Chapter 3: Nikolai Mushegian

Nikolai Mushegian was an American computer scientist and software engineer who was born on March 28, 1993 and passed away on October 28, 2022. He is best recognized for his contributions to software platforms that facilitate decentralized autonomous groups and decentralized finance.

It was in the year 1993 when Mushegian was born in Lexington, Kentucky. In the year 1991, his parents, both of whom were life scientists, made the journey from the Soviet Union to the United States of America. The ancestry of Mushegian included Russian, Ukrainian, and Armenian people. It was during the years 1933-1935 that his great-grandfather on his father's side, Tigran Mushegian (Musheghyan), served as the rector (president) of Yerevan State University (Armenian National University). At Blue Valley North High School, which is located in Overland Park, Kansas, Mushegian received recognition for his academic accomplishments as well as his capabilities as a musician who played multiple instruments and served as the drum major of the school marching band.

After completing his high school education, Mushegian went on to further his education at Carnegie Mellon University. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from the School of Computer Science in 2014, and he studied mathematics as a minor. During his time at Carnegie Mellon, Mushegian developed a strong interest in the use of cryptography to the maintenance of decentralized records that are not susceptible to retroactive modification. At the time, the institution did not provide any classes on the fundamentals of blockchain technology. As a result, Mushegian devised a course on the subject and presented it to his classmates through Carnegie Mellon Student College in the year 2014.

Following his graduation, Mushegian began working full-time for the BitShares project, which he had been connected with ever since he was a student at Carnegie Mellon. By expanding the use cases of blockchain technology to include additional peer-to-peer networks that are required to keep trustworthy records in the absence of a central authority, Bitshares was engaged in the development of blockchain applications that went beyond cryptocurrencies. Mushegian began his career as a developer and was later given the responsibility of leading the BitShares DNS project. This project was an early attempt to construct a blockchain-based decentralized Internet Domain Names Service called BitShares DNS.

The consulting company Nexus/DappHub was established by Mushegian in the year 2015, and it was there that he developed a collection of utilities for the purpose of constructing smart contracts on the Ethereum platform.

MakerDAO was the first decentralized stablecoin project on the Ethereum Blockchain, and it was co-founded by Mushegian and Rune Christensen in the same year. Mushegian was responsible for the design and construction of the Single-Collateral Dai system, which was finally put into operation by MakerDAO in December of 2017, marking the official launch of Dai. Over the course of his involvement, Mushegian was responsible for conducting research and producing the Dai Purple Paper, which outlined the design of the Multi-Collateral Dai upgrade.

Soon before the introduction of MakerDAO, the first decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) that Ethereum had deployed was attacked by hackers. Mushegian is credited with discovering a flaw in the majority of smart contract designs. He also integrated crucial security elements into the architecture of smart contracts, which prevented similar breaches from occurring in MakerDAO.

In the year 2016, Mushegian was the leader of the group that was responsible for the development of Wrapped Ether (WETH), an Ethereum currency that was compatible with the ERC-20 standard. His team also devised protection against another vulnerability that was revealed shortly before.

In 2019, following Mushegian's resignation from MakerDAO, he collaborated with Fernando Martinelli to write the white paper on the Balancer. An "automated market maker with... key properties that cause it to function as a self-balancing weighted portfolio and price sensor," Balancer is the first decentralized exchange that is capable of supporting n-dimensional price surfaces. The white paper offers the mathematical proof of those properties. Balancer is also the first trade platform that can support n-dimensional price surfaces.

In the year 2020, Mushegian was one of the co-founders of the RAI project, which is a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) that is responsible for the generation of the Rai stablecoin. This stablecoin is the first stablecoin to have a design that is completely crypto-backed and scalable.

RICO, a next-generation stablecoin project with its own blockchain and autonomous multi-collateral capabilities, was co-founded by Mushegian in 2022. RICO's design was minimalistic, and it had autonomy for many collaterals.

At some point in the early morning hours of October 28, 2022, Mushegian left his residence in the vicinity of Condado Beach in San Juan. He was last seen strolling in the direction of the beach. In the later hours of the same day, the body of Mushegian was discovered on the neighboring reef. The inquiry conducted by the police did not uncover any evidence of criminal activity.

In addition to being active on Twitter, Mushegian was frequented by members of professional message boards and chat groups. Disdain for the incompetence of the majority of blockchain investors, whom he referred to as LARPers; thorn-in-the-flesh commentary on various blockchain and cryptocurrency platforms; and discussions of personal issues, such as aphantasia, mental health concerns, and fear of unnatural death were the primary topics that he addressed in his posts. His posts also included numerous criticisms of established financial systems and their role in maintaining income inequality and political control.

In online posts, Mushegian provided a concise summary of his ideas and various methods to the production of code. Some of these posts were assembled by other individuals after his passing as an homage to him.

After Mushegian's death in 2022, in eulogies and commemorations published online, he was called "a cypherpunk, one of a few that remained active in the crypto community.... noble in the cause", "a complicated individual, but nothing short of a visionary", and someone giving inspiration by his "fierce commitment to the truth, even when others don't yet understand." Spells of Genesis, the first mobile game to be based on blockchain technology, published a monthly card called "Nikola the Magician" in January 2024. This was done in honor of Mushegian. According to the press release, Mushegian was described as a "extraordinary visionary," "a pioneering entrepreneur and a fervent technology enthusiast," and "a brilliant mind that helped shape the future."

- ^ "Irina Sorokina ORCID record" . A copy of the original document was saved on April 5, 2024. It was retrieved on May 5th, 2024.

- ^ "Arcady Mushegian ORCID record" . A copy of the original document was saved on April 5, 2024. It was retrieved on May 5th, 2024.

The phrase "La Tigran Musheghyan" is written in Armenian and translates to "La Tigran Musheghyan." The original content was archived on this date, 2024-05-20. It was retrieved on May 5th, 2024.

- ^ "Two Students To Be Honored" . On April 5, 2010, the Topeka Capital-Journal published... The original content was archived on February 25th, 2024. It was retrieved on May 5th, 2024.

- ^ "US Department of Education 2010 Candidates for the Presidential Scholars Program" (PDF). Twenty-two, January of 2010. The original document was archived in PDF format on April 5, 2024. It was retrieved on May 5th, 2023.

As of 2024-05-20, the original version of "Nikolai Mushegian's LinkedIn Page" was still accessible on the internet. It was retrieved on May 5th, 2024.

- ^ "List your skills and be known" . The 23rd of March, 2013. A copy of the original document was saved on April 5, 2024. It was retrieved on May 5th, 2024.

On August 31, 2014, Srinivasan Sriram was the author. Nikolai Mushegian has a comprehensive discussion on Bitshares. The original content was archived on November 3rd, 2022. It was retrieved on May 5th, 2024.

The folder "dapp.tools" The original content was archived on November 3rd, 2022. It was retrieved on May 5th, 2024.

- ^ "Dapple Dev Workflow - Nikolai Mushegian" . Archive of the DevCon2 conference, July 2016. The original content was archived on November 2nd, 2022. It was retrieved on May 5th, 2024.

- ^ "MakerDAO Has Come Full Circle" . Today is July 20th, 2021. You can access the original document on March 30th, 2024. It was retrieved on May 5th, 2024.

- Nikolai Mushegian is responsible for the Ethereum Devcon1 Maker. dated December 18th, 2015. A copy of the original document was saved on April 5, 2024. It was retrieved on May 5th, 2024.

- ^ "makerdao/sai Github repository" . This is GitHub. A copy of the original document was saved on 2023-03-29. It was retrieved on May 5th, 2024.

This article was published on February 6, 2018, by Mushegian, Nikolai; Brockman, Daniel; and Brockman, Michael. "Reference implementation of the decentralized DAI stablecoin issuance system" (Draft). A copy of the original document...