One is the mathematical architect of blockchain’s most important scaling technology. The other is the journalist who makes it make sense. Together, they wrote a book neither could have written alone.
Eli Ben-Sasson is a mathematician and blockchain innovator. He developed the mathematical theory that enables blockchain to serve a mass audience and was among the first to demonstrate that Zero Knowledge cryptography brings scale and privacy to blockchains. Eli is co-inventor of several foundational cryptographic protocols: STARK, FRI, and Zerocash.
He was a co-founder and founding scientist of Zcash, and is co-founder, CEO, and Chairman of StarkWare. He sits on the board of the Starknet Foundation, the nonprofit driving adoption of Starknet, a permissionless blockchain aiming to expand the Bitcoin economy.
Eli has published dozens of peer-reviewed academic papers in the field of theoretical computer science, held research positions at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, Harvard, MIT, and Technion, where he was a Professor of Computer Science. He is a married father of five.
“We built some of the most advanced infrastructure in crypto — not to win some startup race, but because we believed it was the best way to spend our lives.”
Nathan Jeffay is a journalist who fell into blockchain. He has covered geopolitics, wars, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Today Nathan works alongside Eli, telling the unfolding story of blockchain from the inside.
As head of StarkWare’s media desk, he focuses on explaining complex ideas clearly, honestly, and without hype. He is active in a range of projects for blockchain education, including podcasts, short movies, and news. Nathan is a married father of four.
We wrote this book because the story of blockchain deserves better than it’s gotten. Too often, the conversation starts and ends with price charts and speculation. But underneath the noise is something genuinely important: a new way to build trust in digital systems without relying on institutions that have repeatedly failed us.
Eli has spent decades developing the math. Nathan has spent years learning how to explain it. Together, we wanted to write the book we wished existed—one that tells the real story, honestly and accessibly, for anyone who wants to understand what’s actually happening beneath the headlines.
This isn’t a manifesto or a technical manual. It’s a story about integrity—and why it matters more than ever.
Eli and Nathan are available for keynotes, panels, fireside chats, and workshops.
Make an Inquirybook@starkware.co