# Blockchain Lab CTU ## Project Abstract *In 3-5 sentences what problem are you trying to solve? (The project abstract may be used for for the winners announcement.)* The Blockchain Labs at the Czech Technical University (CTU) aims to establish a dedicated hub for blockchain education, research, and open-source development, advancing Blockchain's ecosystems. By creating foundational blockchain courses and conducting targeted research, the project will develop skilled blockchain professionals and foster global collaboration. Leveraging CTU's existing expertise and infrastructure, the lab will contribute actively to blockchain innovation, positioning Prague as a leading academic and technological center for blockchain research and development. ## Objectives *What are you hoping to accomplish with this grant? How do you define and measure success for this project?* The primary goal is to establish Blockchain Labs at the Czech Technical University, built on three key pillars: 1. **Education** – Develop two courses to equip students with foundational blockchain knowledge, fostering collaboration within the labs and promoting blockchain adoption. 2. **Research** – Conduct research aligned with the Ethereum Foundation’s needs, supporting the Ethereum ethos and vision. 3. **Development** – Contribute to open-source tooling and blockchain infrastructure. ## Outcomes *How does this project benefit the greater Ethereum ecosystem?* This project will benefit the Ethereum ecosystem by: - Establishing a fully operational blockchain R&D lab at CTU, dedicated to advancing Ethereum and the broader blockchain community through cutting-edge research. - Expanding the pool of skilled blockchain developers and researchers in the Czech Republic while attracting experts from abroad. - Actively contributing to the Ethereum ecosystem through node operations, open-source development, and global collaboration. ## Grant Scope *What are you going to research? What is the expected output?* ### **Year One Focus** - Recruiting a Senior Researcher and a Community Ambassador. - Enrolling at least three doctoral students through the Ethereum Fellowship program and initiating research. - Operating Ethereum nodes (archival node, Holesky testnet). - Establishing foundational blockchain courses at CTU. ### **Three-Year Focus** - Developing an academic hub with 15+ contributors advancing blockchain technology. - Building an active blockchain community at CTU. - Participating in multi-institutional projects requiring R&D. ## Related Work *What existing research is relevant to your project? What is the specific gap your research is addressing within this context?* While the final research area remains open pending the interests of future students and senior researchers, one direction under current exploration of our researcher (Luboš Harašta) involves leveraging large language models (LLMs) to guide fuzz testing in blockchain environments. Two recent studies that inspire this approach are described below. [LLM4Fuzz (2024)](https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.11108) introduces a technique where LLMs are used to steer fuzz testing for Ethereum smart contracts by prioritizing high-value code regions and input sequences that are likely to expose vulnerabilities. This work demonstrates that LLM-guided fuzzing not only improves testing efficiency and code coverage but also uncovers critical bugs that conventional fuzzers miss. [Adversarial Generation Method for Smart Contract Fuzz Testing Seeds Guided by Chain-Based LLM (2025)](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10515-024-00483-4) presents a method that refines smart contract fuzzing by employing a chain-of-thought prompting strategy with LLMs to generate high-quality test-case seeds. The study shows that this adversarial, multi-step prompting approach enhances instruction coverage and reduces the time to reach maximal coverage, thereby improving the overall effectiveness of the fuzz testing process. ## Project Team *How many people are working on this project?* *Please list their names and roles for the project as well as how many hours per month will each person work on this project?* The Blockchain Lab will evolve from the university’s existing software engineering [Internship Center](https://czm.fel.cvut.cz/), which currently engages over 40 students annually. The center has successfully executed projects involving UI/UX design, backend and frontend development, and technical analysis. Blockchain Labs will leverage these capabilities to transition towards blockchain-specific development and research, with full support from the Faculty Dean and University Rector. Currently, the team is leading the technical development of the DEUSS platform, an EU-backed blockchain initiative focused on digital transformation for SMEs. The platform enables SMEs to issue long-term digital bonds accessible across the EU. More details: DEUSS Blockchain. **Core Team**: - [Jan Kočí](https://czm.fel.cvut.cz/o-nas/lide/koci) – Head of the Internship Center, Vice Dean - [Albert Švehla](https://www.linkedin.com/in/albert-%C5%A1vehla/) – Deputy Head, Business Coordinator, Researcher - [Luboš Harašta](https://www.linkedin.com/in/lubo%C5%A1-hara%C5%A1ta-7b9a68b6/) – Research Coordinator, Researcher - [Jan Trávníček](https://www.linkedin.com/in/travnicek-jan/) – Frontend Developer, Researcher **Blockchain Labs**: - **Doctoral Students** (at least 3) – Responsible for research activities and publications (120-160 hrs/month each) - Luboš Harašta - Another two candidates are being selected at the moment - **Lead/Senior Researcher** (to be hired) – 80+ hrs/month - **Community Leader/Ambassador** (to be hired) – 20 hrs/month - **Infrastructure Team** (2 members) – Responsible for node operations at the Faculty (20 hrs/month - together) - **Internship Center Students** – Involved as needed (according to their interest and needs of the center) Advisors**: - [Josef Je](https://x.com/JosefJ_) (PWN, ETH Prague) - [Mario Havel](https://x.com/_taxmeifyoucan_?lang=en) (Ethereum Foundation) - [Jakub Vysoký](https://x.com/kvbik?lang=en) (Ethereum Foundation) - [dcbuilder](https://x.com/DCbuild3r) (World Foundation) **Partners**: - [MAMA AI](https://themama.ai/) ## Background *Give us a bit of info and include relevant links, if available! Please provide other projects or research papers (ideally public and/or open source), engagements or other types of proof that your team has the necessary experience to undertake the project you are applying for.* *Any links for us to review? E.g. research papers, blog posts, etc.* Project team members have extensive experience in educational and development activities. The Vice Dean of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering established a fast-growing, internship-oriented center focused on the practical implementation of software engineering skills through the development and maintenance of web applications serving the faculty's needs. The center also provides experienced lecturers who contribute to more than six courses. Since its establishment in 2008, the center has successfully completed several projects with external partners, including IBM, and more than 400 students have completed its internship program. Luboš Harašta is currently leading smart contract development at DEUSS. He recently worked at Perimeter, assisting with fuzzing for Berachain. Previously, he gained experience in smart contract development at MAMA AI, where he prototyped a detection tool for identifying vulnerabilities in smart contracts from bytecode and worked on an AI agent to assist in building a fuzzing harness. Additionally, he developed a chatbot for a pharmaceutical company. Luboš is a PhD candidate interested in conducting research combining fuzzing and AI (currently applying for a summer research internship in ToB led by Gustavo Grieco) and has been considering fuzzing related research topics on the EF's wishlist (EVM-specific fuzzing or client-side fuzzing approaches). Albert Švehla, an internship graduate, currently leads multiple projects, including DEUSS, where he has expanded his technical knowledge to include legal aspects of blockchain use cases, particularly securities tokenization. He has strong expertise in project management and is preparing to eventually become the head of the center. A key partner in promoting this center is MAMA AI—a startup founded by former executives and research experts from the IBM Watson Research Center. MAMA AI provides support along with academic and development expertise in AI/ML-related tasks. ## Methodology *How do you plan to achieve your research objectives?* The primary goal is to first select suitable PhD candidates from multiple applicants. Then, we will determine research areas that align with both the requirements of the PhD program at CTU and the Ethereum Foundation’s research scope. This process could be faster and more efficient if we successfully find and hire a senior research staff member to lead the group of PhD researchers. Ideally, PhD candidates would choose research topics within the senior researcher’s area of expertise. We have already started searching for the best candidates but would prefer an established researcher from the Ethereum Foundation. This also serves as an open call to all EF researchers who may be interested in establishing an R&D center at a university in Prague according to their own vision. Subsequently, all PhD students will aim to participate in the Ethereum Foundation Fellowship Cohort #6 and the following year’s Ethereum Internship program. We believe that these steps, combined with the strict PhD requirements—such as active participation in leading conferences and publishing academic papers in high-impact journals—will ensure the successful establishment of the R&D center. **Note:** We are confident that we can succeed even without a senior researcher specializing in blockchain technology, as our university’s senior members will ultimately guide us toward achieving this goal. ## Timeline *Please include a brief explanation on the milestones/roadmap, along with expected deliverables. Also outline how the funds will be used for the research project and or members of the team.* *Milestone 1: title Budget: based off hourly rate and number of hours Number of hours (roughly) summary of work, subtasks Budget* ### **Roadmap** - **April 2025** – Finalize research areas and submit Ethereum Fellowship applications for doctoral students. - **May 2025** – Deploy Ethereum nodes (archival node, Holesky testnet). - **May 2025** – Public announcement of the Blockchain Lab (ETH Prague?). - **May 2025** – Hire a senior researcher. - **September 2025** – Launch the Beginner Course. - **September 2025** – Official start of the PhD program and potential participation in Ethereum Foundation Fellowship Cohort #6. - **December 2025** – Submit applications for EF internships. - **January 2026** – Expand student involvement in open-source development and research. - **February 2026** – Launch the Advanced Course. - **March 2026** – Publish the first research outputs. --- ### **Milestones** #### **Milestone: Blockchain Lab Kick-off (May – June 2025)** - Develop website and promotional materials. - Make a public announcement. - Deploy Ethereum nodes (Holesky testnet, etc.). - Finalize research topics and submit Ethereum Fellowship applications for doctoral students. - Hire a senior researcher. - Budget (see section _Requested Grant Amount_). #### **Milestone: Beginner Course Launch (September 2025)** - **Beginner Course: Introduction to Blockchain** – Designed to introduce students to blockchain fundamentals and generate interest. - Prepare study materials. - Promote the course among students. - Arrange guest lecturers. #### **Milestone: Advanced Course Development (February 2026)** - **Advanced Course: Ethereum Research** – Covering Ethereum-specific research topics to prepare students for open-source contributions and PhD candidacy. - Prepare study materials. - Promote the course among students. - Arrange guest lecturers. #### **Milestone: Research Outputs (March 2026)** - Publish outcomes based on fellowships and research conducted since July 2025. ## Requested grant amount and how this will be used *Please provide an requested amount and outline of how the grant will be used. A detailed budget proposal would be helpful and some items you could include are:* - *Principal Researchers Costs* - *Other Staff Costs* - *Hardware Costs* - *Software Costs* - *Data Collection Costs* - *Indirect Costs* We have an initial budget of 5M CZK (approximately $215K) for the first year. Additionally, we have access to facilities, equipment, and infrastructure provided by the faculty. Our goal is to allocate the entire budget to personnel, primarily to hire a senior researcher to lead the research and other researchers, including PhD students. | Role | Cost ($/year) | FTE | | ----------------- | ------------- | --- | | Senior Researcher | 80,000 | 1 | | PhD Students (3x) | 120,000 | 3 | | DevOps | 10,000 | 0.2 | | Ambassador | 10,000 | 0.2 | The required amount for salaries is $220K, excluding employee contributions of 35% ($77K), which are covered by the university. This brings the total budget to $297K. Therefore, the requested grant amount is $82K.