Yonatan Sompolinsky
Yonatan Sompolinsky is an Israeli computer scientist, founding scientist at DAGLABS, research associate at Harvard University, and founder of KASPA.[9] He is known for his work on the GHOST (Greedy Heaviest-Observed Sub-Tree) protocol, the SPECTRE consensus algorithm, the PHANTOM/GHOSTDAG family of protocols, and the DAG KNIGHT protocol for high-throughput proof-of-work systems.[8][10][11][12] He was one of the early researchers whose GHOST protocol informed Ethereum's original consensus design.[8][2]
Education
Yonatan Sompolinsky studied computer science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he completed his undergraduate and graduate studies and earned a Ph.D. in computer science with a focus on distributed systems and blockchain consensus protocols.[8][10] He later held a postdoctoral researcher position at Harvard University and is a research associate there, working on scalable proof-of-work consensus mechanisms for blockchains, including DAG-based protocols such as PHANTOM/GHOSTDAG and DAG KNIGHT.[9]
Career
In 2013, Yonatan Sompolinsky, along with his advisor Aviv Zohar, proposed the GHOST (Greedy Heaviest Observed Sub-Tree) protocol. The GHOST protocol addresses scalability limitations of traditional blockchain consensus algorithms by modifying how the chain selects its main branch in the presence of frequent block production, allowing higher block rates while maintaining security. It informed the design of several blockchain systems, including aspects of Ethereum's early consensus mechanism.[8]
In 2016, Sompolinsky continued to explore consensus algorithms for DAG-based systems. His research focused on defining efficient methods to order transactions and prevent conflicts in proof-of-work DAG protocols, leading to the SPECTRE (Serialization of Proof-of-work Events) consensus algorithm, co-authored with Aviv Zohar and others, which introduced a voting-based approach to reach probabilistic agreement on the ordering of blocks in a DAG.[10]
In 2021, Sompolinsky founded KASPA, a layer 1 blockchain that operates on a proof-of-work system and incorporates the PHANTOM/GHOSTDAG protocol, and uses a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG).[7]
Beyond GHOST and SPECTRE, Sompolinsky co-authored the PHANTOM/GHOSTDAG protocol family, which generalizes Nakamoto consensus to high-throughput DAG structures, and later co-authored the DAG KNIGHT protocol, a parameterless refinement of this approach designed to improve robustness and confirmation times in proof-of-work networks.[11][12] In 2025 he articulated his vision of “real-time decentralization” in public talks, describing how high-frequency proof-of-work DAG consensus could enable near-instant settlement while preserving decentralization.[13] That same year he declined inclusion in Binance’s Blockchain 100 awards and an invitation to the associated ceremony, emphasizing the role of the Kaspa community in the vote and expressing a preference for cypherpunk-aligned, research-driven development over exchange-centered recognition.[14]
