Pavel studied information security since 2003, including topics in advanced cryptography. He then won a series of all-Ukrainian academic competitions (2005-2007) and received awards for producing the best student research in 2007 and 2008. Pavel received his PhD in Cryptography in 2012 from the Kharkiv National University of Radioelectronics, after publishing a groundbreaking thesis on securing public infrastructure. From 2006 to 2009, Pavel worked as a security engineer at the leading security company in Ukraine, was involved in a SAP security project, and built out the PKI infrastructure in Ukraine. From 2009 to 2013 Pavel was the team leader and project manager for several IT-projects, including being responsible for Rabobank’s mobile application development. Pavel started his blockchain and cryptocurrencies career and research at Silicon Valley startup, Stellar. In 2014 Pavel cofounded Distributed Lab, where other cofounders are high-profile experts in investment banking and tradin