Aleksandar Kuzmanovic is a professor of computer science at Northwestern University in the United States, who has been focusing on computer network research. The Northwestern Networks group he leads is committed to building protocols and systems that can improve the speed of the Internet. He founded the bloXroute lab in 2017, hoping to drive network scalability by improving the efficiency of blockchain. Today, bloXroute has become a recognized network layer solution for multiple blockchains and is widely used by traders in the DeFi field.
We hope to understand through this interview how entrepreneurs with a global university background view the future development of the Web3 industry, and how they integrate their own expertise with blockchain technology. Therefore, we have specially invited Professor Aleksandar Kuzmanovic to be the guest speaker of the "OKX Campus Interview" series, and he said in his sharing: "In the path of driving the mass adoption of blockchain, Wallet as a Service (WaaS) is crucial, which is the key to Web3 welcoming the next 1 billion users." We hope his background and experience can provide us with a unique industry perspective. The following is the original interview, hoping it will be helpful to you.
The "OKX Campus Interview" series is a special column produced by OKX, hosted by OKX official community ambassador Mercy (@Mercy_okx), aiming to uncover the industry perspectives of global university personnel and provide reference for friends who are starting businesses in Web3 or looking for employment.
1. Please introduce yourself briefly.
I am Aleksandar Kuzmanovic, a professor of computer science at Northwestern University, focusing on computer network research. The Northwestern Networks group I lead is committed to building protocols and systems that can improve the speed of the Internet. When I first encountered blockchain, I naturally viewed it as a computer network optimization problem, because blockchain is essentially a network that relies on efficient data transmission. This recognition led me to found the bloXroute lab in 2017, focusing on solving this challenge. Initially, our vision was to drive blockchain scalability by improving its efficiency. Today, bloXroute has become a recognized network layer solution for multiple blockchains and is widely used by traders in the DeFi field.
2. In your view, what is the current state of the Web3 industry?
The Web3 industry has developed rapidly in recent years, and we can easily review the changes of the past decade. For example, when we founded bloXroute Labs in 2017, DeFi and MEV did not even exist. This shows that innovation in this field is progressing at an amazing speed. This is not surprising, because when building a completely new financial system, especially one based on a completely new concept, there will always be a large number of problems to be solved.
In my view, one thing is very clear: in the initial few years, Web3 was mainly driven by people's vision of the potential of blockchain, and new blockchain projects emerged almost every day. Although there is still a lot of room for innovation in the field, I believe the industry has now entered a relatively stable stage. The real challenge going forward is how to make it easier for ordinary users to use blockchain.
3. What do you think is the core driving force for the future development of the Web3 industry? How do you view the current talent situation in the Web3 industry?
I believe this is absolutely a multi-billion dollar question, especially about how to achieve mass adoption. As I mentioned earlier, significant progress has been made in blockchain performance. At the same time, I have also recently observed that more effort has been put into how to make it easier for ordinary users to access and use this technology. In my view, the development of "Wallet as a Service" (WaaS) is crucial, as it effectively bridges the gap between blockchain technology and ordinary users. Now, users can use blockchain technology more conveniently without delving into the technical details they neither care about nor need to know, and may not even be aware that they are using blockchain.
Of course, I hope universities can play a certain role in this. Given the technical challenges in the Web3 field, which are at the intersection of cryptography, computer science, game theory and finance, it is important to have a comprehensive and rigorous approach (including peer-reviewed publications) to systematically help solve these problems.
Over the past decade, the attitude of Northwestern University and the entire academic community has changed significantly. Northwestern University itself has a unique feature, as we have the top-notch Kellogg School of Management, which provides huge potential and talent reserves for entrepreneurship, some of which have entered the Web3 field.
Similar trends have also emerged in the engineering school. Specifically, blockchain courses are regularly offered by professors from different disciplines, covering subjects from game theory to computer systems. This allows more and more students to get in touch with and participate in Web3. To a large extent, Web3 has become a mainstream topic, which is an exciting phenomenon.
4. In the next 5-10 years, which areas of the Web3 industry are most likely to undergo major changes?
In addition to bloXroute, my friend and colleague Professor Xinyu Xing (who recently joined us from Pennsylvania State University) is the founder of Sec3, a company focused on smart contract auditing. Smart contract auditing is obviously a critical area, simply because even small errors can lead to catastrophic consequences, as we have witnessed many times in the past. Therefore, it is essential to ensure that the implementation and deployment of smart contracts undergo rigorous verification.
For entrepreneurs aspiring to enter the Web3 field, I have two suggestions. The first is more general - if you are confident in your ideas or projects, be brave and showcase them, fight for them. The second is that a good idea is never too late, especially in a relatively young field like Web3. I remember when my doctoral student Uri Klarman and I founded bloXroute Labs in 2017, we also faced similar challenges. At the time, we felt the industry seemed to be stabilizing, as if there was not much room for new projects. But it turned out that 2017 was not the case, and it is not the case now either. Novel ideas always have room for development.
5. After years of deep involvement in the Web3 industry, do you have any insights to share?
My academic and entrepreneurial journey in the Web3 field is quite unique. Initially, like many others, I had heard of Bitcoin, but I didn't pay much attention to it and never thought it would have such a huge impact. Over the years, many peer-to-peer systems have been developed, and I thought Bitcoin was just one of them. The difference is that Bitcoin truly has the potential to be transformative, because its goals go far beyond ordinary systems.
After Bitcoin became popular for a few years, other blockchain technologies began to gradually attract attention. So my students and I also started to study blockchain and explore its potential applications. We published several academic papers in this field, and it was through this research that we gained a deep understanding and practical experience of blockchain systems.
This experience ultimately led to the birth of bloXroute Labs. We realized that just as content distribution or traditional financial services have dedicated networks, blockchain also urgently needs an efficient dedicated network. The biggest challenge is how to design a highly efficient network while retaining the core decentralized characteristics of blockchain.
Finally, and most importantly, ideas only make sense when they are put into action. Having an idea is just the beginning, it's just a concept. What really drives us to success is a group of dedicated and passionate people, like Uri Klarman and Eyal Markovich of bloXroute, who are the ones who brought these ideas to life and made them visible and usable for people. So talented people with execution ability are the real key to success.
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