Robin Linus

Stuff I like

Bitcoin. A math-based money anchored into physics. A machine producing an incorruptible truth. A solid foundation for healthy societies.

ZeroSync: A STARK proof to verify Bitcoin's chain state in an instant.
BitVM: Compute Anything on Bitcoin.
BitVM Bridge: Bridging Bitcoin to Second Layers. A collaboration with Matteo Maffei and his Security and Privacy group at TU Wien.
Stakechains: A Bitcoin-backed proof-of-stake algorithm based on one-time Schnorr signatures (presented at CoDecFin'22). Also co-authored a research paper on this topic with David Tse and his group at Stanford University.
zkCoins: A payment system with strong privacy and scalability, combining a client-side validation protocol with validity proofs. Co-authored a research paper on this topic with Liam Eagen and Jonas Nick from Blockstream Research.
BitStream: Decentralized file hosting incentivised via Bitcoin payments.
I am a Ph.D. Student at Stanford University, focusing on the scalability, privacy, and usability of Bitcoin.

Designing protocols on top of Bitcoin such as improved stealth addresses, light clients, or an OR operator for DLCs and PTLCs based on verifiable encryption.
Some Day Peg: Betting on the activation of a two-way peg bridging BTC to other chains. Co-created with Burak and Super Testnet.
Bitcoin DEX (backend is down). A trading protocol based on non-interactive atomic swaps using sighash_single. A Bitcoin SPV client in Solidity for a trustless two-way peg between Ethereum and Bitcoin.
Simple Bitcoin web app. Usability research on key management, using secure key generation from email and password via a WarpWallet, and storing credentials in the Browser's password manager. A related work is Secure Bookmarks, co-created with Egor Homakov.
Exotic Bitcoin Scripts such as TicTacToe in a Schnorr signature, or nondeterministic programming.
OP_CAT magic such as Merkle inclusion proofs, emulating covenants using ECDSA, emulating EC multiplication, and exploring Evil Covenants. I joined the program committee of StarkWare's $1 million OP_CAT Research Fund.
Dark Skippy: A novel mechanism for key exfiltration attacks. Co-created with Lloyd Fournier and Nick Farrow.

SnapDrop: share files on your local network. Had millions of monthly users since its launch in 2016.
Raised awareness for known privacy issues in browsers and web platforms (e.g. Github, StackOverflow, Instagram) to create public awareness to fix them. E.g. "webkay" and "social media leak".
Discovered security bugs in major software products and received bug bounties from companies like Google, Twitter, and Apple.