Eli Ben-Sasson

Ben-Sasson received his PhD in theoretical computer science from the Hebrew University in 2001 and has researched cryptographic and zero-knowledge proofs of computational integrity ever since. He held research positions at Harvard UniversityHarvard UniversityHarvard University is a private research university in Massachusetts, established by the Massachusetts Bay Colony legislature in 1636 and named in 1639 for early benefactor John Harvard. Its principal campuses are in Cambridge and the Allston and Longwood neighborhoods of Boston. It includes Harvard College, graduate and professional schools, and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Two governing boards share oversight. Alan M. Garber was president as of October 2026, and the endowment stood at $56.9 billion at the end of fiscal 2025.Open the full entry, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Institute for Advanced Study, and later became a professor of computer science at the Technion. He has published dozens of peer-reviewed papers in theoretical computer science.⁠[1][1][2]

In 2014, Ben-Sasson, Alessandro Chiesa, Christina Garman, Matthew Green, Ian Miers, Eran Tromer and Madars Virza published “Zerocash: Decentralized Anonymous Payments from Bitcoin,” presenting at the IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy a decentralized anonymous payment scheme that uses zk-SNARKs to hide a payment’s origin, destination and amount. The Zerocash protocol was then developed into the cryptocurrency Zcash; Ben-Sasson was one of the founding scientists of the Zcash Company and also describes himself as a Zcash cofounder.⁠[3][3][3][3][1][4]

In spring 2017, Ben-Sasson was a visiting scientist in the Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing’s pseudorandomness program. In January 2018, he, Iddo Bentov, Yinon Horesh and Michael Riabzev published “Scalable, transparent, and post-quantum secure computational integrity,” reporting the first realization of a transparent zero-knowledge system — requiring no trusted party — whose verification scales exponentially faster than the data size, called ZK-STARK; the paper’s proof of concept had police prove to the public that a presidential candidate’s DNA profile was not in their forensic database. He is also a co-inventor of the FRI protocol.⁠[1][5][5][5][5][1]

In 2018, Ben-Sasson left the Technion and co-founded StarkWare with Alessandro Chiesa, Michael Riabzev and Uri Kolodny to provide scaling and privacy solutions for blockchains based on STARK proofs. Kolodny initially served as CEO, while Ben-Sasson was president and chairman of the board. In fall 2019, he was a visiting scientist and one of the organizers of the Simons Institute program “Proofs, ConsensusConsensusConsensus is an annual cryptocurrency, blockchain, and Web3 industry conference hosted by the crypto media outlet CoinDesk (not the consensus mechanism of a blockchain). It was first held in New York in 2015 and later moved to Austin and Toronto; a Hong Kong edition was added from 2025, and since 2026 the main conference has been held in Miami.Open the full entry, and Decentralizing Society.”⁠[1][6][6][1][1]

In November 2021, StarkWare closed a $50 million Series C led by Sequoia Capital at a $2 billion valuation; Ben-Sasson said at the time that StarkWare handled the largest throughput among layer-2 solutions, having settled over $200 billion and more than 50 million transactions. In May 2022, the company raised a $100 million Series D at an $8 billion valuation; asked about the valuation, Ben-Sasson said, “Pricing is a function of supply and demand, exactly like apartments in Tel Aviv.”⁠[7][7][7][7][8][8]

In November 2022, the nonprofit Starknet Foundation was established, and Ben-Sasson became one of the seven members of its initial board. In his statement, he said Starknet had started as a StarkWare-centric effort and grown into a rapidly expanding layer-2 ecosystem, and that Starknet should not be ruled by any single party.⁠[9][9][9][9]

Fifteen minutes before claiming of the STRK token airdrop opened on February 20, 2024, Ben-Sasson, by then StarkWare’s CEO, posted that he was grateful to the ecosystem that had gathered around the vision of “Integrity via Math” and anxious about the technical load the claims would create. Before the airdrop, responding to criticism of the unlock schedule for early contributors and investors, he had said this was an aspect in which “we may be non-standard” but that “we build different”; after StarkWare switched to a gradual monthly unlock on February 22, he posted that the company had listened to concerns about the long-term alignment of StarkWare with the Starknet ecosystem and believed trust is earned with actions.⁠[10][10][10][10][11][11][11][11]

In 2024, Kolodny stepped down as CEO for personal reasons, and Ben-Sasson has held the role since.⁠[12][12][13]

During Network SchoolNetwork SchoolNetwork School is a residential startup community founded in 2024 by Balaji Srinivasan, in which members live on a shared campus while learning technology, working out and working remotely; it is seen as a testbed for his “network state” concept. It was first based in Forest City, Johor, Malaysia, and moved to Astana, Kazakhstan, after its local business licence was revoked in July 2026. It also hosts the annual Network State Conference.Open the full entry’s first cohort in Malaysia in the fourth quarter of 2024, Ben-Sasson was one of the visiting guest lecturers.⁠[14][14][14]

In February 2026, StarkWare announced that quantum computing expert Scott Aaronson had joined its scientific advisory board; Ben-Sasson said this aligned closely with the company’s commitment to researching the effects of post-quantum computing on blockchains and to helping Bitcoin become post-quantum secure. In April, StarkWare laid off dozens of employees and shifted its focus from infrastructure and research to revenue-generating products, leaving about 170 employees after the restructuring.⁠[15][15][15][12][12][12]

On May 12, 2026, John Wiley & Sons published the hardcover edition of Zero Knowledge, Infinite Trust: The Evolution and Revolution of Blockchain Technology, written by Ben-Sasson with journalist Nathan Jeffay, StarkWare’s head of media. Using his journey from professor to entrepreneur as a thread, the book tells the story of blockchain, zero-knowledge proofs and what he calls the “Integrity Web.” It reached the USA TodayUSA TODAYUSA TODAY is a national general-interest daily newspaper and news brand in the United States. Founded under the leadership of Allen Neuharth and first published on September 15, 1982, it is known for its color pages, short stories, and abundant graphics. It is now published by USA TODAY Co. (formerly Gannett) and is the national flagship brand of the USA TODAY Network, and its brands also include the sports brand USA TODAY Sports.Open the full entry national bestseller list in its first week.⁠[16][2][16][16][17]

Alongside the book, he published essays on its website: on April 28 he described the Integrity Web, envisioning a future internet in which trust comes from mathematical proof rather than intermediaries; on May 14 he commented on the US GENIUS Act, calling it a decent fix for stablecoins that nevertheless sidesteps roughly the remaining 90% of blockchain activity. He also hosts the podcast Blocksmart, whose guests have included Avi Wigderson, Steven Pinker and Zoe Cruz.⁠[18][19][20][20]

On October 9, 2026, Ben-Sasson spoke as StarkWare’s representative at the Zcash Zummit session of Network State Conference 2026 in Singapore.⁠[21]

StarkWare: Official website: https://starkware.co/ (opens in a new window).⁠[4]

Zero Knowledge, Infinite Trust: Official website: https://blockchainthebook.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[4]

X: Public account: https://x.com/EliBenSasson (opens in a new window)⁠[4]

LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry: Public profile: https://il.linkedin.com/in/eli-ben-sasson-9b7959 (opens in a new window)⁠[16]