Job Description
Cryptoeconomics refers to the combination of cryptography, computer networks and game theory to provide secured and decentralized systems exhibiting some set of economic dis/incentives (https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Cryptoeconomics).
Along with the CTO and cryptoeconomic researcher you will participate in Kleros cryptoeconomic research.
You will chose a topic among:
-
“Study of the different voting and token redistribution methods.”
In Kleros, jurors are incentivized to vote honestly by a system inspired by the SchellingCoin (https://blog.ethereum.org/2014/03/28/schellingcoin-a-minimal-trust-universal-data-feed/). You will study the game theory involved and design experiments to test the system. -
“Study of multi-outcome dispute resolution.”
If a ruling only has two possible outcomes, an easy solution is to penalize the parties who voted differently from the main outcome. However things get more complicated when there is multiple parties in a dispute and multiple outcomes involved. You will study and propose methods to solve those issues. -
“Griefing in dispute resolution systems.”
Parties don’t need to get intra-system gains to attack the system. Extra-system gains like destroying a competing system or shorting a system token on markets before attacking a system can also motivate attackers. You will study the griefing opportunities, their cost and their impact for various dispute resolution systems. -
“Honest Unity.”
Some cryptosystems, just require one party to be honest to work. This is the case of an Oracle which would use a dispute resolution system in case parties make a different report about an event (assuming the dispute resolution system works as intended). Parties can chose to participate honestly, don’t participate or participate dishonestly. The reward for being honest cannot scale with the number of honest parties (else we could have a sibyl attack). So if a sufficient amount of parties act honestly, their action will cost them more than the reward they will get. You will study this problem from a theoretical point of view and run at least one experiment to see how actors behave in practice in the problem setting. -
“Random Number Generation among parties not trusting each others.”
Following some work exposed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvXwD7SY7dw , you will make a study and/or implementation of RNG methods for blockchain and propose some improvements. -
“Beyond gas limit” Following the preliminary work exposed here:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1eV2bIjGdPD-uQgwdb7C3M8Hg3m4Mdm1kTQunq4tHWZ4/edit#slide=id.g35f391192_00
You will develop methods to get results of specific computationally intensive tasks with minimal on-chain complexity by allowing people to post results with a bond and anyone to prove that a result is false with minimal complexity. An example of usecase for Kleros is smart contracts using Schulze method with liquid voting.
You can look at a simple example there: https://nopaste.xyz/?8f836ed66fd7d303#aVHLMdzHJQ/sKR1ojMpxa+KCjF5o1eVKeLfqr33NEgc=
?) You can also propose your own topic.
We expect you to make a research paper during the internship/thesis.
This internship/thesis is open for last year of bachelor or master student in Computer Science, Economy, Mathematics or related fields. You can also apply if you just finished a degree which does not make internships mandatory.
Perks:
*The internship compensation is 800€/month for bachelor students and 1200€/month for masters students. For thesis, an agreement must be made with the university.
*If it goes well it can end up into a permanent position after you graduate.
*Unlimited coffee (the best of Lisbon).
*Work in a coworking hosting blockchain related events.
For the prescreen you can chose between:
*Answers to this Evaluation in Cryptoeconomics (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LEwrZm2I4CU23cbMr2nOw25ic1oE1TmDEprPgw7GYxc/) (only available for applicants of topics 1-4).
*Complete this evaluation in blockchain/dapp algos (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1h8dcjCqaCE6EcWl_rK32d8j-mgqz_zjNyn0GSzSAghs/edit#heading=h.mahdfqi5pwki) (only available for applicants of topics 5-6)
*Write a short report about the internship topic you chose. It should be between 1 and 2 pages, explaining the problem, the challenges, your insight and how you plan to overcome them. (possible for all applicants and the only possible choice for topics you propose).
Note that you can start an intro (with a specific message) before making a formal application. Please specify us which topics you are interested into (you can choose multiples) and the date of your internship. Once the intro is accepted, please complete the prescreen of your choice.
Skills
Mathematics, Computer Science, Game Theory, Research, Economy
Compensation
$12K – $17K
No Equity