Why Some Blockchain Ideas Can’t Wait – Aparna Krishnan, Co-Founder Mechanism Labs

Aparna Krishnan talks about her research company Mechanism Labs, mentoring women in blockchain at She(256), dealing with the bro culture in the blockchain space, her experience growing up under Internet censorship and how it shaped her interest in cryptography, building up the education department at Blockchain at Berkeley, what she observed teaching introductions to the technology, takeaways from her Thiel Fellowship, and much more.

Aparna is a Thiel Fellow and the co-founder of Mechanism Labs, an open source blockchain research lab. She studied computer science at the University of California, Berkeley, works on cryptography research and was the Head of Education and Executive VP at Blockchain at Berkeley where she founded the Education Department. She has taught the world’s largest university accredited blockchain course, and she is a mentor at She(256), a movement to increase diversity and break down barriers to entry in the blockchain space.

• Aparna Krishnan: github.com/aparnakr, twitter.com/aparnalocked, medium.com/@aparnalocked, www.linkedin.com/in/aparna-krishnan
• Mechanism Labs: mechanismlabs.io, github.com/Mechanism-Labs, medium.com/mechanism-labs, twitter.com/mechanism_labs
• She(256): www.she256.io, twitter.com/SHE_256
• Thiel Fellowship: thielfellowship.org
• Blockchain at Berkeley: blockchain.berkeley.edu, twitter.com/CalBlockchain
• Blockchain at Berkeley YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/channel/UC5sgoRfoSp3jeX4DEqKLwKg/videos

Also mentioned in the episode:

• Manush Movahedi: www.cs.yale.edu/homes/movahedi, scholar.google.com/citations?user=3iOahLIAAAAJ&hl=en
• Elaine Shi: elaineshi.com, twitter.com/ElaineRShi

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