Background
Eric Wustrow is an associate professor at the University of Colorado Boulder whose work covers computer and network security. His university directory lists appointments in Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering and Computer Science. His own research page emphasizes censorship circumvention, protocol security and Internet measurement. Within that broader research program, he has published work directly examining cryptocurrency proof-of-work systems and has taught a dedicated cryptocurrency-security course. [1][2]
Biography
Wustrow's work connects the study of deployed systems with questions about how those systems can fail under adversarial pressure. His university materials describe research into both the measurement of Internet censorship and tools intended to help users communicate despite it. That work is distinct from cryptocurrency engineering, but it supplies useful context for his interest in distributed infrastructure and security assumptions. [1][2]
His publication record includes research on encrypted communications, network measurement and censorship resistance. A 2024 paper, “Ten Years of ZMap,” lists Wustrow among its co-authors. His more recent publication list includes 2025 work on censorship affecting QUIC traffic and on regional censorship in China. These publications establish that his current research activity extends beyond the cryptocurrency papers discussed here. They should not be presented as blockchain deployments or as products sold to digital-asset users. [3]
Cryptocurrency Research
In 2016, Wustrow and Benjamin VanderSloot presented “DDoSCoin: Cryptocurrency with a Malicious Proof-of-Work” at the USENIX Workshop on Offensive Technologies. The paper studies a deliberately harmful alternative to ordinary mining puzzles: a design in which participants can demonstrate activity contributing to a denial-of-service attack. Its relevance is analytical, showing that the choice of work rewarded by a cryptocurrency can have consequences outside the ledger itself. This profile describes a published security-research construction, not an allegation that the authors conducted a criminal campaign or a recommendation to deploy the design. [4]
A separate collaboration with Marcella Hastings and Nadia Heninger explored a different question: whether proof-of-work could be directed toward solving discrete-logarithm problems. “The Proof is in the Pudding: Proofs of Work for Solving Discrete Logarithms” was published at Financial Cryptography and Data Security in 2019. It proposes a distributed construction based on Pollard rho and discusses the practical difficulties and trade-offs involved. The authors describe a possible way to turn blockchain computation toward another cryptographic task; that proposal should not be confused with evidence that a production network adopted it. [5]
Read together, the two papers examine what a mining incentive actually rewards. One considers a harmful use of the underlying activity, while the other investigates computation with a separate cryptographic purpose. Neither result justifies a general claim that existing cryptocurrencies are broken, nor does either establish a commercial token venture founded by Wustrow. [4][5]
Teaching and Current Work
Wustrow's personal faculty page records ECEN 5033, Cryptocurrency Security, among his previous courses, specifically in spring 2019. His university directory also lists computer-security teaching and spring 2026 instruction in Programming Digital Systems. These are dated teaching records, not a claim that the cryptocurrency course is currently offered every semester. His present institutional role remains associate professor at CU Boulder. [1][2]
Why Katharos Follows
Wustrow offers a research-led perspective on cryptocurrency infrastructure. His work helps readers distinguish the mechanics of consensus from the incentives and external effects of the computation used to support it. His relevance to this directory is grounded in identifiable publications and teaching, rather than trading commentary, investment promotion or an assumed leadership role at a blockchain company. [2][4][5]
Areas to Follow
Cryptocurrency security; proof-of-work design; network security; censorship resistance; and the interaction between cryptographic protocols and deployed systems.
Category
Community, Media & Education.
Current Position
Associate Professor, University of Colorado Boulder. [1][2]
Photo Credit
Jacobs School of Engineering/U.C. San Diego, via RadSec.org, CC BY 4.0. Historical research photograph; original image metadata records 20 August 2014. Cropped from a photograph of J. Alex Halderman and Eric Wustrow, resized and converted to a 16:9 JPEG. No padding, retouching or synthetic alteration. Source and license: [6][7]. No endorsement implied.
Source Notice
Prepared from university, author and research-publisher sources, checked 5 November 2026. Research proposals are identified as proposals rather than verified production deployments.