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 Urban AT Urbana Champaign) Ciamac Moallemi (Columbia), David Tse (Stanford), Pramin Viswanath (Princeton).
Here is a multiple choice question.
Algorand, arbitrum, avalanche, axlar, Babylon, Cardano, Cosmos, Eigenlayer, Espresso, Flashbots, Oasis, Starkware, Sui.
Tolerant Byzantine fault protocols (BFT), digital signatures, formal verification, maximum removable value (MEV), public key cryptography, work tests, rolls, confidence execution environments (TEE) used in blockchain systems, verifiable random functions (VRFS), zero knowledge test systems.
Which of the following is true for the companies, projects and concepts listed above?
A) They were invented / created by researchers used in or with deep roots in academic institutions.
B) They have fed and transformed the cryptographic industry / blockchain.
C) They demonstrate how essential academic innovation for the cryptographic industry / blockchain.
D) All of the above.
The answer is D. The part of the lion of these innovations occurred in universities, largely in the United States.
Crypt and the Federal Government of the United States
Both the White House and Congress are working to support and accelerate innovation and reinforce US dominance in the cryptographic economy and blockchain technologies that drive it. The White House has established the presidential working group in digital asset markets, while two major legislation, genius and stable bill, are pending in Congress. There is a need for crying of regulatory and legislative reforms that prioritize and support cryptography innovation while making solid protections for consumers. The efforts to achieve these things are applauded with sense.
At the same time, however, we are on the verge of seeing mass cuts for the financing of academic research in the United States. The White House Budget proposal by 2025 includes a 55% cut for the National Science Foundation (NSF). Meanwhile, China increased its budget by 10% last year. NSF is the source of most federal funds for computer research in American universities. It is the main source of financing that has promoted cryptographic innovations such as those in the previous list. Companies provide few funds for academic research because it is not specific to the product. Therefore, NSF breakup means defining scientists in the United States, including the main cryptographic innovation.
Discouraged from the innovation pipe
We are academic researchers in the field of cryptography, representing five American universities. Together with our teaching, we conduct research and train doctoral students.
While the market limit is a short -term health indicator of the cryptographic industry, the number of doctoral students studying blockchain is long -term: it reflects the depth of future scientific leadership. That pipe is already thinning. Several of us could not assume new doctoral students this year due to the uncertain financing climate of the United States. And we are not alone.
Several of the companies in the previous list were co -founded by former members of our academic groups or for us. If the future members of our groups disappear together with scientific financing, so will the future founders of cryptographic companies in the US students and doctorate will not only start companies. They are also the engine that drives academic research and, ultimately, of industry, doing intensive work in the brain and work behind the technical innovations that lead to more safe and safer blockchains. Doctoral students in our groups played a key role in the creation or progress in many of the concepts in the second previous list. If they disappear, so will the progress they would have brought to the industry.
When we are funded to investigate and remain at the cusp of cryptography innovation, we are also better teachers, since they can equip students with the latest advances. That means stronger technical leaders educated in the United States
Conclusion
Better regulation and legislation could be a blessing for cryptography. But American leadership in cryptography will not be insured only by politics. At the forefront of cryptographic innovation is science, and American universities have long been their power.
If you are a farmer who tries to ensure a strong harvest, it is advisable to improve your team and expand your fields. But if you stop planting seed scarf, no amount of machinery will save the crop.
If you care about cryptography leadership, communicate with your representatives and senators of Congress. Inside them to support the research funds that have turned American universities into the seed leadership of the global scientific and technical leadership: Blockchain technology included.
Authors:
Give boneh He is a computer and electrical engineering professor at Stanford University, and advises A16z Crypto and several projects in the Blockchain space.
Joseph Bonneau He is an associate professor of computer science at the University of New York. He has served as an advisor to ZCash, Algorand, Chia, or (1) Labs and Systems of Espresso and as a research partner in A16z Crypto.
Giulia Fanti He is the associate professor of Electrical Engineering of Angel Jordan at the Carnegie Mellon University. She is co -director of the cryptocurrency and contracts initiative (IC3), a member of the Information and Privacy Safety Council of the Department of Commerce (ISPAB) and member of the group of synthetic data experts of the United Kingdom Financial Financial Behavior Authority (SDEG).
Ben Fisch He is an assistant computer professor at Yale University. He is co -founder of Espresso Systems and has advised several prominent cryptographic projects, including Chia and Filecoin.
ARI BEELS It is the Weill and Joan Family and Sanford I. Weill professor at Cornell Tech and a member of the Faculty of Computer Science of the University of Cornell. He is also co -director of the cryptocurrency and contracts initiative (IC3), chief scientist of Chainlink Labs and author of Crypto Thriller Novel The Oracle.
Farinaz Koushanfar He is the president of Nemat-Nanser, professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of California, San Diego. She is also a founding co -director of the UCSD Center for Intelligence, Informatics and Security (MIC) of Machine Machine, and a research scientist at Chainlink Labs. She is a member of ACM, IEEE and the National Inventors Academy (NAI).
Andrew Miller He is an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Illinois in Urbano Champaign. He is also a flashbots co -director[X]An initiative co -director for cryptocurrencies and contracts (IC3), and a member of the ZCASH Foundation Board. He has been an advisor to Cycles, Chainlink, Inc, Clique and Pi2.
Ciamac Moallemi He is the business professor at William Von Mueffling and the director of the Briger Family Digital Finance Laboratory at the Graduate Business School of Columbia University. He is also an advisor to several companies in the Blockchain and Fintech space.
David Tse He is the engineering professor at Thomas Kailath and Guanghan Xu at Stanford University. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and Receiver of the Claude E. Shannon Prize in 2017 and the IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal in 2019. He is also co -founder of the Bitlon Bitcoin state protocol, currently occupied the eighth place on TVL (total blocked value) among all defi protocols.
PRMOD VISWANATH He is the engineering professor at Forrest G. Hamrick at Princeton University. He is a central taxpayer to Sentient.
