Eli Ben-Sasson | Founder of StarkWare: Scaling Blockchain with Zero-Knowledge

Eli Ben-Sasson, the co-founder and President of StarkWare, shares insights into his journey into the Web3 space, the challenges of blockchain scalability, and how StarkWare is working to onboard the next billion users onto the blockchain. StarkWare is pioneering the use of zero-knowledge proof technology to compress data, addressing some of the fundamental scalability issues that blockchains face today.

Before co-founding StarkWare, Eli's academic career was marked by notable achievements, including earning a Ph.D. under Abel Prize laureate Avi Wigderson. He then completed his postdoctoral work at both MIT and Harvard, focusing on probabilistically checkable proofs (PCPs). It was during the 2013 Bitcoin conference that Eli first realized how his research could contribute to solving critical problems in blockchain technology.

Today, StarkWare stands at the forefront of blockchain innovation, with three groundbreaking technologies that are reshaping the space and driving its future forward. But Eli sees one of the greatest challenges ahead: maintaining the decentralization of blockchain. "Whenever a system becomes valuable, there are always parties that benefit and seek to consolidate control. The essence of blockchain and Web3 lies in resisting that centralization and ensuring the distribution of power across society. It's a challenge we have yet to fully solve, but it's critical for the long-term future of the technology," Eli explains.

In this in-depth conversation with hosts Kenzi Nakamura, Sachi Tanaka, and Diksha Mehra, Eli delves into StarkWare's journey, the potential of zero-knowledge proofs, and his vision for the future of Web3. Join them as they explore how scaling blockchain with zero-knowledge proofs can unlock the next era of decentralized innovation.