is that each party has a part of the input data, and the goal is to compute a function using all of the input data without any party learning the input of any other party. To achieve this, the parties use specialized protocols and algorithms to compute the function in a way that guarantees the privacy of each party's input.

One of the key benefits of MPC is that it allows parties with sensitive data to collaborate and compute a result without exposing their data to each other. This is useful in many applications, such as finance, healthcare, and voting systems, where the privacy of individual data is important.

MPC can also be used to enable secure communication between parties. For example, two parties can use MPC to encrypt a message so that only the intended recipient can decrypt it, without either party learning the contents of the message.

There are several different types of MPC protocols, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. The most common type is called secure multi-party computation (sMPC), which provides strong security guarantees and is suitable for many applications.

How is Multi-party computation (MPC) being used in enterprise custody

Multi-party computation (MPC) is being used in enterprise custody to enable secure and transparent management of assets. In this context, MPC is used to allow multiple parties, such as custodians, asset managers, and regulators, to compute and verify the state of assets without revealing the details of individual assets to each other.

For example, a custodian may use MPC to compute the total value of assets under its custody without revealing the specific assets or their values to other parties. Asset managers can use MPC to verify the correctness of the custodian's computation without learning the details of the assets. Regulators can use MPC to audit the assets without revealing the details of individual assets or the specific custodian being audited.

In this way, MPC enables secure and transparent management of assets in enterprise custody, allowing multiple parties to collaborate and verify the state of assets without compromising the privacy of individual assets. This provides a strong foundation for ensuring the security and integrity of assets in the custody of enterprises.