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Jason Teutsch


About me.

I'm the founder of TrueBit, a scalable verification solution for blockchains.

I've held postdoc positions with Prateek Saxena at NUS, Trent Jaeger at Penn State and Wolfgang Merkle at Universität Heidelberg. Previously I have served as a US Fulbright fellow to Israel and to Hungary. From 2008-2010 I held a research staff position at CCR-La Jolla, and before that I worked at the RAND Corporation. I fulfilled my dissertation research as a CIC Traveling Scholar at the University of Chicago computer science department under the supervision of Lance Fortnow. I earned a PhD in mathematics from Indiana University in 2007, a DM in composition from the IU School of Music in 2004, and a BA in guitar performance and mathematics from Pomona College in 2000.

I analyze and develop distributive systems security with special focus on cryptocurrencies. While proper financial incentives allow us to build powerful new systems, misplaced incentives can have dangerous consequences. My work has anticipated the SmartPool project as well as network failure on Bitcoin. On the theory side, my combinatorial and game-theoretic results have shown the existence of efficient list approximations for shortest descriptions, introduced the notion of integer-valued martingales, and revealed interactions between algorithmic randomness, fractal geometry, and additive number theory. I have an Erdős number of 2.

Here's my full CV.