Vassilis Zikas is an associate professor of Computer Science and Director of the Purdue Blockchain Lab at Purdue University. Prior to his current appointment he was an associate professor at the School of Informatics of the University of Edinburgh and Vice-Director of its Blockchain Technology Lab, and an assistant professor at RPI. He is one of the pioneers in the blockchain and decentralization research, and has been affiliated with (and supported by) top blockchain and cryptocurrency companies. Indicatively, he was research fellow and area leader of IOG (formerly known as IOHK), where as a member of its core research team he co-developed the basis for the decentralization of its flagship Cardano blockchain—holding a top-ten cryptocurrency; he is currently the Chief Scientist of Sunday Group, and the lead architect of its flagship Mobby blockchain project, integrating blockchain with AI-based reputation systems. In the past he was a fellow of the Simons Institute, UC Berkeley, and a Swiss NSF fellow. His work is supported by government agencies both in the US (NSF, DoD) and in Switzerland (Swiss NSF), and by the blockchain industry including multi-million faculty gifts and grants by Sunday Group and the Algorand Foundation.