Columbia University · Summer School 2026

Theory & Practice of
Blockchain Consensus

Featuring lectures by leading academics and practitioners in blockchain consensus, covering the latest developments in the area.

Dates May 26–29, 2026
Location Columbia University, New York
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About the program

What is this summer school?

Blockchains rely on consensus protocols to enable a large number of physical machines to act logically as a single virtual machine — a "computer in the sky." The last few years have seen exciting progress on both the theory and practice of consensus protocol design.

This summer school will feature lectures by leading academics and practitioners in the area, and will bring attendees up to date on the latest developments.

Hosted by the Columbia-Ethereum Research Center for Blockchain Protocol Design.

About the hosting center

The Columbia-Ethereum Center for Blockchain Protocol Design brings together the multi-disciplinary expertise at Columbia to advance the performance, security, robustness, and economics of blockchain technology — drawing on distributed systems, game theory, cryptography, and more.

Dates May 26–29, 2026
Format In-person lectures & talks
Host Columbia-Ethereum Research Center for Blockchain Protocol Design
Confirmed speakers

Who's speaking

A world-class lineup of researchers and practitioners from top universities, research labs, and industry.

IA
Ittai Abraham
a16z crypto
MA
Maria Apostolaki
Princeton University
FD
Francesco d'Amato
Ethereum Foundation
SD
Sourav Das
Category Labs
DG
Dongning Guo
Northwestern University
AL
Andrew Lewis-Pye
LSE / Commonware
KN
Kartik Nayak
Duke University
JN
Joachim Neu
a16z crypto
PO
Patrick O'Grady
Commonware
GV
Guru Vamsi Policharla
Commonware
SS
Sasha Spiegelman
Aptos Labs
AS
Alberto Sonnino
Mysten Labs
YV
Yann Vonlanthen
Ethereum Foundation
RW
Roger Wattenhofer
ETH Zurich / Anza Labs
Program

Schedule

There will be no livestream; edited videos of all talks will be posted to YouTube after the event.

Tuesday, May 26

9:15–9:30
Tim Roughgarden (Columbia University) — opening remarks / overview
9:30–10:45
Ittai Abraham (a16z crypto)Many Variants of Simplex
11:15–12:30
Roger Wattenhofer (ETH Zurich / Anza Labs)Reinventing Solana: Alpenglow and Constellation
12:30–2:00
Lunch
2:00–3:15
Dongning Guo (Northwestern University)Longest-Chain Consensus: Safety under Network Delays
3:45–5:00
Maria Apostolaki (Princeton University)The Network Beneath the “Computer in the Sky”
5:00–6:30
Reception

Wednesday, May 27

9:30–10:45
Andrew Lewis-Pye (LSE / Commonware)2-round finality
11:15–12:30
Sasha Spiegelman (Aptos Labs)Everlasting BFT: How Changing Requirements Keep Reinventing Consensus
12:30–2:00
Lunch
2:00–3:15
Francesco d'Amato (Ethereum Foundation)Introduction to Ethereum Consensus (Part 1)
3:45–5:00
Yann Vonlanthen (Ethereum Foundation)Introduction to Ethereum Consensus (Part 2)

Thursday, May 28

9:30–10:45
Sourav Das (Category Labs)Distributed Key Generations: Definitions, Constructions, and Applications
11:15–12:30
Guru Vamsi Policharla (Commonware)Encrypted Mempools and Batched Threshold Encryption
12:30–2:00
Lunch
2:00–3:15
Alberto Sonnino (Mysten Labs)DAG-Based Consensus: Theory, Mysticeti, and the Parts Nobody Writes About
3:45–5:00
Lightning talks
Amit Agarwal (Category Labs) Mempool Privacy via Batched Threshold Encryption
Akhil Sai Bandarupalli (Purdue) A Modular Rust Framework for Consensus and Distributed Cryptography
Daniel Cason (Circle) Arc Multi-Proposer (AMP) Protocol with Bounded Inclusion Guarantees
Georgios Chionas (Liverpool) Selling in Privacy in Blockchain Transactions
Stefano De Angelis (Nethermind) Consensus from Data Availability Sampling
Constantine Doumanidis (Princeton) Routing Attacks on Ethereum: A Systematic Exploration
Fatima Elsheimy (Yale) Optimal Best-of-Both-Worlds Consensus
Neil Giridharan (UC Berkeley) Ambulance: Saving BFT through Racing
Longfei Qiu (Yale) Formal Verification of Asynchronous Consensus Protocols
Qianyu Yu (The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou)) Angelfish: Leader, DAG, or Anywhere in Between

Friday, May 29

9:30–10:45
Patrick O'Grady (Commonware)The Anatomy of a Blockchain
11:15–12:30
Joachim Neu (a16z crypto)Accountability
12:30–1:15
Lunch
1:15–2:30
Kartik Nayak (Duke University)Synchronous BFT Protocols
Getting here

Venue

Building

Columbia Engineering
Innovation Hub
Tang Family Hall

Address

2276 12th Avenue, Floor 2
New York, NY 10027

Campus

Columbia University
Morningside Heights, Manhattan

Dates

May 26–29, 2026
New York City