Aptos, the Layer 1 blockchain driving mainstream adoption into Web3 through unparalleled technology and user experience, has awarded a $50,000 grant to Lorenzo Alvisi, Tisch University Professor of Computer Science in the Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science (Cornell Bowers CIS), to help support Web3 innovation in higher education. Additionally, Aptos has onboarded Stanford University Professor of Computer Science, Dr. Dan Boneh, as an advisor. These ecosystem strides come as a manifestation that demonstrates Aptos’ commitment to advancing blockchain and crypto-focused educational resources, providing accessibility to knowledge and fostering accessible use cases.
The $50K grant to Alvisi’s lab will fund student research in developing a novel approach to scale the performance of blockchains by building the abstraction of a secure, fault-tolerant, decentralized append-only log on top of a Byzantine-tolerant database. This new, client-centric architecture can support highly concurrent transaction processing and eliminates concerns about the fairness of leader-based blockchains.
“Blockchain education remains a key cornerstone of Aptos’ mission, as it is a core value across our engineering team, which is comprised of a variety of PhDs across high-performance computing and cryptography disciplines,” said Avery Ching CTO and co-founder of Aptos Labs. “We are delighted to support the work of Professor Alvisi’s students as they not only research novel blockchain systems but also develop real-world, scalable use cases and applications to benefit the future of the industry.”
“This collaboration with Aptos will help our team understand how to allow existing blockchain-based applications to take full advantage of our novel architecture,” added Alvisi. “Aptos’s Block-STM, which is at the forefront of today’s scalable blockchain execution engines, is a beautiful example of bringing to blockchains the concurrency advantages offered by databases.”
In further efforts to reinforce the importance and value of academic accomplishments in cryptocurrencies and blockchain, Aptos has appointed Stanford University Professor of Computer Science, Dr. Dan Boneh, as an advisor. Boneh is an industry maven in the fields of cryptography, cryptosystems with novel properties, cryptanalysis, and web security, having authored over 200 research-based publications on the subjects. Appointed to the National Academy of Engineering, and named Head of the Applied Cryptography Group and Co-Director of the Center for Blockchain Research at Stanford, Boneh has established himself to be one of the most accomplished academics in this industry. As Aptos continues to strive for decentralization whilst building some of the most innovative use cases available in Web3, Boneh’s expertise will be an invaluable resource.
“Continuous innovation of, and upgrades made to, both the consensus layer and the cryptographic techniques being deployed on that layer are tremendous feats for a team only three months into its public market debut,” said Boneh. “I am exceptionally impressed by the Aptos engineering team, as they clearly represent a magnitude of education, research, and commitment as shown through their achievements thus far. It will be a privilege to act as Advisor to this team as the Aptos ecosystem continues to grow.”
While the distinction between the next iteration of the new web continues to vanish, and innovators from various industries make their ways into the development of blockchain-based technologies, Aptos remains at the forefront of onboarding new audiences into the Web3 ecosystem. Blockchain curriculums and programs in higher education provide a pathway for developers to kickstart their careers in Web3 while also researching how to improve shortcomings such as usability and approachability when it comes to cryptographic tooling. In addition, the presence of an industry-leading academic as an advisor will further cultivate the company’s commitment to educational resources.
For more information on Aptos’ dedication to fostering the next generation of Web3 innovators, please visit aptosfoundation.org/grants.
About Aptos
Aptos is a next-generation Layer 1 blockchain. Aptos’ breakthrough technology and programming language, Move, are designed to evolve, improve performance and strengthen user safeguards. Having now raised over $400M, Aptos is backed by top-flight investors including a16z, Jump Crypto, Binance Labs, Katie Haun, Multicoin Capital, PayPal Ventures and Coinbase Ventures.
Please visit https://aptosfoundation.org for more information on the Aptos blockchain.
Aptos Labs, co-founded by Mo Shaikh and Avery Ching, is dedicated to creating better network tooling and seamless usability to bring the benefits of decentralization to the masses.