Who Is Ming Wu? Conflux Co-Founder and Blockchain Scalability Pioneer Explained

Ming Wu is the co-founder and former Chief Technology Officer of Conflux Network, a Layer 1 blockchain designed to deliver high throughput, scalability, and decentralization through its Tree-Graph consensus mechanism. Through Conflux and the CFX ecosystem, Ming Wu has helped develop blockchain infrastructure aimed at powering decentralized applications, cross-border payments, and enterprise Web3 solutions. His work reflects the growing demand for scalable public blockchains capable of supporting real-world adoption.

Early Background and Career

Before co-founding Conflux, Ming Wu built a distinguished career in distributed systems and artificial intelligence research. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Science and Technology of China and a Ph.D. from the Institute of Computing Technology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2007. His research focused on distributed transaction processing systems, graph computing engines, and artificial intelligence platforms.

Prior to entering the blockchain industry, Wu worked as a senior researcher at Microsoft Research Asia, where he designed and implemented large-scale distributed machine learning systems used in Microsoft products. He also published research at leading computer science conferences, including SOSP, OSDI, NSDI, VLDB, and EuroSys, establishing himself as an expert in distributed computing.

How Ming Wu Created Conflux

Ming Wu co-founded Conflux in 2018 alongside Fan Long and Yuanjie Zhang after research conducted in the laboratory of Turing Award winner Professor Andrew Yao at Tsinghua University. The team set out to solve the blockchain trilemma by creating a network capable of achieving high throughput without sacrificing decentralization or security.

Instead of relying on a traditional blockchain structure, Conflux introduced the Tree-Graph consensus mechanism, which processes multiple blocks simultaneously using a directed acyclic graph (DAG). This approach significantly increases transaction throughput while maintaining network security and decentralization. The network later expanded into areas such as decentralized finance, cross-border payments, stablecoins, and enterprise blockchain solutions.

How Conflux Works

Conflux is a permissionless Layer 1 blockchain that combines Proof of Work with its Tree-Graph consensus mechanism to process transactions efficiently. Unlike conventional blockchains that discard competing blocks, Conflux incorporates concurrent blocks into the ledger, increasing throughput while preserving consensus security.

The CFX token powers the network by paying transaction fees, securing the blockchain, supporting staking, and participating in governance. Conflux also offers Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatibility, enabling developers to deploy decentralized applications while benefiting from high scalability and low transaction costs.

Ming Wu’s Role at Conflux

As co-founder and Chief Technology Officer, Ming Wu led the technical architecture and protocol development of Conflux. His responsibilities included designing the network’s consensus mechanism, advancing scalability research, and overseeing the development of blockchain infrastructure. His expertise in distributed systems played a central role in transforming academic research into a production-ready public blockchain.

Following his work at Conflux, Wu transitioned to become CTO of 0G, where he continues working on decentralized AI infrastructure while remaining recognized as one of Conflux’s founding architects.

Why Ming Wu Matters in Crypto

Ming Wu is recognized for advancing blockchain scalability through the development of Conflux’s Tree-Graph consensus protocol. His work has demonstrated that public blockchains can achieve significantly higher transaction throughput while maintaining decentralization and security.

As blockchain technology continues expanding into enterprise applications, payments, and decentralized finance, innovations pioneered by founders like Ming Wu are helping shape the next generation of high-performance blockchain infrastructure. His contributions bridge academic research with practical blockchain deployment at global scale.