Note: Published Sep 24, 2018 on the Cornell Blockchain Medium

In this post, we want to quickly describe the mission of Cornell Blockchain (CB). CB is a student organized entity that aims to help develop the next thought leaders for the blockchain industry. We plan on accomplishing this through learning opportunities and a wide-network of resources. Our ultimate goal is to be a pillar of resources for young and passionate students who want to enter the blockchain space from any background, whether these individuals are studying computer science, arts & science, business, agriculture, and more. This philosophy is built on Cornell’s foundation of “any person…any study.”

Cornell University

At CB, we plan to focus on the development and evolution of blockchain technologies, and to disseminate the latest developments both to the Cornell community and beyond. We believe it is important to research good engineering and developments in the industry, as we are not held to the idea that there is one protocol or cryptocurrency. Our hope with this mindset, is to produce quality projects and content to provide a unique perspective on current developments and challenges with blockchain. To fulfill our mission, we plan to not only pursue projects, but to also host visitors, run workshops, attend conferences, and more.

CB’s intellectual foundation stems from the strong leadership Cornell has played in the development of blockchain technologies. In particular, the Initiative for Cryptocurrencies and Smart Contracts (IC3), founded at Cornell, has brought together the top academics working in the space of distributed ledger technologies, blockchains, cryptocurrencies and smart contracts. These individuals have played a leading role in the development of secure proof-of-work systems, green and sustainable consensus protocols, scaling blockchains, and securing smart contracts, among many other accomplishments. We are closely coupled with these professors, and often host visitors in tandem with them, to ensure the widest possible engagement.

As with any organization, it is the team and advisors working on and supporting the vision that truly make it successful. While you can view members of Cornell Blockchain at https://cornellblockchain.org/, we are thrilled to announce the advisors supporting our vision.

Advisors

Emin Gün Sirer, Founder and Chief Scientist at bloXroute Labs

Emin Gün Sirer is Co-Director of the Initiative for Cryptocurrencies and Smart Contracts and an Associate Professor of Computer Science at Cornell University. His research interests span distributed systems, blockchain technologies, cryptocurrencies, and software infrastructure for large scale services. He is known for co-discovering/co-inventing selfish mining, Bitcoin-NG, characterizing the scalability of blockchain technologies, and measuring centralization of existing blockchains. He is a co-founder of Avalanche Labs and bloXroute, and advisor to a select set of infrastructure projects.

John Wu, CEO of Digital Assets at SharesPost

At SharesPost, John is the Chief Executive Officer of the Digital Assets Group. This business unit is dedicated to extending SharesPost’s current leadership in private corporate assets into the digital currency, token, and blockchain world. His team is building a widespread ecosystem around its robust technology and compliance platform. It reaches major stakeholders in digital assets and blockchain companies to bring token issuers and investors into the SharesPost marketplace. Issuers and investors use SharesPost’s existing Alternative Trading System to invest in ICO’s and trade in aftermarket digital securities in full compliance with U.S. laws and regulations. He will also expand existing investment management offerings to provide digital asset management products and blockchain-related research.

Previously, John was the Managing Partner and Founder of Sureview Capital, a global long-short equity hedge fund, with an emphasis on technology. Prior to Sureview, John was at Kingdon Capital, a multi-billion dollar long-short hedge fund. John began his investment career at Tiger Management where he spent four years as a macro analyst and trader. He received an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BS in Economics from Cornell University.