Our Team
David Mazières
Faculty Director
David Mazières is a professor of Computer Science at Stanford University, where he leads the Secure Computer Systems research group and co-directs the Center for Blockchain Research. His research interests include Operating Systems and Distributed Systems, with a particular focus on security. Prof. Mazières received a BS in Computer Science from Harvard in 1994 and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT in 2000. He is also a co-founder of Intrinsic, Inc and Stellar Development Foundation.
Dan Boneh
Faculty Director
Dan Boneh heads the applied cryptography group at the Computer Science department at Stanford University. Professor Boneh's research focuses on applications of cryptography to computer security. His work includes cryptosystems with novel properties, web security, security for mobile devices, digital copyright protection, and cryptanalysis. He is the author of over a hundred publications in the field and a recipient of the Packard Award, the Alfred P. Sloan Award, and the RSA award in mathematics. Last year Dr. Boneh received the Ishii award for industry education innovation. Professor Boneh received his Ph.D from Princeton University and joined Stanford in 1997.
Paul Toback
Executive Director
Paul Toback is a transformational executive with proven success in leading organizations through start-up and growth. Paul served as Chairman and CEO of a public company in the retail service sector which he grew to record revenues and profitability. He is also founder and CEO of a start-up company that created the first new running machine in over 100 years, for which he holds seven patents. Prior to his private sector experience, Paul served in senior roles in government-- first as Director of Administration for the City of Chicago, then as Chief of Staff to the White House Chief of Staff in the Clinton Administration. Paul is also a corporate attorney with expertise in M&A. He received his BA with Distinction from Stanford and his JD from the University of Chicago.
Darrell Duffie
Faculty Advisor
Darrell Duffie is the Adams Distinguished Professor of Management and Professor of Finance at Stanford Graduate School of Business, and Professor (by courtesy) in the Department of Economics, Stanford University. Duffie is a Fellow of the Econometric Society, a Research Fellow of the National Bureau of Economic Research, a Fellow of the American Finance Association, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was the 2009 president of the American Finance Association. Duffie is an independent director on the board of U.S. Dimensional Funds. Duffie chaired the Financial Stability Board’s Market Participants Group on Reference Rate Reform. He is a Project Advisor of The G30 Working Group on Digital Currencies, and a member of the Systemic Risk Council. Duffie’s research focus is the design and regulation of financial markets. His most recent books include How Big Banks Fail (Princeton University Press, 2010), Measuring Corporate Default Risk (Oxford University Press, 2011), Dark Markets (Princeton University Press, 2012), and Fragmenting Markets: Post-Crisis Bank Regulations and Financial Market Liquidity (forthcoming, 2020, DeGruyter).
Jonathan Padilla
Deputy Director
Jonathan Padilla is a founding member of the Stanford Future of Digital Currency Initiative and currently serves as Deputy Director. Over the past four years he has dedicated his energy to the revolution occurring in fintech and blockchain. His work on digital asset regulation has been used by the Financial Stability Board and earned him a spot on the 2018 List of Forbes 30 Under 30 in Law and Policy. Outside of his role at the Initiative, he lead blockchain strategy at PayPal where heading up that firm’s Blockchain Research Group. Prior to that, he has advised major tech firms on the regulatory landscape and macro level trends impacting blockchain. He has also consulted for Fortune 100 firms on integration of blockchain technology to their operations on both supply chain logistics and finance. Jonathan graduated from Harvard College with a degree in government and from Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government with a Masters of Public Policy as a Startup Nation Scholar with a full scholarship. He was a 2018 Schwarzman Scholar at Tsinghua University where he earned a Masters in Economics and Management. There he wrote his thesis on blockchain and cryptocurrency regulation.
Ashish Goel
Faculty Advisor
Ashish Goel is a Professor of Management Science and Engineering and (by courtesy) Computer Science at Stanford University, and a member of Stanford's Institute for Computational and Mathematical Engineering. He received his PhD in Computer Science from Stanford in 1999, and was an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the University of Southern California from 1999 to 2002. His research interests lie in the design, analysis, and applications of algorithms; current application areas of interest include social networks, participatory democracy, Internet commerce, and large scale data processing. Professor Goel is a recipient of an Alfred P. Sloan faculty fellowship (2004-06), a Terman faculty fellowship from Stanford, an NSF Career Award (2002-07), and a Rajeev Motwani mentorship award (2010). He was a co-author on the paper that won the best paper award at WWW 2009, an Edelman Laureate in 2014, and a co-winner of the SigEcom Test of Time Award in 2018. Professor Goel was a research fellow and technical advisor at Twitter, Inc. from July 2009 to Aug 2014.
Jonathan Rufrano
Program Manager
Jonathan has close to a decade of experience in public policy and research at the intersection of emerging technology, human rights, and international affairs. His passion is stewarding the development and implementation of emerging technologies responsibly and for the benefit of humankind, and in democratizing access to the promises digital currencies hold. Jonathan is invaluable to FDCI as a digital currency policy subject matter expert and the bridge between international policymakers, technologists, and private sector leaders. He also works with the Global Ecosystem team at Chainalysis to de-risk and demystify digital currencies for regulators, law enforcement agencies, and commercial clients. Prior to joining Stanford, Jonathan worked in the United States Congress and the Texas Legislature. He graduated with Honors in International Relations and Technology Policy at the University of Texas at Austin and holds professional certificates from Harvard, MIT, the Intern-American Development Bank, and Duke Law.
Justine Humenansky
Outside Researcher
Justine Humenansky is an investor at Playground Global, a deeptech venture fund based in Palo Alto. She has researched blockchain-based digital identity and data privacy for Blockchain at Berkeley, SamsungNext, the State of California, and as a University Blockchain Research Initiative grant recipient. She has also contributed to the World Economic Forum's publications on Central Bank Digital Currencies. She previously worked as an equity research analyst at Barclays Capital, covering internet and telecom infrastructure. Justine is a CFA charter holder and received her BA from Fordham University and her MBA from Berkeley-Haas. As a founding member of the lab, Justine is excited to work with industry leaders to advance digital currency innovation -- particularly as it pertains to digital identity, privacy, and interoperability -- and to shape the discussion around how central bank digital currencies can be designed to promote a more open and inclusive financial system.
Natalya Thakur
Advisor
Natalya began working in the fintech, crypto and blockchain space in 2015. She has worked at companies such as BlackRock, Google[X], C-Labs (Celo) and IDEO CoLab. Natalya co-authored the 2019 Blockchain for Social Impact Report and helped organize the Digital Currency Wars simulation with former White House officials and crypto experts to address national security concerns around digital currency. As a founding member of the lab, she hopes to enable CBDC policy and technology adoption through small scale pilots that promote data gathering and education. Natalya also helps the lab with their public-private relationship management, and sits on the United Nations ITU Policy and Governance Working Group.
Atticus Francken
Outside Researcher
Atticus Francken is a native of Illinois and a serial entrepreneur with multiple successful ventures spanning energy, education, and fintech. He co-founded his first venture in college, which still operates today. This includes a depth of work in renewable energy finance and development. In addition, Atticus has deep experience in public policy, serving in roles at the White House and Federal Reserve Board of Governors. He has also served in institutional investment roles, including Ullico and as Vice President at CleanCapital. As a founding member of the lab, he will be working on commercialization of new technologies, partnerships, public policy, and interfacing with central banks and multilateral institutions. Atticus graduated from the George Washington University in Washington, DC with a degree in Economics and Mathematics and is an incoming Schwarzman Scholar at Tsinghua University.
Geoff Ramseyer
PhD Student
Geoff Ramseyer is a PhD student in Computer Science at Stanford University, advised by professors David Mazières and Ashish Goel. His research interests include designing scalable blockchains and the interactions and tradeoffs between system design, system performance, and economic incentives in distributed ledger applications. Prior to Stanford, he received a BS in Computer Science and in Mathematics from the University of Chicago in 2017.
Mohak Goyal
PhD Student
Mohak is a second-year PhD student in the Department of Management Science & Engineering at Stanford University and is advised by Professor Ashish Goel. He completed his bachelor's and master's degrees in Electrical Engineering from IIT Bombay in 2019. His research interests are in game theory, optimization, and their applications in decentralized finance. Outside work he enjoys powerlifting, tennis, and social dance.
Dylan Olivia Hunzeker
Outside Researcher
Dylan is an investor at Struck Capital Crypto. Prior to Struck, she was an investment analyst at Iconic Holding GmbH, an asset management firm specializing in cryptocurrencies and digital asset strategies based in Frankfurt, Germany. At the firm she specialized in searching for and due diligencing cryptocurrency hedge funds as well as potential venture capital investments. Previously she worked at Eigen Capital, a Beijing-based hedge fund for digital assets where she helped build out the OTC and market making desks by developing a new technology for atomic swaps (among other workstreams). Her research on cryptocurrency (specifically staking networks) has been published in Ledger, Carnegie Mellon’s computer science journal, and by the City University of New York. Dylan received her BA from Columbia College of Columbia University in the City of New York in Human Rights and Comparative Literature and her MBA from Tsinghua University in Beijing where she was a CSC Scholar and a Tsinghua Exemplary Student Scholar on a full scholarship, and where she wrote her thesis on the future of blockchain innovation in both the U.S. and China
Ines Gonzalez del Mazo
Outside Researcher
Ines is a blockchain enthusiast with ten years of working experience in banks, payment systems, capital markets, correspondent banking, financial inclusion, blockchain, digital currencies, central banks and regulators. At the World Bank, she worked with 33 countries including India, Russia, South Africa, Colombia, Morocco, Sudan, and Barbados to analyze their financial entities and provide advice and multi-year strategies for regulation, development and stability. Also, she elaborated interventions and reports for the WBG Managing Director and CFO at the Financial Stability Board and G20 meetings that shaped international standards and regulation. Furthermore, Ines has worked for Ripple, other FinTech start-ups, and VCs providing go-to-market, scaling-up, and monetization strategies, analyzing uses of blockchain for securities, OTC Derivatives and FX settlements, and has sourced start-ups globally. She graduated from Wharton with an MBA degree, from Universidad San-Pablo CEU with a BA in Business and Finance and received merit scholarships for international studies from the Government of Spain.
Greg Zanotti
PhD Student
Greg Zanotti is a PhD student in Management Science & Engineering at Stanford University, working with Markus Pelger and David Mazières. He focuses on developing machine learning methods for forecasting and control problems in high-dimensional, multimodal time series. His goal is to use these methods to facilitate our understanding of and interaction with complex economic and financial systems. At FDCI, he is especially interested in studying the interactions of participants in cryptocurrency markets and blockchains. Before coming to Stanford, he worked as a quantitative developer at a proprietary trading firm in Chicago and co-founded a crypto fintech startup. He received a BS in mathematics and computer science from DePaul University in 2017