For most of his career, Ariel has focused exclusively on theoretical computer science, obtaining a PhD from the Weizmann Institute in 2008. A few years ago he discovered the world of Bitcoin and blockchain technology. He sees it as a fascinating potential meeting place of beautiful theoretical computer science ideas and real-world applications. Motivated by this, he shifted his focus in 2014 from pure theory into making tools such as Zero-Knowledge proofs more practical and efficient. Notably, he contributed to the original deployment of Zcash and later discovered and helped mitigate a critical counterfeiting bug.