ICP Founder Accuses NEAR of Violating Signature Technology Rights

Internet Computer founder Dominic Williams accused the NEAR blockchain of using patented technology without proper authorization.

The dispute concerns the Chain Signatures component, which allows the NEAR network to sign transactions in other blockchains, including Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Williams claims that a key part of this system is built on threshold signature technology (threshold ECDSA) developed by DFINITY cryptographers Jens Groth and Victor Shoup.

According to him, this scheme works approximately three times faster than alternatives, and the license for its use belongs exclusively to Internet Computer.

Some facts about the dispute

• NEAR has been using the technology for about 2.5 years.
• Implementation was driven by a specialist fired from DFINITY in summer 2021.
• The company cites scientific papers and GitHub records as evidence.
• NEAR is currently transitioning to a slower scheme with three rounds of data exchange.

Details of the accusation were published in an article by Dominic Williams on X.