The following open letter was written by Dan Boneh (Stanford), Joseph Bonneau (Nyu), Giulia Fanti (Carnegie Mellon), Ben Fisch (Yale), Ari Juels (Cornell), Farinaz Koushanfar (UC San Diego), Andrew Miller (University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign), Camac Moalemi (Col Diegia) Tow Miller (University of Illinois in Urbana Champaign) (Stanford), Pramod Viswanath (Princeton).
Here is a question with more choices.
Algorand, Arbitum, Avalanche, Axelar, Babylon, Cardano, Cosmos, Eigenlayer, Espresso, Flashbots, Oasis, Starware, Sui.
Byzantine fault-tolerant (BFT) protocols, digital signatures, formal verification, maximum extractable value (MEV), public-key cryptography, proof of work, rollups, trusted execution environments (tees) used in blockchain systems; zero-knowledge-proof systems.
Which of the following applies to the companies, projects and concepts listed above?
A) They were invented / created by researchers who were employed in or with deep roots in academic institutions.
B) They have burned and transformed crypto / blockchain industry.
C) They demonstrate how significant academic innovation is for the crypto / blockchain industry.
D) all of the above.
The answer is the D. Brotherpart of these innovations happened at universities, largely in the United States.
Crypto and the US Federal Government
Both the White House and the Congress work to support and accelerate innovation and strengthen American dominance in the crypto economy and the blockchain technologies that operate it. The White House has set up the president’s working group in markets for digital asset, while two major legislation, geniuses and stable bills are pending in Congress. There is a crying need for regulatory and regulatory reforms that prioritize and support innovation in crypto while enforcing robust protection for consumers. Efforts to perform these things sensibly are to welcome.
At the same time, however, we are on the verge of seeing massive cuts to academic research funding in the United States. Proposal for the White House for proposals for 2025 includes a reduction of 55% for the National Science Foundation (NSF). Meanwhile, China increased its budget by 10% last year. NSF is the source of most federal funding for research in computer science at US universities. It is the most important source of financing that has driven cryptoinnovations like those on the list above. Companies provide some funding for academic research because it is not product -specific. So defunding of NSF means defunding researchers in the United States – including those who carry cryptoinnovation.
Deviation of the innovation pipeline
We are academic researchers in crypto and represent five US universities. Alongside our teaching, we conduct research and educate Ph.D. -student.
While market capital is a short-term indicator of the crypto industry’s health, the number of PhD students studying Blockchain is a long-term: it reflects the depth of future scientific leadership. This pipeline is already thin. Several of us could not take on new Ph.D. -Students this year because of the uncertain US financing climate. And we’re not alone.
Several of the companies on the list above were founded by former members of our academic groups or by us. If future members of our groups disappear along with scientific funding, they will then successful future founders of Crypto Companies in the US and PhD. -Students not just start businesses. They are also the engine that operates academic and ultimately industrial research that performs brain and labor-intensive work behind the technical innovations leading to faster, more secure blockchains. PhD. -The students in our groups played a key role in creating or moving on in many of the concepts on the other list above. If they disappear, then the breakthroughs they would have brought to the industry.
When we are funded to research and remain at CUSP of innovation in Crypto, we are also better teachers – can equip students with the latest progress. It means stronger technical leaders who are trained in the US
Conclusion
Better regulation and legislation can be a blessing for crypto. But American leadership in crypto will not be secured by politics alone. At the head of cryptoinnovation is science – and American universities have long been its power center.
If you are a farmer trying to secure a strong harvest, it is wise to upgrade your equipment and expand your fields. But if you stop planting seedcorn, no amount of machinery saves the crop.
If you are interested in American management in Krypto, contact your congress representatives and senators. Encourages them to support the research funding that has made US universities Frøbed by global scientific and technical leadership – included blockchain technology.
Authors:
Dan Boneh is a professor of computer science and electrical engineering at Stanford University and advises A16Z Crypto and several projects in the blockchain room.
Joseph Bonneau Is Associate Professor of Computer Science at New York University. He has served as an advisor to Zcash, Algorand, Chia, O (1) Labs and Espresso Systems and as a research partner at A16Z Crypto.
Giulia Fanti Is Angel Jordan Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. She is co -director of the initiative for Cryptocurrencies and contracts (IC3), a member of the Department of Commerce Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board (ISPAB) and a member of the UK Financial Conduct Authority’s Synthetic Data Expert Group (SDEG).
Ben Fisch is assistant in computer science at Yale University. He is co-founder of espresso systems and has advised several prominent crypto projects, including Chia and Filecoin.
Ari Juels is the Weill Family Foundation and Joan and Sanford I. Weill professor at Cornell Tech and a computer science -faculty member at Cornell University. He is also a co-director for the initiative for Cryptocurrencies and contracts (IC3), chief scientist at Chainlink Labs and author of Crypto Thriller-Novel The Oracle.
Farinaz Koushanfar is Nemat-Nasser Endowed Chair Professor of Electric and Computer Technology at the University of California San Diego. She is also the basic co-director of the UCSD Center for Machine Intelligence, Computing and Security (MICs) and a researcher at Chainlink Labs. She is a fellow at ACM, IEEE and the National Academy of Inventors (NAI).
Andrew Miller is an assistant lecturer in electric and computer technique at the University of Illinois in Urbana Champaign. He is also a co-director for flashbots[X]A CO CEO for initiative for Cryptocurrencies and contracts (IC3) and a board member of the Zcash Foundation. He has been an adviser to Cycles, Chainlink, Inco, Clique and PI2.
Ciamac Moallemi Is William von Muefing Professor of Business and Director of Briger Family Digital Finance Lab at the Graduate School of Business at Columbia University. He is also an advisor to several companies in the Blockchain and the Fintech room.
David Tse are Thomas Kailath and Guanghan Xu professor of engineering at Stanford University. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the recipient of the Claude E. Shannon Award in 2017 and IEEE Richard W. Hamming medal in 2019. He is also co-founder of Babylon Bitcoin Staking Protocol, currently located 8.
Pramod Viswanath Is Forrest G. Hamrick professor of engineering at Princeton University. He is a core contributor to Sentient.
