Algorand Appoints Pablo Azar as Chief Economist

Algorand, a foundational blockchain and cryptocurrency company, announced that it has named Pablo Azar as Chief Economist. Given Algorand's focus on creating sustainable value in a decentralized economy, Mr. Azar will be responsible for guiding Algorand’s economic policies.

On the heels of announcing Steve Kokinos and W. Sean Ford as CEO and COO, respectively, Mr. Azar’s appointment as Chief Economist is another advancement for Algorand as it continues to develop its executive team. With a double Ph.D. from MIT, Mr. Azar will bring his unique expertise regarding the application of computer science and cryptography toward the creation of better market mechanisms. Further, he will be responsible for expanding the visibility of Algorand’s economic policy and enhancing the tools necessary for developers to build on the Algorand platform.

“As momentum around tokenization increases, so does the need for sound economic management,” said Steve Kokinos, CEO at Algorand. “With his deep background in economics and computer science, Pablo will ensure our community has economic policies and tools necessary for businesses to build on our foundational platform.”

As consumers drive economies toward an increasingly digital, transparent, and borderless reality, businesses must embrace technology that supports decentralization to both remain strategically relevant and to participate in the economic potential of this new decentralized world. As a scalable, secure and decentralized platform and digital currency that solves the “blockchain trilemma,” Algorand serves as the foundation for existing businesses and new projects to operate globally in the emerging decentralized economy.

“Algorand’s main goal is to build a blockchain that adds real value to the economy,” said Pablo Azar, Chief Economist at Algorand. “The kind of research problems being undertaken by Algorand intersect with many subfields of economics. My initial focus is on key issues such as mitigating the risk faced by our users and collaborating with industry partners in order to design new economic applications. I look forward to being part of a team of outstanding academics, engineers, and business experts.”

Pablo is joining Algorand from a 10-year stint at MIT, where he worked on cryptography and macroeconomics, including the development of rational interactive proofs, using software engineering metrics to understand the complexity of US Financial regulations, and developing models on the formation of supply chains and their effects on economic growth. His work has been featured on Bloomberg, The Atlantic, and US News and World Report. He received a B.A. in Applied Mathematics from Harvard, a Ph.D. in Computer Science from MIT in 2014, and will receive a Ph.D. in Economics from MIT in 2019.