This interview has been edited and condensed.
Cointelegraph recently spoke to Guy Zyskind, the founder and CEO of decentralized blockchain[1] company Enigma and graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), about the future of blockchain protocols and where Enigma fits in.
During TechCrunch’s recent Ethereum Meetup in Zug, Switzerland, Zyskind elaborated on his successful experience teaching a blockchain course at MIT, as well as his regrets over missing out getting into crypto way back in 2010.
Molly Jane: First off, could you explain what the Enigma protocol is and how you originally ended up in the blockchain world?
Guy Zyskind: I’m Guy Zyskind, co-founder and CEO of Enigma. Enigma is building a platform for privacy-preserving smart contracts. We call it “secret contracts’” for the fact that no one’s internet network can actually see the data they are computing on. This is in contrast to public blockchains like Ethereum and pretty much everything there is today.
My background is that I was born and raised in Israel[2], moved five years ago the States and went to grad school at MIT. That’s really where I got interested in blockchain and the intersection of privacy. I published a few papers — one of them was the Enigma white paper — which was the predecessor to the platform that we’ve been building today.
MJ: How closely do Enigma and MIT work together?
GZ: I am working on Enigma full time. We are affiliated with MIT, so the MIT E14 fund [part of the MIT Media Lab] and the Engine Fund have invested in us.
My professor, MIT’s advisor Sandy Pentland, is a co-founder and advisor to the company. We’re
