# Kostas Chalkias

> Kostas Chalkias is the Greek cryptographer and Mysten Labs co-founder whose work spans R3, Meta’s Libra project and the Sui blockchain. His career joins research on signatures and zero-knowledge proofs with a practical interest in making digital systems usable and verifiable.

- **Role:** Co-founder and Chief Cryptographer at Mysten Labs
- **Organizations:** Mysten Labs, Meta, R3, University of Macedonia, American University of Sharjah
- **Nationality:** Greek
- **Education:** PhD in cryptography, University of Macedonia, MSc in Applied Informatics, University of Macedonia
- **Known for:** More than 50 scientific papers and eight patents, according to his Sui author profile., Co-founded Mysten Labs and contributed to Sui’s cryptography., Co-authored research on blockchained post-quantum signatures.

## Career timeline

- **1988** — Received an Amstrad computer at age six and began learning BASIC.
- **2006–2010** — Completed doctoral research on identity-based and timed-release encryption at the University of Macedonia.
- **2017–2018** — Worked on post-quantum signatures at R3 and co-authored Blockchained Post-Quantum Signatures with Mike Hearn and others.
- **2018** — Joined Facebook’s cryptography team, later working on Libra.
- **2021** — Co-founded Mysten Labs with Evan Cheng, Adeniyi Abiodun, Sam Blackshear and George Danezis.
- **2023** — Sui mainnet launched on May 3.
- **2026** — Discussed security, continuous auditing and portable AI memory in public interviews.

## Achievements

- More than 50 scientific papers and eight patents, according to his Sui author profile.
- Co-founded Mysten Labs and contributed to Sui’s cryptography.
- Co-authored research on blockchained post-quantum signatures.
- Co-authored Meta’s announcement of Winterfell, an open-source STARK prover and verifier.
- Contributed to zkLogin and HashWires.

## Latest updates

- **2026-08** — On The Starting Block, discussed AI risks to cryptography, continuous auditing and Walrus Memory.
- **2026-07** — In an Outliers interview, recounted his childhood in Halkidiki and his path to Mysten Labs.
- **2026-06** — Spoke on a Proof of Talk Paris panel about securing on-chain finance and the machine economy.

## Links

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chalkiaskostas
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/kostascrypto
- GitHub: https://github.com/kchalkias

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/kostas-chalkias
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-09-29