Oana Ciobotaru

oana@web3.foundation

I am a Cryptography Researcher at Web3 Foundation.

Current research interests

  • Zero-knowledge proofs systems (with a focus on ZK-SNARKS)

  • Efficient algorithms

  • Provable security

Short Bio

I hold a Mathematics and Computer Science degree from University of Bucharest, Romania and Master’s degree and PhD degree in Computer Science from Saarland University, Germany in a joint programme with Max Planck Institute for Computer Science, Germany. I have completed my PhD degree in the area of Rational Cryptography, a research field at the intersection of Cryptography and Game Theory, under the supervision of Prof. Michael Backes. My PhD thesis is titled “Rational Cryptography: Novel Constructions, Automated Verification and Unified Definitions”. I have completed my Master’s degree in Cryptography under the supervision of Prof. Michael Backes and Prof. Dominique Unruh. My Master’s thesis is titled “Efficient Long-term Secure Universally Composable Commitments”. Before joining Web3 Foundation, I have held roles in academia and in industry in Germany, Spain and United Kingdom.

Selected Publications

Pre-prints

Recent Projects

  • We have open-sourced a fully succinct BLS signature aggregation achieved using custom SNARKs. This allows one to define and construct accountable light client systems that, in turn, are the core cryptographic primitive used for building bridges between PoS blockchains. See here for full details, including a formal write-up.