Researchers
Four Pillars collaborates with leading experts in various domains. Click our researchers' profiles to access their complete collection of articles.
FOUR PILLARS

Steve
Steve believes that blockchains are ultimately platforms, and that those who benefit from them will not be immune to the desire for their own platforms. Historically, human evolution has always been characterized by social conflict and political maneuvers fueled by the urge to "control one's own domain," and I foresee this trend echoing within the blockchain ecosystem. Hence, I'm skeptical that the emerging rollup ecosystem around Ethereum will dominate the market entirely. Instead, I anticipate a scenario where diverse blockchains continuously arise and vie for supremacy.Given this perspective, I feel that my research should focus on projects striving to develop their blockchain systems, independent of Ethereum. My projection is that Ethereum's market dominance might decline to around 30% in the upcoming market cycle, and I'm ardently investigating to substantiate my view.
Monolithic Blockchain,SDK & BFT

Jay
Jay is exploring initiatives to maximize the potential of blockchain for integration with existing systems - first off, he points out the current lack of middleware-like standards that could support organic connections between blockchain infrastructure and applications. He believes that this deficiency leads to fragmented UX and increases the burden of understanding technical terms, and that improving infrastructure standards will facilitate the integration of blockchain with existing systems. Furthermore, Jay anticipates that simplified yet highly composable ‘Integrated Chain’ infrastructures will enable organic interactions between applications, thereby sparking a variety of innovative initiatives.
Protocol Standards,Integrated Chains

Heechang
xpara believes in using app-specific blockchains to build web3 products tailored to their specific usage, without being limited to a specific blockchain environment. With its custoimzability, full potential of blockchain will be enabled.
Finance Infra,Interoperability

Pillarbear
Pillarbear believes that it's crucial to bridge the gap between infrastructure technology and products or services for broad adoption of blockchain. The infrastructure of blockchain is currently a rapidly evolving field where various narratives rise altogether. The significance, progress and vision of the technology will be mainly explored. Specifically, a deep interest lies in Modular Blockchain and MEV. Modular Blockchain has already moved beyond the narrative and is becoming a reality. More projects will be deployed via rollups, and correspondingly the blockchain ecosystem will transform into a more diverse structure. Additionally, MEV is not just arbitrage tactics but a question about the dynamics between participants within the system; Which entity captures what value. It is required to understand the mechanisms and analyze their effects for a better user experience and a robust system in both Modular or X-domain systems.
Modular Blockchain,MEV

Ingeun
Ingeun is a researcher in the blockchain and Web3 industry with the motto "Simple to Read, Deep to Master." They aim to translate complex technical details and long-term insights from the field into easily understandable writings for everyone. Ingeun has a particular interest in zero-knowledge proofs and is also fascinated by Web3 social platforms based on DAOs and the integration of blockchain with AI.
Cryptography,ZK,DAO,Web3 Social

Eren
Eren believes that "money-lego, which anyone can participate in" represents the full potential of blockchain.
Exploring DeFi Protocols and blockchain financial infrastructure that introduce a new architecture and playbook is the primary area of interest.
DeFi Protocol,Token Economy