Chainlink Labs hired Dahlia Malkhi as chief research officer on March 29, 2022, the company said in a PR Newswire release1. Malkhi had served as chief technology officer of the Diem Association, the Facebook-backed stablecoin project that wound down in 2022, CoinDesk reported2. Chainlink Labs CEO Sergey Nazarov called her "one of the foremost experts on decentralized systems consensus" in the announcement.
Two leadership moves at Chainlink Labs on the record since 2022
Every move CryptoLately has verified there, by the day it became public
Moves: The Moves Ledger, CryptoLately's record of verified leadership moves, Oct. 3, 2016 to Oct. 2, 2026.
Read the chart as a table
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| March 29, 2022 | Malkhi became Chief Research Officer. Dahlia Malkhi was named Chief Research Officer of Chainlink Labs |
| May 16, 2022 | Moujahid became Chief Product Officer. Kemal El Moujahid was named Chief Product Officer of Chainlink Labs |
37 executive hires on the record in 2022
Executive hires CryptoLately has verified, by year; 2026 through Oct. 2, 2026
- 2022: 37
- 2019, 2020, 2021, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026
Moves: The Moves Ledger, CryptoLately's record of verified leadership moves, Oct. 3, 2016 to Oct. 2, 2026.
Read the chart as a table
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 11 |
| 2020 | 12 |
| 2021 | 27 |
| 2022 | 37 |
| 2023 | 20 |
| 2024 | 39 |
| 2025 | 59 |
| 2026 | 45 |
The move
Nazarov tied the hire to a specific technical need. “As Chainlink Labs continues to build the secure infrastructure necessary to increase Web3 adoption and create a world powered by cryptographic truth, we are breaking new ground in the areas of cryptography and mathematics and need the best and brightest minds to join us in solving some of the world's hardest problems,” said Sergey Nazarov, CEO of Chainlink Labs. “Dahlia is one of the foremost experts on decentralized systems consensus, a critical factor in ensuring security, scalability, and performance across the blockchain ecosystem, making her an ideal addition to the Chainlink Labs research team.”1
Malkhi answered with her own read of the opportunity. “Decentralized oracle networks are absolutely essential to the progression of Web3, and Chainlink is the undisputed leader in this space,” said Dr. Malkhi. “I was drawn in by the existing team of experienced researchers at Chainlink Labs and the team's laser focus on the critical technologies needed to advance Web3 and create more secure, transparent, and truth-based infrastructure for all. I'm looking forward to expanding the in-house innovation capabilities at Chainlink Labs, leveraging our existing technology advantage as a springboard to solidify Chainlink offerings as the industry standard for trust-minimized blockchain services.”1
CoinDesk's report noted that Malkhi's move continued "a talent exodus" from the Diem Association. Facebook had started that project in 2019 under the name Libra, then later sold it to Silvergate Bank as it shut down2.
Malkhi's record before the role
Before Diem, Malkhi co-founded VMware Research as a principal researcher. She also spent more than a decade at Microsoft Research, the press release said1. A tenured associate professorship of computer science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem came earlier in her career. Her publication count passed 100 papers on the reliability and security of distributed systems. The release noted her hire came alongside Mike Derezin's. Derezin had joined Chainlink Labs as chief operating officer in late 2021. He was a former LinkedIn vice president who had helped lead and scale two of LinkedIn's business units.
What came next
By April 25, 2026, Malkhi's listed affiliation had changed. The Quantum Insider reported on April 25, 2026, on a position paper from Coinbase's Independent Advisory Board on Quantum Computing and Blockchain. That report named the board's six members. It identified her as "Prof. Dahlia Malkhi of UC Santa Barbara," alongside cryptographers Dan Boneh of Stanford and Justin Drake of the Ethereum Foundation3. An academic title stood beside her name, the only title the report carried. The paper's argument: prepare for post-quantum cryptography well ahead of any working quantum computer.
Sources
- Chainlink Labs, "Chainlink Labs Announces Key Executive Hires," PR Newswire, March 29, 2022, https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/chainlink-labs-announces-key-executive-hires-301512195.html
- Cam Thompson, "Chainlink Labs Hires Diem CTO Dahlia Malkhi to Lead Research," CoinDesk, March 29, 2022, https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/03/29/chainlink-labs-hires-diem-cto-dahlia-malkhi-to-lead-research
- "Coinbase Advisers Warn Quantum Computing Will Crack Blockchain Encryption -- And The Window to Prepare Is Narrowing," The Quantum Insider, April 25, 2026, https://thequantuminsider.com/2026/04/25/coinbase-advisers-warn-quantum-computing-will-crack-blockchain-encryption-and-the-window-to-prepare-is-narrowing/