DISCRYPT brings extensive expertise in distributed cryptography and privacy technologies. DISCRYPT addresses critical challenges in blockchain systems, collaborative learning and data privacy, with a strong focus on real-world impact. DISCRYPT combiness theoretical research with practical implementations to develop scalable, trustworthy, and innovative security solutions. DISCRYPT contributes to Europe's strategic priorities in digital sovereignty and cybersecurity.

About Us

DISCRYPT (DIStributed CRYptography and Privacy Technologies) is a research group from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona dedicated to the study of decentralized systems, privacy-enhancing technologies, and applied cryptography. Its work focuses on developing secure and privacy-preserving solutions in areas such as blockchain, peer-to-peer networks, anonymous communication, and federated learning. We combine theoretical foundations with practical implementations to advance security and privacy in distributed technologies.


Our expertise

Quotes

This (CBDB) has to be applied at a global level because, if there is an escape, that escape will be used

Christine Lagarde
ECB President

Bitcoin is like anything else in the world: it's worth what people are willing to pay for it.

Stanley Druckenmiller
Researcher

Like the Internet, Bitcoin will change the way people interact and do business around the world.

Erik Voorhees
Researcher

Bitcoin is very ideologically fulfilling, it's my form of political activism, but it's also a huge business opportunity.

Erik Voorhees
Researcher

Latest News

(25 Sep 2025) We organized the 9th International Workshop on Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Technology (CBT)

Our team successfully organized the 9th International Workshop on Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Technology (CBT) in Toulouse, France. The workshop served as a forum for researchers and practitioners to exchange insights on recent advances in blockchain systems and privacy-enhancing technologies.
 
This year’s edition featured an invited keynote by Bart Preneel (held jointly with the DPM workshop), a renowned expert in cryptography and privacy. His talk surveyed the current landscape of privacy technologies, examined the policy debates surrounding their deployment, and explored the potential of blockchain to strengthen privacy-enhancing technologies. He also addressed the persistent tension between privacy protection and governmental demands for exceptional access, drawing on both historical precedents and recent controversies.
 
The event was highly interactive, fostering lively discussions among speakers and participants on a broad range of topics. These included alternative approaches to building privacy-preserving second-layer solutions, cryptographic designs for lotteries and electronic voting, the practical limits of selfish-mining attacks, the state of the art in self-sovereign identity (SSI) wallet deployment, and novel techniques for Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) decompilation.

Our team organized the 20th International Workshop on Data Privacy Management (DPM) in Toulouse, France. The event provided an essential forum for leading experts to exchange ideas and present the latest research and strategies addressing data privacy challenges.
 
This year’s edition featured an invited keynote by Bart Preneel (held jointly with the CBT workshop), a renowned expert in cryptography and privacy. His talk surveyed the current landscape of privacy technologies, examined the policy debates surrounding their deployment, and explored the potential of blockchain to strengthen privacy-enhancing technologies. He also addressed the persistent tension between privacy protection and governmental demands for exceptional access, drawing on both historical precedents and recent controversies.

Discrypt group members gave various talks at the Cibersec+ workshop held at the University of Lleida. The topics presented included wallet fingerprinting, Bitcoin auctions, hardware wallet attacks, Lightning Network testbeds, and secure solutions for fair federated learning.

Jordi Herrera gave a talk (catalan) in the BBO Meetup about the possible impact of a Cryptographically Relevant Quantum Computer (CRQC) on the Bitcoin system. He identified which parts of the system could be affected and outlined the path, through post-quantum cryptographic algorithms, that could be taken to mitigate potential damage.

Discrypt group members went to Paris at SMI2G brokerage event to present their proposals looking for collaboration in international funded EU projects.

Jordi Herrera gave an outreach talk (catalan) during the X Jornada Itscool discussing the challenges of cybersecurity training. He highlighted the growing demand for skilled professionals in the field, as well as the need for broader education aimed at non-specialized users.