Emin Gün Sirer

Emin Gün Sirer is a Turkish-American computer scientist and the co-founder and CEO of Ava Labs, where he led the development of the Avalanche Consensus protocol that powers the Avalanche blockchain platform and the AVAX token. 

Ava Labs develops Avalanche, a high-speed, low-cost, eco-friendly blockchain platform. It also enables the creation and deployment of custom smart contract applications. AvaCloud helps businesses launch fully managed blockchains efficiently. It also offers Core, a secure digital wallet for trading, bridging, and transacting assets. Owl Explains provides educational resources on blockchain and Web3, covering core concepts, use cases, and policy developments.

Before founding Ava Labs, he was an Associate Professor of Computer Science at Cornell University. Emin also served at AT&T Bell Labs, DEC SRC, and NEC. He co-founded bloXroute Labs, a company offering a solution to the scalability bottleneck of the Layer-0 network layer. 

He co-directed the Initiative for Cryptocurrencies and Smart Contracts (IC3), developed the SPIN operating system, and led the Nexus OS project. He created Karma, a peer-to-peer virtual currency system that was among the first to implement a distributed mint. He also developed Bitcoin-NG, a Bitcoin scalability proposal, and Bitcoin Covenants, which focuses on improving transaction security.

Emin Gün Sirer co-authored the influential paper “Majority is not Enough” with Ittay Eyal, which exposed a vulnerability in Bitcoin’s consensus mechanism called selfish mining. He received the National Science Foundation CAREER Award and was named in Popular Science’s Brilliant-10. 

He holds U.S. patent #6865735 (2005) for a method of rewriting executable content to enforce site-specific properties. He was also appointed to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Technical Advisory Committee.

Emin Gün Sirer pursued his higher education and studied Computer Science (B.S.E.) at Princeton University from 1989 to 1993. After his undergraduate studies, he pursued a Ph.D. in Computer Science at the University of Washington from 1993 to 2000, under the supervision of Professor Brian N. Bershad.
 

During his Ph.D., Sirer conducted research focused on operating systems and virtual machines. In 2002, he completed his doctoral thesis titled “Secure, Efficient and Manageable Virtual Machine Systems.” One of his early notable contributions was co-authoring a patent titled "A Process for Rewriting Executable Content on a Network Server or Desktop Machine in Order to Enforce Site-Specific Properties," which was granted in 2005 as US Patent #6865735.
 

In the early 2000s, Sirer joined Cornell University as a faculty member in the Department of Computer Science. His work during this period focused on operating systems, peer-to-peer systems, networking, and distributed systems. In 2003, he launched Karma, one of the earliest peer-to-peer cryptocurrency proposals, which introduced key concepts around proof-of-work and decentralised trust management.
 

In the years that followed, Sirer worked on improving scalability and efficiency in distributed systems. He co-led the development of SPIN, an extensible operating system. He also contributed to research on software safety, system performance, and consensus algorithms. Around 2013–2014, he began publishing papers and articles on cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies, becoming a widely cited academic voice in the emerging crypto field.
 

In 2018, Emin Gün Sirer co-founded Ava Labs along with Kevin Sekniqi and Maofan “Ted” Yin. Ava Labs is the team behind the development of the Avalanche blockchain platform, which was publicly launched in September 2020. Avalanche was designed to provide high throughput, low latency, and efficient smart contract deployment, and introduced a novel consensus protocol called the Avalanche Consensus.

Under Sirer’s leadership, Ava Labs has developed and launched several key products. Avalanche is a decentralised platform that enables the creation and deployment of smart contract-based applications. AvaCloud allows businesses to build and manage their own custom blockchains with ease. Core serves as Avalanche’s native wallet, supporting functions such as asset transactions, trading, and bridging across networks.  Additionally, Owl Explains is an educational initiative by Ava Labs that provides accessible information on Sirer and his team have published technical papers and open-sourced key components of the Avalanche protocol. He has also engaged in public discussions about blockchain scalability, Ethereum limitations, and decentralised finance (DeFi).
 

He has been featured in leading media outlets such as Bloomberg, Wired, CoinDesk, and The Block, often discussing Avalanche's role in blockchain development and finance.
 

As of 2025, Emin Gün Sirer continues to serve as the Chief Executive Officer of Ava Labs and as a Professor at Cornell University. He is actively involved in research, development, and public discussions related to blockchain protocols, decentralisation, and the future of digital finance.

Emin Gün Sirer envisions a future where advanced technology and innovative solutions shape the landscape of operating systems, distributed systems, and cryptocurrency research. With a strong foundation in computer science and a diverse range of experiences, his vision encompasses transformative advancements that address critical challenges and unlock new possibilities.
 

Emin Gün Sirer's vision encompasses the pursuit of transformative advancements in operating systems, distributed systems, and cryptocurrency research. Through his pioneering work, he aims to drive innovation, enhance security, and revolutionise the way we approach technology, enabling a future where advanced systems and blockchain solutions empower individuals and organisations across various sectors.

Emin Gün Sirer was honoured as a Brilliant-10 by Popular Science, a prestigious award that acknowledges his outstanding contributions to the field. In addition to this, Emin Gün Sirer has also received the National Science Foundation CAREER Award. This esteemed award is granted to exceptional individuals who demonstrate promising potential in their respective fields and exhibit a strong commitment to both research and education. Furthermore, Emin Gün Sirer has made notable contributions to the world of technology through his patented inventions. One of his remarkable patents is titled "A Process for Rewriting Executable Content on a Network Server or Desktop Machine in Order to Enforce Site-Specific Properties," which he co-authored with Brian N. Bershad. This patent is registered under US Patent #6865735 and was issued on February 3, 2005.