1 month ago
Leemon Baird archetypal published his enactment connected hashgraph consensus successful 2016, positioning it arsenic an alternate to accepted blockchain architectures. With a inheritance successful machine subject and a vocation spanning some academia and industry, Baird co-founded Hedera to commercialize the technology.
His world trajectory is notable for his aboriginal enactment successful neural networks and reinforcement learning during the 1990s, a play erstwhile AI probe was navigating what would aboriginal beryllium called the "AI winter." Since then, the Hedera task has evolved successful a scenery crowded with competing distributed ledger approaches, each claiming method superiority and targeting antithetic segments of the market.
Baird, a talker astatine Consensus 2025, transitions easy betwixt method explanations and concern strategy, reflecting the dual challenges of gathering some a caller exertion and a viable ecosystem astir it.
This interrogation has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.
CoinDesk: Your hashgraph algorithm emerged successful 2016, during a play erstwhile galore alternate statement mechanisms were being proposed. What method limitations of earlier approaches were you specifically trying to address?
Baird: I emotion machine subject and the mathematics broadside of it—inventing things and solving problems. When I became an entrepreneur 25 years ago, it was the aforesaid process. The halfway of what I ever bash is trying to recognize the cardinal occupation we're trying to solve. What is the existent question? What are we truly trying to accomplish? And past you physique connected that and lick that problem. In blockchain, the cardinal question I asked was: Bitcoin is cool, but it's dilatory and not arsenic unafraid arsenic it could beryllium with ABFT [Asynchronous Byzantine Fault Tolerance]. It burns a batch of vigor and isn't arsenic flexible arsenic we mightiness want. I wondered if, astatine the precise bottommost furniture successful the statement itself, determination mightiness beryllium a mode to debar burning tons of vigor portion inactive being accelerated and secure. Is it imaginable to execute ABFT—the strongest benignant of security—while besides being ace accelerated and not burning energy oregon dumping c into the atmosphere?
I started moving connected this successful 2012 arsenic 1 of galore mathematics problems I was exploring. Initially, I was convinced it couldn't beryllium done. I'd prime up the problem, play with it, and person myself it was impossible—over and implicit again. But successful 2015, I realized that by throwing successful 2 hashes, abruptly it each falls into place. You tin person eventual speed—essentially astatine the velocity of the internet—while besides having eventual information with ABFT. And it's impervious of stake, truthful you don't discarded electricity.
From a concern perspective, the question was: what is the close mode to govern this? When we look astatine blockchains, they often claim, "We won't person immoderate governance. Anyone tin assistance bash it." But powerfulness implicit clip tin consolidate—you extremity up with a fistful of developers oregon radical down the scenes controlling everything.
With Hedera, we started differently. We made governance decentralized from the precise beginning. We brought successful immoderate of the biggest organizations successful the world—top universities and businesses dispersed globally that radical spot and that person reputations to protect. They equilibrium each other, creating checks and balances, and unneurotic they govern the system.
It was astir addressing the cardinal question: what bash you truly privation successful governance? What volition springiness you existent trustlessness, oregon astatine slightest a little barroom of spot needed to afloat spot the system? That was our answer—approaching concern questions with the aforesaid rigor arsenic mathematical ones.
CoinDesk: You've mentioned RWA tokenization, c credits, and stablecoins arsenic cardinal usage cases. These are areas wherever astir each large blockchain is focusing. What circumstantial implementations connected Hedera person demonstrated meaningful transaction volumes oregon idiosyncratic adoption?
Baird: I would item 4 cardinal areas:
First, AI is highly breathtaking close now. The dangers of AI are besides concerning, which is wherefore we request to found provenance, governance, and mentation power for AIs. People request to cognize if they tin spot what's happening. Hedera helps with AI successful aggregate ways, including permissioning information and perchance handling royalties for radical providing grooming data. The enactment that EQTY Lab is doing with NVIDIA and Intel connected Hedera is peculiarly exciting.
Second, real-world plus tokenization is transforming however we grip invaluable assets. We person galore projects tokenizing existent estate, gold, diamonds, c credits, and adjacent c emissions connected Hedera. From the opening of blockchain technology, I've maintained that what's important isn't pictures of monkeys oregon games—it's that each things of worth connected the satellite volition yet beryllium enactment onto these ledgers.
Third, stablecoins are indispensable if you privation real-world adoption. We've created a Stable Coin Studio to marque stablecoin improvement casual connected Hedera. The Hedera Council includes galore fiscal institutions doing awesome enactment with stablecoins.
Fourth, immutable information records are astir unsocial to Hedera done our Hedera Consensus Service. This allows messages to beryllium sent to topics with entree controls and immutable recording. Companies similar Hyundai and Kia usage this for emissions tracking passim their proviso chain.
CoinDesk: UCL's research connected vigor depletion compared assorted networks, but methodology matters importantly successful these comparisons. Proof-of-stake systems mostly person akin profiles, with differences coming down to node number and hardware requirements. Does Hedera's attack disagree fundamentally from different PoS networks, oregon is the ratio chiefly from the existent web configuration?
Baird: We've been thoughtful astir vigor depletion from the precise beginning. Everything—from our algorithms to however nodes are tally and governed, and the information that we usage impervious of involvement alternatively of impervious of work—laid the instauration for debased emissions from time one.
This created a virtuous cycle. Early adopters looking to tokenize c credits chose the greenish blockchain. Then, radical who wanted to tokenize emissions and credits wanted to usage the aforesaid blockchain wherever everyone other was doing akin work. This flywheel effect has made Hedera possibly the astir fashionable blockchain successful the greenish exertion space.
According to University College London, Hedera has the lowest c emissions per transaction of immoderate blockchain. We besides acquisition c credits to beryllium c negative. Being greenish was baked into our operation from the start, which is wherefore we've go a person successful this area.
CoinDesk: We're seeing a batch of projects attempting to harvester AI and blockchain technologies. Given the antithetic computational paradigms these systems run under, what realistic integration points bash you spot beyond the selling narratives?
Baird: The intersection of AI and blockchain is much important than astir radical realize. On Hedera, we're seeing existent traction successful respective areas:
Providence and governance is critical. As we participate a satellite wherever everything volition beryllium AI-generated, we request to cognize we tin spot the AI. This requires integer signatures to verify origins—whether quality oregon AI-created.
Data permissioning is different important intersection. When thousands of radical lend tiny amounts of information to bid an AI, each idiosyncratic needs power implicit their data—the quality to springiness oregon retreat permission.
Looking forward, I'm astir excited astir utilizing Hedera for individuality and incorporating individuality into AI systems. We're reaching a constituent wherever you can't separate AI-generated media from reality. The lone solution is integer signatures—content needs to beryllium signed by the lensman oregon reporter. But past you request trusted individuality systems to verify those signatures.
CoinDesk: Having studied neural networks successful the 1990s, agelong earlier the existent AI boom, what's your position connected today's ample connection models? Has thing fundamentally changed successful the technology, oregon are we conscionable seeing the results of scale?
Baird: Many AI developments person unfolded precisely arsenic I expected. When AlphaGo defeated the world's Go champion, erstwhile AlphaZero mastered chess, erstwhile AIs conquered poker—I had anticipated each of it. They adjacent utilized astir the aforesaid techniques I'd envisioned. We simply needed faster computers.
Self-driving cars, too, are progressing precisely arsenic I predicted, utilizing the methods I foresaw.
But ChatGPT and Large Language Models (LLMs) person utterly astonished me. The transformer architecture from 2017—described successful the insubstantial "Attention is All You Need"—represented a breakthrough that nary 1 could person anticipated. Back successful the 90s, we were wholly stumped by connection processing—trying assorted approaches, but failing astatine each turn.
The capabilities of today's LLMs inactive astound me, and their aboriginal remains unpredictable. Will they scope superintelligence? Or volition they deed a ceiling? I don't know—and I'd contend that cipher does.
Humanoid robots person besides surpassed expectations. While their carnal improvement has matched my predictions, their conversational abilities—powered by LLMs—have acold exceeded what I imagined possible. In the coming years, they'll statesman with basal mill enactment earlier advancing to skilled trades similar welding, plumbing, and electrical work.
These technological advances volition marque the Industrial Revolution look insignificant successful comparison. Most radical haven't grasped the magnitude of these changes oregon however rapidly they're approaching.
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