Meet the team
We are a team of scientists and engineers researching and implementing blockchain protocols.
Shresth Agrawal
smart contract development, auditing, algorithms
Shresth is a smart contract and backend developer. He holds a bachelor degree in Computer Science from Jacobs University Bremen. He has experience building efficient and secure algorithms, protocols, and smart contracts for several DeFi protocols. Previously, he worked at ParaSwap where he was responsible for developing a significant part of the core aggregation algorithm. He is interested in Cryptography, Security, Consensus Protocols, Decentralised Finance, and Ethereum. One of Shresth’s research highlights is the paper Proofs of Proof-of-Stake with Sublinear Complexity.
Dr. Orestis Alpos
consensus, distributed systems, threshold cryptography, applied cryptography
Orestis is a blockchain researcher based in Bern, Switzerland. He holds a PhD from the University of Bern, advised by Christian Cachin, and a Computer Engineering MSc degree from the National Technical University of Athens. He specializes in distributed systems and applied cryptography. His publications include protocols for asynchronous PoS consensus, front-running prevention, consensus and cryptography with flexible trust assumptions, as well as results on composing distributed systems.
Dr. Lukas Aumayr
distributed systems, scaling blockchains, blockchain interoperability, applied cryptography, protocol analysis
Lukas is a blockchain researcher specializing in distributed systems, applied cryptography, and protocol analysis, with a focus on blockchain scalability and interoperability. Among others, his work includes advancements in Payment/Virtual Channel Network protocols, bridges, light clients, crypto-economic incentives, and BitVM. Lukas earned his PhD from the Technical University of Vienna (TU Wien), under the supervision of Matteo Maffei and Pedro Moreno-Sanchez. He has published in venues such as ACM CCS, USENIX Security, IEEE S&P (Oakland), and NDSS.
Dr. Zeta Avarikioti
distributed systems, scaling blockchains, cryptoeconomic incentive analysis
Zeta is an upcoming Assistant Professor at the Technical University of Vienna (TU Wien) in Austria. She is currently a post-doctoral blockchain researcher at TU Wien working with professor Matteo Maffei. She graduated with a PhD from ETH Zürich, advised by Roger Wattenhofer, and holds an engineering degree from the National Technical University of Athens and a masters degree from National Kapodistian University of Athens. She specializes in distributed systems, scaling blockchains via sharding and channels, and the analysis of cryptoeconomic incentives. Among other venues, she has published in USENIX Security, CSF, Financial Cryptography, AFT, AAAI, and SODA. Highlights of her research include the papers BRICK: Asynchronous Payment Channels, Cerberus Channels: Incentivizing Watchtowers for Bitcoin, and Divide and Scale: Formalization of Distributed Ledger Sharding Protocols.
Alexis Brezas
smart contract development, algorithms, machine learning, IoT, DevOps, software engineering
Alex is a proficient software engineer with over 15 years of experience in the tech industry. In his web2 life, he has served as CTO at Maya Insights, a data warehousing solution, and Geekbot, a popular Slack chatbot, as well as various engineering roles in diverse projects such as a popular Greek food delivery service, a social network, a 3D game, ecommerce solutions, and IoT. At Common Prefix, he focuses on blockchain engineering and smart contract development.
Dr. Pyrros Chaidos
zero-knowledge proofs, voting
Pyrros is a post-doctoral blockchain researcher at the University of Athens. He holds a PhD from the University College of London, advised by Jens Groth and Allan Sikk, an MSc in Information Security from the University College of London, an MSc in Theoretical Computer Science from the University of Athens, and a BA in Mathematics from the University of Athens. He specializes in zero knowledge proof systems, with applications on proof-of-stake blockchains and voting in particular. Among other venues, he has published in EUROCRYPT, ACM CCS, PKC, ESORICS, and the Journal of Cryptology. Highlights of his research include the papers Mithril: Stake-based Threshold Multisignatures, Efficient Zero-Knowledge Arguments for Arithmetic Circuits in the Discrete Log Setting, and Foundations of Fully Dynamic Group Signatures.
Prof. Bernardo David
multiparty computation, consensus
Bernardo David is an Associate Professor at the IT University of Copenhagen, working on cryptographic protocols for multiparty computation and blockchain consensus/applications with the support of Concordium Foundation, Independent Research Fund Denmark and Protocol Labs research grants. He holds a PhD in Computer Science from Aarhus University, under the supervision of Ivan Damgård and Jesper Buus Nielsen, and was previously an Assistant Professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, where his work was supported by a JSPS research grant. Bernardo’s research has been published as over 30 articles in scientific journals and conferences. Among his main contributions is the first provably secure protocol for proof-of-stake blockchains. Besides academic activities, he has been a consultant for a number of industry projects on blockchains and information security, having served as scientific advisor to Cardano and Concordium.
Dr. Robin Fritsch
DeFi, game theory, graph algorithms
Robin holds a PhD from ETH Zurich, advised by Roger Wattenhofer, focusing on game theory and decentralized finance. He completed his MSc degree in Mathematics in Data Science from the Technical University of Munich. Among other venues, he has published in AFT, ACM CCS, and AAMAS. Highlights of his research include the papers The Price of Majority Support, The Economics of Automated Market Makers, and Batching trades on Automated Market Makers.
Lioba Heimbach
DeFi, cryptoeconomic incentives analysis, MEV, game theory
Lioba is a doctoral student at ETH Zurich advised by Roger Wattenhofer. She holds a MSc degree in Electrical Engineering and Information Technology from ETH Zurich. Her research focuses on empirical measurements and the analysis of cryptoeconomic incentives in the blockchain ecosystem with a focus on decentralized finance. Among other venues, she has published in IEEE S&P (Oakland), FC, AFT, AsiaCCS, IMC, and DISC. Highlights of her research include the papers Non-Atomic Arbitrage in Decentralized Finance, SoK: Preventing Transaction Reordering Manipulations in Decentralized Finance, and Base Fee Manipulation In Ethereum's EIP-1559 Transaction Fee Mechanism.
Nikolaos Kamarinakis
smart contract development, auditing, software engineering, offensive security
Nikolas is a software engineer based in Athens, Greece. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science with a minor in Cybersecurity from the University of Maryland. He has multiple years of experience in full-stack software engineering and open-source development, as well as some experience in offensive security. Nikolas is currently focused on smart contract development and auditing at Common Prefix.
Dr. Dimitris Karakostas
cryptocurrency wallets, macroeconomics, checkpointing
Dimitris is a post-doctoral blockchain researcher at the University of Edinburgh where he works with professor Aggelos Kiayias. He holds a PhD from the University of Edinburgh, advised by Aggelos Kiayias, and an Electrical and Computer Engineering degree from the National Technical University of Athens. He specializes in cryptocurrency wallets and macroeconomics, as well as chain checkpointing. Among other venues, he has published in Financial Crypto and presented at Black Hat Europe and Asia. Highlights of his research include the papers A Formal Treatment of Hardware Wallets, Cryptocurrency Egalitarianism: A Quantitative Approach, and Securing Proof-of-Work Ledgers via Checkpointing.
Haris Karavasilis
business development, project management, quantitative finance, risk management
Haris works on the business side of things at Common Prefix. His background includes roles at Amazon and Piraeus Bank, where he gained valuable experience in operations, finance and risk management. He holds a Master's degree in Quantitative Finance and Risk Management from Bocconi University and an Electrical & Electronic Engineering Bachelor's degree from the University of Manchester. At Common Prefix, he contributes to both business development and project management, aiming to improve operational and financial efficiency.
Dimitris Lamprinos
smart contract development, large scale system design, software engineering, consensus, DevOps
Dimitris is a software engineer based in Athens, Greece. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. At Common Prefix, he is a software engineer focusing on Solidity smart contracts and basic consensus development. Besides his web3 expertise, Dimitris has significant experience in building and scaling web applications. Before joining Common Prefix, he worked at Geekbot, one of the most popular Slack bots, and Amondo, a social media startup with over a million users, where he led the infrastructure team.
Prof. Julian Loss
cryptography, distributed systems, consensus
Julian is a professor at CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security, focusing on cryptography and its applications to distributed algorithms. He holds a PhD in Mathematics from Ruhr University Bochum, advised by Eike Kiltz, and a MSc in Computer Science from ETH Zurich. Julian was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Maryland and Carnegie Mellon University. His interests include provable security, particularly digital signature schemes and algorithms for distributed consensus. Among other venues, he has published in ACM CCS, ASIACRYPT, EUROCRYPT, FC, and IEEE S&P (Oakland). Highlights of his research include the papers The Algebraic Group Model and its Applications, On the Security of Two-Round Multi-Signatures, and On the (in)security of ROS.
Jakov Mitrovski
smart contract development, auditing, software engineering, algorithms, complexity
Jakov is a software engineer based in Munich, currently pursuing his Master's degree in Informatics at the Technical University of Munich. He has earned his Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from the University Cyril and Methodius in Skopje. Jakov specializes in blockchain engineering, algorithms and complexity, and auditing. He has worked as a cloud engineer at ETAS (Bosch) GmbH and has experience working as a backend and blockchain engineer through various internships at Netcetera, Sorsix, and LOKA, as well as through freelance projects.
Themis Papameletiou
smart contract development, testing, software engineering, algorithmic trading, rockets
Themis is a software engineer based in Athens. He has significant experience developing software for a variety of projects such as web applications, algorithmic traders and rockets. He is pursuing a Master’s degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens and has also completed internships at Google and at the European Space Agency. Currently, he is focused on smart contract development and testing.
João Pedro Coelho de Azevedo
smart contract development, large scale system design, software engineering
João is a software engineer with experience in blockchain, fintech, and automotive technologies. He holds a Master’s degree in Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering from the University of Aveiro. Over the years he has contributed to multiple startups (notably Qomodo, Topos Network and Veniam), building financing risk assessment systems, smart contracts, and connected mobility solutions. His work spans backend engineering, smart contract development, and large-scale system architecture. João is a certified PMP, IEEE member, and the inventor of 13 granted patents in intelligent networking and automotive communications.
Nikola Ristić
smart contract development, full-stack web development, software engineering, algorithms, circus acrobatics
Nikola is a self-taught software engineer based in Belgrade, Serbia. He started with algorithms in elementary school and won 2 gold medals in national high-school competitions in Serbia. Before his web3 journey he has helped various startups scale their products and teams, notably Super and Amondo, and has 10 years of freelance experience as a full-stack web developer.
Giulia Scaffino
scaling blockchains, blockchain interoperability, cryptoeconomic incentive analysis
Giulia is a doctoral blockchain researcher at the Technical University of Vienna (TU Wien), working in the Security and Privacy group with Prof. Matteo Maffei. She holds a Master's degree in Nuclear Physics from the University of Pavia, Italy, and she has worked as a Salesforce developer at Deloitte Digital in Milan. She specializes in blockchain interoperability and scalability protocols, light clients, layer-2 solutions, and crypto-economic incentives. Among other venues, she has published in the USENIX Security Symposium.
Odysseas Sofikitis
consensus, proof-of-work, machine learning
Odysseas is a blockchain researcher based in Athens, specializing in consensus mechanisms and proof-of-work protocols for blockchain systems. He holds a Master's degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, with a focus on inverse rendering and machine learning. He previously worked at the Information Technologies Institute, where he conducted research on GANs and image-to-image translation.
Semeli Spanou
operations, logistics, biotech, data analytics
Semeli is a member of the Operations team at Common Prefix, where she collaborates with a diverse range of stakeholders to drive operational efficiency and effectiveness. She holds a Master's degree in Biotechnology, from the Agricultural University of Athens, with a focus on bioinformatics and data analysis. Semeli's organisational and analytical skills contribute to enhancing operational procedures, streamline reporting, and strengthening our logistics management.
Dr. Orfeas Stefanos Thyfronitis Litos
distributed systems, scaling blockchains, interoperability, protocol analysis, cryptoeconomic incentive analysis, voting, software engineering, payment channels
Orfeas is currently a research associate at Imperial College London. He obtained his PhD in Cryptography and Blockchains at the University of Edinburgh in 2021, under the supervision of Aggelos Kiayias. He has worked on building and analyzing decentralized applications on blockchains, layer-2 protocols, payment channels, and voting solutions, all through formal cryptographic methods. Among others, he has formally analyzed the security of the Lightning Network and created a novel virtual payment channel construction. He is knowledgeable in software engineering and secure architecture. His interests further include formal verification, incentive analysis, and provable security.
Apostolos Tzinas
smart contract development, algorithms, software engineering, consensus
Apostolos is a blockchain researcher and engineer at Common Prefix, specialising in blockchain consensus and decentralised finance. His research highlights include On-Chain Timestamps Are Accurate, published in Financial Cryptography 2024, and The Principal–Agent Problem in Liquid Staking, published in Financial Cryptography 2023’s 7th Workshop on Trusted Smart Contracts (WTSC). Apostolos also has extensive experience in deploying and managing both validators and full-nodes across the Ethereum and Cosmos ecosystems. In the past, as a web engineer at Maya Insights and NutriDice, he has gained extensive experience with a wide range of programming languages and technical stacks. Apostolos has a background in algorithms, having competed at national and balkan olympiads in informatics.
Dr. Dionysis Zindros
consensus, light clients, bridges, interoperability, fast bootstrapping, algorithms, software engineering
Dionysis is a co-founder and researcher at Common Prefix focusing on consensus, light clients, bridges, interoperability, and fast bootstrapping. He did his post-doc at Stanford University, advised by David Tse. He holds a PhD from the University of Athens, advised by Aggelos Kiayias, and an Electrical and Computer Engineering degree from the National Technical University of Athens. Among other venues, he has published in IEEE S&P (Oakland), ACM CCS, ESORICS, and Financial Crypto, and presented at Black Hat Europe and Asia. Highlights of his research include the papers Non-Interactive Proofs of Proof-of-Work, Proof-of-Stake Sidechains, and Proof-of-Work Sidechains.