Episode 61: Statistical modeling of PoS systems with Tarun Chitra

In this episode, we chat with Tarun Chitra about a broad range on topics, from his work on early non-blockchain ASICs, to making models in high frequency trading, and the nuances of statistical modeling of PoS systems in blockchain. Tarun's new company Gauntlet (https://gauntlet.network/) is building a simulation platform for crypto networks to help developers understand how decisions about security, governance and consensus mechanisms are likely to affect network activity and asset value. Here are a few of the articles that we discuss: * On Bitcoin and Red Balloons (https://users.encs.concordia.ca/~clark/biblio/bitcoin/Babioff%202011.pdf) * Secure High-Transaction Rate Processing in Bitcoin (https://eprint.iacr.org/2013/881.pdf) We also mention a previous episode with Axel Ericsson from Vest that you can find here --> https://www.zeroknowledge.fm/49 For a bit more about Tarun, follow him on Twitter (https://twitter.com/tarunchitra), or check out this Vice Article about his past work at D.E. Shaw Research creating simulation models of glass molecules (https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/jp5nxk/the-glass-man). Special thanks to this week's sponsor: Trail of Bits (https://www.trailofbits.com). If you want to find out more about JP Smith's extreme security challenge we mentioned at the beginning of this episode, you can find his write-up on the Trail of Bits blog here --> What do La Croix, octonions, and Second Life have in common? (https://blog.trailofbits.com/2019/01/02/what-do-la-croix-octonions-and-second-life-have-in-common/) If you like what we do: Follow us on Twitter - @zeroknowledgefm (https://twitter.com/zeroknowledgefm) Join us on Telegram - https://t.me/joinchat/B_81tQ57-ThZg8yOSx5gjA Support us on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/zeroknowledge Or directly here: ETH: 0xC0FFEE1B5083230a5154F55f253B6b6ae8F29B1a BTC: 1cafekGa3podM4fBxPSQc6RCEXQNTK8Zz