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
Join us!
Is your company or organization interested in working with our researchers on blockchain? Let us know by contacting Michael Lisanti.