Cubist co-founders Fraser Brown and Riyadh Wabi discuss their cross-chain dApp development toolkit, the state of zero-knowledge proofs, and why Soroban's testing infrastructure sets a new standard for blockchain developer experience.
In this Tech Talks episode, Cubist co-founders Fraser Brown and Riyadh Wabi, both CMU assistant professors, discuss their cross-chain development SDK that lets developers write multi-chain applications as if they run on a single chain. They critique the current state of blockchain tooling, highlighting Soroban's superior testing capabilities compared to EVM platforms. Riyadh provides a candid assessment of zero-knowledge proofs, noting that while theoretically sound, current ZK rollups fall short on practical performance metrics and remain in the research phase. The conversation covers security challenges in multi-chain development, the importance of comprehensive testing infrastructure, and why crypto winters are ideal for building foundational technology.
