Gurgen Arakelov

Gurgen Arakelov

Researcher & Technical Founder · San Francisco, United States
g.g.arakelov [at] gmail.com · linkedin.com/in/arakelovg · @g_arakelov

Summary

Researcher and technical founder working on privacy in AI and decentralized systems. Founder of Fair Math, building cryptographic infrastructure based on Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) and other privacy-enhancing technologies. Co-founder of Parley, an agentic intake layer for asymmetric markets. Previously worked on privacy-preserving AI at Samsung, Huawei, and Wheely.

Education

Lomonosov Moscow State University, Department of Mechanics and Mathematics
PhD Candidate (2019) · Master (2015) · Bachelor (2013)

Professional Experience

Fair Math, Inc. — CEO & Co-Founder Apr 2023 – Present · United States
Founded and lead a venture-backed deep-tech startup building cryptographic infrastructure for privacy-preserving computation in AI and decentralized systems. Beyond technical direction, run the full company — fundraising, team building, go-to-market, and strategic partnerships. Raised capital from international venture capital firms and angel investors across the US, Europe, the UK, and Asia, and grew Fair Math into a research-driven team shipping open-source FHE tooling (FHERMA) and a decentralized FHE compute platform used by external developers.
=nil; Foundation — Senior Protocol Researcher Nov 2022 – Nov 2023
Conducted research on decentralized zero-knowledge (zk) proof marketplaces, exploring protocol design, incentive mechanisms for provers, and interoperability with on-chain applications.
Wheely — Senior Researcher, Cryptography Team Lead Jun 2021 – Jul 2023 · Paris, France
Designed and built one of the first FHE-powered privacy-preserving ride-hailing systems, combining homomorphic encryption and zero-knowledge proofs to protect user data end-to-end.
Huawei — Senior Software Engineer Feb 2020 – Jun 2021 · Moscow / Suwon
Conducted research on privacy-preserving machine learning using Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE), with a focus on encrypted inference and compiler tooling.
Samsung Electronics — Project Leader / Senior Software Developer Sep 2018 – Feb 2020
Led a research-driven initiative focused on improving system performance and efficiency in the context of large-scale software updates, with relevance to AI deployment environments. Earlier worked on performance analysis and optimization tools supporting scalable and adaptive AI systems.
ABBYY — Senior Software Developer Moscow, Russia
Developed core components in natural language processing and machine learning, contributing to commercial document analysis products.

Selected Projects

  1. Parley (2026) — Agentic intake layer for private capital. Sovereign investor agents qualify founder inbound through structured dialogue and resolve every interaction to either an allocated call or structured feedback.
  2. Palitra (2025) — Continuous onchain environment where AI agents learn to hold secrets and resist manipulation under adversarial pressure, with smart-contract-driven incentives for attackers and defenders.
  3. FHE Computer (2025) — Decentralized computer built on Fully Homomorphic Encryption, enabling private smart-contract computation over encrypted data in trustless environments.
  4. FHERMA (2024) — Open-source library and challenge platform for FHE components. Provides building blocks for privacy-preserving applications and runs ongoing developer competitions.

Publications & Patents

  1. FHERMA Cookbook: FHE Components for Privacy-Preserving Applications. Adamek, Aikata, Al Badawi, Alexandru, Arakelov et al. Cryptology ePrint Archive, 2025.
  2. Decentralized FHE Computer. G. Arakelov, S. Gomenyuk, H. Papoyan. Cryptology ePrint Archive, 2024.
  3. FHERMA: Building the Open-Source FHE Components Library for Practical Use. G. Arakelov, N. Kaskov, D. Pianykh, Y. Polyakov. Cryptology ePrint Archive, 2024.
  4. Method and Apparatus for Improving Runtime Performance After Application Update in Electronic Device. K. Jeong, S. Lonchakov, I. Titarenko, G. Arakelov, I. Maidanskii et al. US Patent 11,327,739, 2022.
  5. Combination of Partially Homomorphic Encryption Schemes. G.G. Arakelov, A.V. Mikhalev. Electronic Information Systems 3(26), pp. 83–92, 2020.
  6. Theoretical Foundations of Distributed Computation. G.G. Arakelov, A.V. Mikhalev. Electronic Information Systems, pp. 94–109, 2020.
  7. Applied Homomorphic Cryptography: Examples. G.G. Arakelov, A.V. Gribov, A.V. Mikhalev. Journal of Mathematical Sciences 237(3), pp. 353–361, 2019.
  8. Issues of Applied Homomorphic Cryptography. G.G. Arakelov. Cybersecurity Issues, No. 33, pp. 70–74, 2019.
  9. Applied Homomorphic Cryptography: Examples. G.G. Arakelov, A.V. Gribov, A.V. Mikhalev. Fundamental and Applied Mathematics 21(3), pp. 25–38, 2016.

Public Speaking

  1. Panel: Private AI on the Blockchain — TUM Blockchain Conference, Munich, Germany (2026)
  2. Panel: Data, Identity, and Security — Agents Day, Cannes, France (2025)
  3. Scalable MLIR-Based FHE Compiler — FHE Summit II, Bangkok, Thailand (2024)
  4. Decentralized FHE Computer — TUM Blockchain Conference, Munich, Germany (2024)
  5. Decentralized FHE Computer and Application — Verifiable Summit, Warsaw, Poland (2024)
  6. Decentralized FHE Computer and its Applications — NIST WPEC, USA (2024)
  7. Introduction to Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) — Guest Lecture, EPFL BSA (2024)
  8. Panel: FHEvolution — Token2049, Singapore (2024)
  9. A Component-Based Approach to Building FHE Apps — FHE Summit I, Brussels, Belgium (2023)
  10. Issues of Applied Homomorphic Cryptography — HSE InfoSec Conference, Moscow, Russia (2019)
  11. Quantum Algorithms in Cryptography — Lomonosov Readings, MSU (2019)
  12. Algebraic Aspects of Homomorphic Cryptography (Invited Talk) — International Algebra Conference, MSU (2018)
  13. Homomorphic Cryptography — Lomonosov Readings, MSU (2018)
  14. Homomorphic Encryption — Lomonosov Readings, MSU (2018)
  15. Fully Homomorphic Encryption Based on Partial Schemes — MSU Student Conference (2018)
  16. Linear Algebra and Algebraic Aspects of Cryptanalysis (Plenary Talk) — Algebra & Discrete Math, Russia (2017)
  17. Homomorphic Cryptography and Parallel Computations (Plenary Talk) — Algebra & Discrete Math, Russia (2017)
  18. Challenges in Algebraic Cryptanalysis — Lomonosov Readings, MSU (2017)
  19. Applied Aspects of Homomorphic Cryptography — Lomonosov Readings, MSU (2016)

Teaching & Mentorship

  1. Constructor Start Accelerator — Mentor, Constructor University, Bremen (2026). Early-stage startups in Software+, AI, EdTech, and Deeptech.
  2. Applied Cryptography — Course authored & taught, Lomonosov MSU, Mech-Math (2017) and MEPhI (2017).
  3. C++ and Security Challenges — Course authored & taught, Lomonosov MSU, Mech-Math (2016).
  4. Thesis supervision: Algebraic Methods in Cryptography (D.S. Pianykh, MSU, 2019); Cryptoanalysis and Complexity (A.O. Ziyoeva, MSU, 2017).

Research Projects

Structural and Combinatorial Problems in the General Theory of Rings Jan 2017 – Dec 2019
Lomonosov MSU, Department of Mechanics and Mathematics. PI: Prof. A.V. Mikhalev. Senior researcher / participant.