ETH Zurich Experts Join Anza to Spearhead Solana Protocol Research

Anza, a Solana-focused development company launched in January of this year, has announced the formation of a dedicated research team, Anza Research. This new initiative aims to drive fundamental improvements to the Solana protocol, focusing on enhancing its performance, security, and overall capabilities.

This announcement comes on the heels of another major move by Anza: just last week, prominent Ethereum researcher Max Resnick left ConsenSys to join Anza and focus his expertise on Solana's development. With Resnick's addition, Anza gains valuable expertise in blockchain infrastructure development, with a focus on fee markets and consensus implementations.

World-Class Expertise

Anza Research is assembled with top research minds in the blockchain world. The research team, comprised of Professor Roger Wattenhofer and his recent PhD students, Kobi Sliwinski and Quentin Kniep, from the renowned ETH Zurich Institute, brings a wealth of expertise in distributed systems and blockchain technology.

Professor Wattenhofer is a world-leading expert in distributed systems, having advised the first-ever PhD thesis in the blockchain domain and authored the influential book "Blockchain Science."  Sliwinski and Kniep bring extensive experience in blockchain consensus protocols and Rust development, having contributed to projects like Dfinity, Sui, Ethereum, and Algorand.

Founded by a group of executives and core engineers from Solana Labs, Anza has been actively involved in building key infrastructure for the Solana ecosystem. This includes developing Agave, a forked version of the Solana Labs validator client, and contributing to other essential protocols within the network.

Revamping the Consensus Protocol

The team's initial focus will be revamping Solana's consensus protocol, drawing on the latest research on adversarial behavior within distributed systems. This includes enhancing resilience against network disruptions and potential attacks while also optimizing for improved latency and throughput.

Anza Research's commitment to fundamental research underscores the ongoing evolution of the Solana ecosystem. By focusing on core protocol improvements, Anza aims to solidify Solana's position as a leading blockchain platform for decentralized applications and innovation.