Blockchain research

CMU researchers are focusing on four main themes of blockchain research.

Economics and policy

• Blockchain economics research includes looking at the economics of using blockchain technology for various applications, and the regulations and public policy that may shape how the technology is used.
• Researchers working on this: Nicolas Christin, Giulia Fanti, Seth Goldstein, Ramayya Krishnan, Bryan Routledge, Martin Saint, Param Vir Singh, Ariel Zetlin-Jones

 

 

Cryptography, security and anonymity

• The cryptography and mathematics that goes behind the core design of a Blockchain, including the techniques to protect data posted on the Blockchain as well as the identities of those involved.
• Researchers working on this: Nicolas Christin, Giulia Fanti, Vipul Goyal, Mike McCarthy, Bryan Parno, Corina Pasareanu, Elaine Shi, Patrick Tague

 

 

 

Programming languages

• Research in programming languages aims to develop tools and techniques to analyze new and existing smart contracts; improve existing smart-contract languages, and even design new ones, all with the goal of ensuring that smart contract users can effectively write contracts that behave securely and correctly.
• Researchers working on this: Jonathan Aldrich, Karl Crary, Jan Hoffman, Brad Myers, Corina Pasareanu, Joshua Sunshine

 

 

 

Systems

• This includes understanding the transaction patterns and security vulnerabilities in the Blockchain implementations.
• Researchers working on this: David Andersen, Tim Brown, Yang Cai, Soummya Kar, Hyong Kim, Mike McCarthy, Bryan Parno, Patrick Tague, Osman Yagan