Steven Goldfeder: The Story of Arbitrum's Founder and CEO

Steven Goldfeder is the CEO and Co-Founder of Offchain Labs, a company founded at Princeton and supported by venture funding, known for creating Arbitrum.

Steven Goldfeder is the CEO and Co-Founder of Offchain Labs, a Princeton-founded startup incubated by Plaid co-founder William "Bill" Lee and backed by venture capitalists. The company is the creator of Arbitrum, a Layer 2 scaling solution for Ethereum.

Goldfeder earned his Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from Yeshiva University and later pursued his Ph.D. in Computer Science at Princeton University, graduating in 2018. At Princeton, he was part of the Security & Privacy Research Group, a CITP Graduate Student Fellow, and a recipient of the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.

Goldfeder's interest in computer science blossomed early, evident in his diverse range of early jobs. Before joining Princeton, he completed three internships at Google as a software engineer between 2013 and 2015, where he contributed to large-scale systems. In 2016, he undertook a Research Intern role at Microsoft Research, concentrating on security and privacy aspects of blockchain and distributed systems. His early work in cryptography and distributed computing laid the foundation for his later contributions to making blockchain more scalable.

The idea for Offchain Labs was born in September 2018 when Goldfeder, together with Ed Felten and Harry Kalodner, co-founded the company. Their collaboration on Arbitrum as a project at Princeton University in 2018 led to the publication of a research paper. The research focused on how Arbitrum could be used to help Ethereum process a larger volume of transactions. Recognizing the potential for real-world impact, they pivoted from academia to launching Offchain Labs.

Their mission was to create a faster and more accessible version of Ethereum, aiming to expand its reach to a wider range of developers and users.

Arbitrum, an "Optimistic Rollup," is designed to alleviate the traffic and high fees encountered on Ethereum by handling transactions off-chain while still leveraging Ethereum’s primary network for security. This approach provides a cost-effective and time-efficient method for developers and users to interact with Ethereum in a more seamless manner.

By October 2023, Arbitrum One, a Layer 2 Ethereum solution developed by Offchain Labs, had surpassed 1 billion transactions since its August 2021 launch. This milestone placed Arbitrum ahead of competitors like OP Mainnet and Base in terms of both total transactions and total value locked (TVL).

As Arbitrum reached this significant benchmark, it had more transactions than any other Layer 2. It was closely followed by Optimism’s OP Mainnet, which had about 656 million transactions, and Base, which had around 365 million transactions within the same period. In terms of TVL, Arbitrum stood at $1.16 billion, compared to Optimism’s $885 million and Base’s $604 million.

This data underscores Arbitrum’s rapid expansion in the rapidly growing Layer 2 market. Arbitrum One is known for keeping Ethereum’s transactions secure while offering the benefit of lower fees and faster transactions to users.

Its strong ecosystem, which attracts DeFi projects, NFT platforms, and other blockchain applications, has contributed to its rising popularity.

Goldfeder's interest in computer science and technology started early, leading him to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from Yeshiva University. His passion for the field led him to further his studies at Princeton University, where he obtained his Ph.D. in Computer Science in 2018.

During his time at Princeton, he was a member of the Security & Privacy Research Group and a CITP Graduate Student Fellow. For his outstanding academic achievements, he was also awarded the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.

Goldfeder's early experience in software engineering and cryptography came through various jobs he held. He completed three internships as a Software Engineer at Google from 2013 to 2015, focusing on large-scale systems. In 2016, he joined Microsoft Research as a Research Intern, working on security and privacy aspects of blockchain and distributed systems.

This early work in cryptography and distributed computing paved the way for his later contributions to making blockchain technology more scalable and efficient.

In September 2018, together with Ed Felten and Harry Kalodner, they founded Offchain Labs. The idea was sparked by their research at Princeton University, where they developed Arbitrum as a project in 2018. The same year, they published a research paper introducing Arbitrum and its role in aiding Ethereum in handling a larger throughput of transactions.

Recognizing the potential for broader impact, they pivoted from academia to launching Offchain Labs in 2018. The startup is focused on accelerating and simplifying the use of Ethereum, aiming to expand its reach to a wider range of developers and users.

Arbitrum, an "Optimistic