Ed Felten is the Co-Founder and Chief Scientist of Offchain Labs, and Professor Emeritus of Computer Science and Public Affairs at Princeton University. He is one of the most distinguished academic researchers in computer security and technology policy to have entered the blockchain space.
Felten's career spans decades of influential security research, including work on secure systems, electronic voting and the intersection of technology with law and policy. He served as Deputy Chief Technology Officer of the United States under President Obama from 2015 to 2017, advising the White House on technology and privacy issues. At Princeton, he directed the Center for Information Technology Policy.
Together with his PhD student Steven Goldfeder and Harry Kalodner, Felten co-authored the original Arbitrum research paper and co-founded Offchain Labs. His academic rigor and policy experience have shaped Arbitrum's security-first design philosophy. As Chief Scientist, he continues to guide the protocol's research direction. Information last checked: August 2026.
