Columbia CryptoEconomics (CCE) Workshop 2025
The Forum at Columbia University
605 W 125th Street New York, NY
Wednesday, December 10 - Thursday, December 11
Economics and incentives are a critical part of the design of modern layer-1 blockchain protocols such as Ethereum. For example, scarce resources like blockspace require careful pricing. Block rewards, transaction fees, and maximal extracted value (MEV) must be shared across the stakeholders in the system, and participants must be incentivized appropriately. Subtle game theory governs the interactions between block builders, block proposers, and end users. Many of these economic and game-theoretic challenges are specific to the blockchain application domain, necessitating new models, new mechanisms, and new analysis frameworks.
This two-day workshop will bring together practitioners, researchers, and academics to discuss challenges, recent progress, and opportunities in the economics of blockchain protocols. The workshop will consist of invited keynote presentations, contributed talks, and panel discussions.
Confirmed Speakers:
- Orestis Alpos (Common Prefix)
- Ben Berger (Offchain Labs)
- Austin Campbell (NYU / Zero Knowledge Consulting)
- Andrea Canidio (CoW Protocol)
- Panos Chatzigiannis (Visa Research)
- Lioba Heimbach (Category Labs)
- David Hoffman (Bankless)
- Kamilla Kara (Aarhus University)
- Cole Kennelly (Volmex Labs)
- Kshitij Kulkarni (Succinct)
- Andy Lewis-Pye (London School of Economics)
- Thomas Li (Courant Institute)
- Akaki Mamageishvili (Offchain Labs)
- Mike Neuder (Princeton University)
- Noam Nisan (Hebrew University of Jerusalem/Starkware)
- Mallesh Pai (Rice University/Tempo)
- Tim Roughgarden (Columbia Engineering/a16z crypto)
- Joshua Rudolf (Ethereum Foundation)
- Alexander Shamis (Subzero Labs)
- Clara Shikhelman (Chaincode Labs)
- Maria Inês Silva (Ethereum Foundation)
- Srivatsan Sridhar (Stanford)
- Sarisht Wadhwa (Duke University)
- Kyriaki Zioga (Archimedes Research Unit)
Hosts:
- Columbia-Ethereum Research Center on Blockchain Protocol Design
- Briger Family Digital Finance Lab at Columbia Business School
Organizers:
- Justin Drake (Ethereum Foundation)
- Ciamac Moallemi (Columbia Business School/Paradigm)
- Barnabé Monnot (Ethereum Foundation)
- Mike Neuder (Princeton University)
- Tim Roughgarden (Columbia Engineering/a16z crypto)
Schedules
-
Wednesday, December 10, 2025
8:30 – 9:15 AM
Registration / Breakfast (West Atrium)
9:15 - 9:30 AM
Opening Remarks (Auditorium)
Tim Roughgarden, Columbia Engineering / a16z crypto
George Deodatis, Vice Dean of Research, Columbia EngineeringCostis Maglaras, Dean, Columbia Business School
9:30 – 10:30 AM
Session 1 - chaired by Tim Roughgarden (Auditorium)
"On the Welfare of EIP-1559 with Patient Bidders" by Noam Nisan, Hebrew University of Jerusalem / Starkware
"Minimmit: Fast Finality with Even Faster Blocks" by Andy Lewis-Pye, London School of Economics
10:30 – 11:00 AM
Break (West Atrium)
11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Session 2 - chaired by Barnabé Monnot (Auditorium)
"Ethereum Validator Economics in the Age of Real Time Proving" by Kshitij Kulkarni, Succinct
"Adversarial procurement for prover market design" by Mike Neuder, Princeton University
12:00 – 1:45 PM
Lunch Break (West Atrium)
1:45 – 3:00 PM
Session 3 - Lightning Talks chaired by Mike Neuder (Auditorium)
"Becoming Immutable: How Ethereum is Made" by Andrea Canidio, CoW Protocol
"TimeBoost: Do Ahead-in-Time Auctions Work?" by Akaki Mamageishvili, Offchain Labs
"Perils of Parallelism: TFMs under Execution Uncertainty" by Sarisht Wadhwa, Duke University
"Sealed-bid on-chain auctions with bid-hiding, censorship-resistance, and participation-efficiency guarantees" by Orestis Alpos, Common Prefix
"One-dimensional vs. Multi-dimensional Pricing in Blockchain Protocols" by Kyriaki Zioga, Archimedes Research Unit
"The Evolution of Onchain Derivatives" by Cole Kennelly, Volmex Labs
3:00 – 3:30 PM
Break (West Atrium)
3:30 – 4:30 PM
Session 4 - chaired by Ciamac Moallemi (Auditorium)
"Optimistic MEV in Ethereum Layer 2s: Why Blockspace Is Always in Demand" by Lioba Heimbach, Category Labs
"The Darkest Part of the MEV Dark Forest" by Mallesh Pai, Rice University/Tempo/Paradigm4:30 - 4:35 PM
Closing Remarks
Tim Roughgarden, Columbia Engineering / a16z crypto
4:35 – 7:00 PM
Networking Reception (West Atrium)
-
Thursday, December 11, 2025
8:30 – 9:25 AM
Registration / Breakfast (West Atrium)
9:25 – 9:30 AM
Opening Remarks (Auditorium)
Ciamac Moallemi, Columbia Business School
9:30 – 10:30 AM
Session 5 - chaired by Barnabé Monnot (Auditorium)
"EIP-1559: A Five-Year Retrospective" by Tim Roughgarden, Columbia Engineering / a16z crypto
"Economic Censorship Games in Fraud Proofs" by Ben Berger, Offchain Labs10:30 – 11:00 AM
Break (West Atrium)
11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Session 6 - chaired by Tim Roughgarden (Auditorium)
"EVM Gas Metering - How to manage resources on Ethereum" by Maria Inês Silva, Ethereum Foundation
"Consensus Under Adversary Majority" by Srivatsan Sridhar, Stanford University12:00 – 1:45 PM
Lunch Break (West Atrium)
1:45 – 3:00 PM
Session 7 - Lightning Talks chaired by Mike Neuder (Auditorium)
"Bribers, Bribers on The Chain, Is Resisting All in Vain? Trustless Consensus Manipulation Through Bribing Contracts" by Kamilla Kara, Eotvos Lorand University Budapest
"TEE^{BFT}: Pricing the Security of Proof of Cloud" by Alexander Shamis, Subzero Labs
"Can Bitcoin Survive Quantum Computing? An Analysis and Playbook" by Clara Shikhelman, Chaincode Labs"Implied Impermanent Loss: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of Decentralized Liquidity Pools" by Thomas Li, Courant Institute
"LifeXP: Secure, usable and reliable key recovery for Web3 applications" by Panos Chatzigiannis, Visa Research
3:00 – 3:45 PM
Break (West Atrium)
3:45 – 4:30 PM
Session 8 - Panel (Auditorium)
Austin Campbell, NYU / Zero Knowledge Consulting
Mallesh Pai, Rice University / Tempo
Joshua Rudolf, Ethereum Foundation
David Hoffman, Bankless (MODERATOR)
4:30 – 4:35 PM
Closing Remarks (Auditorium)
Ciamac Moallemi, Columbia Business School