Hi, this is Zhipeng

I have been a Lecturer (equivalent to an Assistant Professor) in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Manchester since August 2025. Previously, I finished my role as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Computing at Imperial College London, where I also completed my PhD. Prior to that, I received both my Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees from Beihang University.

My research interests lie in the domain of privacy and security within decentralized and distributed computing systems, with a particular focus on blockchain and decentralized AI systems, as well as the underlying cryptographic primitives and protocols that support and secure them. Currently, I am exploring the following topics:

• 🔗 Blockchain: privacy, security, consensus, and applications
• 🛡️ Applied cryptography: classical and post-quantum solutions
• 🌐 Decentralized AI: security, privacy, and incentive mechanisms

As a researcher, publishing papers is important, but what matters most is figuring out what you truly want to pursue, and doing your best to enjoy the journey.

I always welcome collaborations and discussions about research opportunities.

You can reach me at zhipeng[dot]wang0x01[at]gmail[dot]com or zhipeng[dot]wang[at]manchester[dot]ac[dot]uk[dot].

📰 News

• [2025-08] I have recently joined the University of Manchester in August as a Lecturer in Cybersecurity. I am looking forward to working with talented colleagues and students!

📚 Selected Publications

Full publication list can be found at Google Scholar.

🔗 Blockchain

• [Preprint] Talking Transactions: Decentralized Communication through Ethereum Input Data Messages (IDMs).
  Xihan Xiong, Zhipeng Wang, Qin Wang, Endong Liu, Pascal Berrang, William Knottenbelt.
  Preprint.
  

• [Preprint] BRC20 Pinning Attack.
  Minfeng Qi, Qin Wang, Zhipeng Wang, Lin Zhong, Zhixiong Gao, Tianqing Zhu, Shiping Chen, William Knottenbelt.
  Preprint.
  

• [USENIX Security 2025] TockOwl: Asynchronous Consensus with Fault and Network Adaptability.
  Minghang Li, Qianhong Wu, Zhipeng Wang, Bo Qin, Bohang Wei, Hang Ruan, Shihong Xiong, Zhenyang Ding.
  Accepted at The 34th USENIX Security Symposium.
  

• [FC 2024] A Transaction-Level Model for Blockchain Privacy.
  François-Xavier Wicht, Zhipeng Wang, Duc V. Le, Christian Cachin.
  Financial Cryptography and Data Security 2024.
  

• [WWW 2023] On How Zero-Knowledge Proof Blockchain Mixers Improve, and Worsen User Privacy.
  Zhipeng Wang, Stefanos Chaliasos, Kaihua Qin, Liyi Zhou, Lifeng Gao, Pascal Berrang, Ben Livshits, Arthur Gervais.
  The 2023 ACM Web Conference 2023.

• [AFT 2023] Pay Less for Your Privacy: Towards Cost-Effective On-Chain Mixers.
  Zhipeng Wang, Marko Cirkovic, Duc V. Le, William Knottenbelt, Christian Cachin.
  The International Conference on Advances in Financial Technologies 2023.

• [S&P 2023] SoK: Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Attacks.
  Liyi Zhou, Xihan Xiong, Jens Ernstberger, Stefanos Chaliasos, Zhipeng Wang, Ye Wang, Kaihua Qin, Roger Wattenhofer, Dawn Song, Arthur Gervais.
  The 44th IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy.

• [FC 2022] Speculative Multipliers on DeFi: Quantifying On-Chain Leverage Risks.
  Zhipeng Wang, Kaihua Qin, Duc Vu Minh, and Arthur Gervais.
  Financial Cryptography and Data Security 2022.

🛡️ Cryptography

• [CT-RSA 2025] DSKE: Digital Signatures with Key Extraction.
  Zhipeng Wang, Orestis Alpos, Alireza Kavousi, Harry W. H. Wong, Sze Yiu Chau, Duc V. Le, Christian Cachin.
  Accepted at The Cryptographers’ Track at RSA Conference 2025.
  

• [Euro S&P 2024] SoK: Public Randomness.
  Alireza Kavousi, Zhipeng Wang, Philipp Jovanovic.
  IEEE European Symposium on Security and Privacy 2024.
  

• [ProvSec 2019] A Practical Lattice-Based Sequential Aggregate Signature.
  Zhipeng Wang, Qianhong Wu.
  International Conference on Provable Security 2019.

🌐 Decentralized AI

• [WWW 2025 (Short Paper)] AIArena: A Blockchain-Based Decentralized AI Training Platform.
  Zhipeng Wang, Rui Sun, Elizabeth Lui, Tuo Zhou, Yizhe Wen, Jiahao Sun.
  Accepted at The 2025 ACM Web Conference Short Paper Track.
  

• [TAI 2024] Defending Against Poisoning Attacks in Federated Learning with Blockchain.
  Nanqing Dong^*, Zhipeng Wang^*, Jiahao Sun, Michael Kampffmeyer, William Knottenbelt, Eric Xing.
  IEEE Transactions on Artificial Intelligence 2024.
  ^* denotes equal contribution.

• [Preprint] SoK: Decentralized AI (DeAI).
  Zhipeng Wang, Rui Sun, Elizabeth Lui, Vatsal Shah, Xihan Xiong, Jiahao Sun, Davide Crapis, William Knottenbelt.
  Preprint.
  

🏆 Selected Awards and Grants

• Best Application Award @IEEE GBC 2025
• Best Student Paper Award Candidate @IEEE ICBC 2025
• Best Paper Award Candidate @IEEE ICBC 2024
• Ethereum Foundation Academic Grant 2024: Building Practical and Secure Blockchain-Based AI

🏛 Selected Talks

• Migration to Post-Quantum Secure Blockchains @RITICS Showcase 2025. London, UK, 01/2025

• How Can Blockchain Make AI More Decentralized? @UCL Distributed Ledger Technologies Seminar. London, UK, 11/2024

• Pay Less for Your Privacy: Towards Cost-Effective On-Chain Mixers @AFT 2023. Princeton, USA, 10/2023

• Blockchain Transaction Censorship: (In)secure and (In)efficient? @MARBLE 2023. London, UK, 07/2023

• On the Usage, Privacy, and Censorship of On-Chain Mixers @Brevan Howard Centre for Financial Analysis Annual Crypto Showcasing Event. London, UK, 06/2023

• On How ZKP-based Blockchain Mixers Improve, and Worsen User Privacy @The 2023 ACM Web Conference. Austin, USA, 05/2023

• Speculative Multipliers on DeFi: Quantifying On-Chain Leverage Risks @FC 2022. Grenada, 05/2022

• Defending Against Poisoning Attacks in FL With Blockchain @Ethereum AI Workshop. Rome, Italy, 10/2024

• zkFL: ZKP-based Gradient Aggregation for Federated Learning @Decentralised Machine Learning London Night. London, UK, 10/2023