StarkWare Co-Founder Eli Ben-Sasson on the Future of Blockchain, Zero Knowledge (ZK) Proofs and How They “Solve Integrity” and Why We No Longer Have to Trust the Banks or Government

On this episode of Invested, Michael hosts Eli Ben-Sasson, a co-founder and CEO of StarkWare, and Chairman of its Board of Directors. StarkWare is a Sequoia-backed startup whose latest fundraise was at a $8b valuation. StarkWare specializes in the productization of zero knowledge proofs via Starknet, a permissionless blockchain that scales both Ethereum and Bitcoin. Eli has been researching cryptographic and zero knowledge proofs of computational integrity ever since he received his Phd in Theoretical Computer Science from the Hebrew University in 2001. Eli is a co-inventor of the STARK, FRI and Zerocash protocols and a Founding Scientist of the Zcash Company. Over the years he held research positions at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, Harvard and MIT, and, most recently, was a Professor of CS at Technion, which he left to co-found StarkWare.

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KEY TOPICS 

•  [00:00:00] The Core Innovation of Blockchain

•  [00:02:59] What Starkware Is and Why It Matters

•  [00:05:59] Zero-Knowledge Proofs Made Simple

•  [00:09:09] Building Trust and Integrity in Blockchain

•  [00:11:51] Foundational Principles of Blockchain

•  [00:15:02] Why Decentralization Matters

•  [00:17:52] From Academia to Blockchain

•  [00:21:09] Blockchain and the Future of Finance

•  [00:23:50] Barriers to Blockchain Adoption

•  [00:26:56] Israel’s Contribution to Cryptography

•  [00:30:08] Blockchain and the Future of Governance

•  [00:36:33] Rethinking Banking with Blockchain

•  [00:40:05] What’s Broken in Financial Systems

•  [00:42:13] Trust and Integrity in Transactions

•  [00:47:51] Making Sense of the Crypto Cycle

•  [00:51:05] Trust, Integrity, and What’s Next

•  [00:54:36] Why Math Will Always Matter

•  [01:01:27] Personal Reflections and Takeaways

RESOURCES

Follow Eli on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/eli-ben-sasson

Follow Eli on X - https://x.com/EliBenSasson

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CREDITS

Executive Producer: Erica Marom 

Producer: Yoni Mayer + Myron Shneider

Video and Editing: Ron Baranov

Music and Creative Direction: Uri Ar 

Content and Editorial: Kira Goldring

Design: Rony Karadi