Professor Silvio Micali - Democratising Finance for the Masses: How Algorand Solves the Blockchain Trilemma

Founder of Algorand

Today’s guest is a true visionary and a man who has dedicated his working life to researching and formulating the fundamental elements that have been the driving force behind the emergence of cryptocurrency and decentralised finance.

Professor Silvio Micali is not just the founder and principal figure at Algorand, the groundbreaking crypto-based blockchain platform, he is also a near 40 year veteran of the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department, at MIT.

It is here that his pioneering research into the areas of cryptography, zero-knowledge, pseudorandom generation, secure protocols, mechanism design and blockchain have established the basis of so much of the innovation we now take for granted.

Born in Palermo, Sicily, in 1954, Silvio received his undergraduate education in Rome, graduating with a degree in mathematics in 1978, before earning his PhD at the University of California, Berkeley in 1982. After a postdoctoral position in Toronto, he joined the faculty at MIT in July 1983 and has remained there ever since, deeply ensconced in his research that has formed the foundations of much of what we know about modern cryptography.

He is the co-inventor of probabilistic encryption, Zero-Knowledge Proofs, Verifiable Random Functions and many of the protocols that were the driving force behind his decision to found Algorand in 2017, and has been making waves ever since thanks to its fully decentralised, secure, and scalable potential.

The blockchain trilemma as it is often referred is the quest to achieve secure and scalable networks that are fully decentralised while also being optimised for mainstream use and has been the most challenging aspect of every platform looking to take that next step in the DeFi ecosystem.

There have been numerous other hurdles to overcome, but, at Algorand with Silvio at the helm, we have seen a huge leap forward in what we know, understand and can expect from this rapidly emerging market. Silvio is smart, sharp-witted and has not only kudos among his peers but serious credibility thanks to his exhaustive research.

He is the recipient of the much-coveted Turing Award for his long-lasting and transformative work that has contributed to the mathematical foundations of cryptography while also receiving the Gödel Prize in theoretical computer science and the RSA prize in cryptography.

He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences plus the Accademia dei Lincei, and I for one and am delighted to share some time with him. He is an expert in every sense of the word and an intellectual leader in the DeFi space.

It is thanks to the great work by people such as Silvio Micali that my team and I are going “all in” on this technology and infrastructure and plan on spending the next ten years teaching, understanding, broadcasting, educating, investing in, profiting from and transforming this exciting new marketplace.

There are no limits to what we can achieve, and by working together as a team, creating a community of like-minded people, we can blaze a trail in this exciting and transformative decentralised finance space.

As Silvio, himself would say,

“Collaboration always wins over competition… and is more fun, too.”

That’s why I created the DeFi Academy and committed time and resources to provide a platform for success that YOU can be a part of.

The right kind of education is critical and that’s why I’m excited to sit down with Silvio and talk DeFi with one of its biggest players. Silvio is an incredibly smart guy, who continues to look at the big picture. He’s serious about sustainability and our impact on the planet, while also determined to provide opportunity and hope for the masses.

This episode will connect the dots and shine a light on the incredible infrastructure that exists while providing some clues as to what we can expect moving forward.

Download clips

A number of clips from this exclusive interview are now available to download, share and repost. Spread the word: grab these clips today!

1. What was MIT like?
2. The basics of cryptography
3. The blockchain was a natural evolution
4. Why Bitcoin is not an elegant solution
5. The trilema is false
6. What is proof of stake?
7. Gas fees need to go down
8. Will 2022 be the Layer 1 war
9. Regulations can help the blockchain
10. What are Zero Knowledge Proofs?
11. I’m having a lot of fun
12. NFTs are huge and are going to become bigger
13. Why forking is not necessary
14. Blockchain predictions for the future
15. The future will always surprise us