Pavel Dvorak

Cryptographer who did his PhD at ETH Zurich on zero-knowledge proofs and spent 5 years at Trail of Bits auditing smart contracts before anyone called it 'blockchain security.' Has found vulnerabilities in protocols holding over B in value — and reported all of them responsibly. Grew up in Brno, Czech Republic, started programming at 11 on his dad's old Amiga. Writes about cryptography for people who didn't study abstract algebra — how encryption actually works, why most 'crypto' projects have nothing to do with cryptography, and what the post-quantum transition means for everything. Known for a series explaining zero-knowledge proofs using card tricks that got adopted by three university courses. Plays competitive Tetris and considers it applied mathematics.