Published inBlockchain@USC·Oct 5Web3 Social: Driving New Forms of Identity, Connection & Value CreationThis article was a collaboration between our partner VC, Superscrypt.xyz, and our research team at Blockchain@USC gm At Superscrypt our mission is to support founders and projects that will bring on the next wave of users to the blockchain space. We take a research-driven approach to identify key web3 building blocks…Web310 min readWeb310 min read
Jul 24On Crypto Skepticism and MisconceptionsAnyone involved with the industry is no stranger to doubtful sentiment about the future of crypto. Most, including me, have seen many friends and colleagues second-guessing their dedication to the space and belief in its success. This, of course, is an expected side-effect of a bear market, especially one in…Crypto9 min readCrypto9 min read
Published inBlockchain@USC·May 24Passivum: Playing Around with Account AbstractionCreating a social recovery DeFi dApp using the Biconomy SDK After diving deeper into the topic of account abstraction, I developed a strong desire to build something on ERC-4337. When our developer team at Blockchain@USC was tasked with competing in a hackathon among other top universities, I immediately decided to lead us in the direction of AA. Since the hackathon…Account Abstraction10 min readAccount Abstraction10 min read
Published inBlockchain@USC·May 20The Fault-Tolerant Consensus Problem and Its Solutions in Blockchains and Distributed SystemsAbstract This essay explores the Byzantine Generals Problem (BGP) and Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT), which are fundamental concepts in blockchain and distributed systems consensus. After detailing the Two Generals Problem (TGP), we explain how it extends to BGP and describe some intricacies of BGP. Then, we explain consensus algorithms including Proof-of-Work…Blockchain21 min readBlockchain21 min read
Published inBlockchain@USC·Mar 27Deep Dive into Account Abstraction and EIP-4337: Scaling Ethereum UX from 0 to 1In Web 2.0, if you forget your password you can recover it from a centralized authority. In crypto, if you lose your private key or forget your seed phrase, you lose everything. This is one key bottleneck to crypto mass adoption — account security is very fragile. Moreover, expecting the…Account Abstraction17 min readAccount Abstraction17 min read
Feb 19Lebanon: A Broken Country — Macroeconomic Overview and Crisis AnalysisAbstract The state of Lebanon, located in the levant region of the Middle East, is undergoing one of the world’s worst economic collapses since the 1800s. Plagued with war, political instability, violent sectarianism, corruption, mismanagement, and foreign intervention since the Civil War outbreak in 1975, the country has seen deep economic…Lebanon13 min readLebanon13 min read
Dec 18, 2022Lessons Learned Launching a Startup in CollegeThis past summer I was the lead developer in a founding team of an early stage startup out of USC. This was my first experience ever doing something like this, especially in the blockchain/web3 space. While I ended up leaving the team, there are many lessons I picked up from…Startup8 min readStartup8 min read
Dec 6, 2022OpenAI’s GPT-3: The Ethical Landscape of a Powerful ToolWhen the internet was created, people would never have guessed what its implications would be; the “age of information” we live in today was a cloudy horizon two decades ago. This cloudy horizon ended up giving way to a vast digital ecosystem that runs modern society. Online information and communication…Gpt 310 min readGpt 310 min read
Sep 25, 2022Blockchain but Not Currency: Distributed Ledger Technology Is Innovation for EnterprisesThere is no shortage of flashy headlines about blockchain, crypto, and web3 — these buzzwords have taken the media world by storm in past years as a multi-trillion-dollar industry has emerged out of what seems to be thin air. Everyone has heard of meme coins like Dogecoin and Shiba Inu…Blockchain7 min readBlockchain7 min read
Published inBlockchain@USC·May 7, 2022Layerzero: The Possible Future of Blockchain InteroperabilityBy Lin, Joon Sung Park, Zain Merchant, and Giovanni Zaarour As of now, most would say that crypto is not a zero-sum game, and the future will entail the success of multiple tokens, chains, and ecosystems. However, as blockchain adoption increases, there has been a rising issue regarding the high…Blockchain9 min readBlockchain9 min read
