The Stanford Center for
Blockchain Research

Mission

The Center for Blockchain Research (CBR) is a focused research effort on crypto-currencies and blockchain technologies. The center brings together engineering, law, and economics faculty, as well as post-docs, students, and visitors, to work on technical challenges in the field. The center's primary mission is to support the thriving ecosystem by developing new technologies needed to advance the field. Beyond its research mission, the center runs an extensive education and outreach program, including on-campus courses, MOOCs, workshops, and conferences for the general blockchain community.

News

New Research

Blockchain Seminar

Pieter Wuille, of Bitcoin fame, will speak on Sep. 27 about Taproot and Graftroot, new developments in Bitcoin.

Learn more ...

Conference

The 3rd Stanford Blockchain Conference (SBC) will take place on Jan. 30 - Feb. 1st, 2019. The call for papers is out! Please submit talk proposals.

Learn more ...

Faculty

  • Dan Boneh   (co-director)
    Motwani Professor of Computer science. Works on cryptography for blockchains and cryptocurrencies. Learn more ...
  • Alex Aiken
    Tencent chair of Computer Science. Tools for verification.
  • Joe Grundfest
    Professor of Law and Business, former SEC Commissioner. Regulation of crypto and ICOs.
  • Laurie Hodrick
    A. Barton Hepburn Professor Emerita of Business. Blockchains and next generation financial services.
  • David Mazières   (co-director)
    Professor of Computer Science. Works on consensus, core blockchain abstractions, and applications to computer security.
  • David Dill
    Knuth Professor of Computer Science, emeritus. Verification of smart contracts.
  • John Mitchell
    Mary and Gordon Crary Family Professor of Computer Science. Programming languages for blockchains and smart contracts.
  • Tim Roughgarden
    Professor of Computer Science. Game theory and mechanism design for open consensus protocols.

Education and Outreach Events

Education

  • CS251: Cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies. Fall 2018. The course covers decentralized applications, consensus protocols, cryptography, and security used in different blockchain systems. The course is intended for advanced undergraduate Computer Science students as well as graduate students.
  • CS255: Cryptography. Winter 2019. The course is an undergraduate introduction to cryptography and its correct use in real world systems. The course is intended for advanced undergraduates and graduate students.
  • MOOC: Free online cryptography course open to the public. The course provides an overview of cryptography and its correct use in real world systems. The course is self contained.
  • Textbook: Free online graduate textbook on applied cryptography. The textbook draft covers all things cryptographic.

Outreach Events

  • The Stanford Blockchain Conference

    Following the success of the first two Stanford blockchain conferences in 2017 and 2018, the third conference will take place on Jan. 30 - Feb. 1st, 2019 at Stanford University.

    More info ...
  • Blockchain Seminar

    A monthly seminar on the latest projects and blockchain research. The seminar is open to the public.

    More info ...
  • The Real-World Cryptography conference

    RWC 2019 will take place on Jan. 9-11, 2019. The conference covers new developments in real-world applications of cryptography.

    More info ...

Student Blockchain Organizations on Campus

Research

The center's research mission is focused on technical aspects of cryptocurrencies and blockchains. We work on research topics that support the thriving ecosystem of projects.

Check out the center's research page.

Sponsors

The center is supported by the leading projects and funds in the space.

Ethereum Foundation
Protocol Labs
Interchain Foundation
OmiseGO
Dfinity
Polychain