What Is Multi-Party Computation?
Multi-party computation (MPC) is a cryptographic mechanism that distributes computation operations across several parties where no singular entity can see the other parties’ data.
Data scientists often use MPCs to perform joint data analysis without ever sharing them.
Empowering Privacy
MPC is a research area in the blockchain sphere with a specific implementation restricted to preserving the privacy of parties within a system, where all participants are capable to arrive at a mutually desired result without the need for any participants in transactions or operations to disclose personal or private data.
Unveiling the Potential of Additive Secret Sharing
Despite having several use cases, an MPC mechanism is best utilized in scenarios where stakeholders within a company seek to calculate their average salary without ever divulging their private salary information to each other or a trusted third party during the computation process.
The technology behind MPC leverages a well-established concept within the blockchain known as additive secret sharing, basically the division of a secret and its distribution among a group of independent, willing participants.
Enhancing DeFi Security
The same goes for public key cryptography and encryption.
Within DeFi, public keys can be divided into multiple pieces and managed by multiple parties, enhancing security.
MPC technology allows for cryptographic keys to be divided, where no single key fragment holder can access the encrypted database without the presence of all other key holders.
Distributed Digital Signatures
Multiple holders can validate digital asset transactions by creating a digital signature via private keys.
In general, transactions only become valid when all parties of the MPC group are legitimate.
After which, the MPC solution would distribute generated signature(s) among multiple members in the ecosystem, thereby ensuring the safety of the transaction.