Theta Network expands US presence with George Mason University joining as EdgeCloud Hybrid customer

We’re pleased to announce that the Security of Emerging Computer Systems And Technologies (SECSAT) Lab at George Mason University (GMU), led by Assistant Professor Xiaokuan Zhang, Ph.D, has selected $Theta EdgeCloud Hybrid to accelerate its research in system security and privacy.

Prof. Zhang is a tenure-track assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science at George Mason University and leads the SECSAT Lab, which focuses on security problems in emerging systems and technologies, with a recent focus on:

* eXtended Reality (XR)
* Decentralized Finance (DeFi/Web3)
* Memory-safe languages (Rust)

VPVet is one of Prof. Xiaokuan Zhang’s SECSAT Lab high profile projects, a system designed to automatically vet privacy policy and compliance issues in VR applications.

Prof Zhang is working on projects related to side channels, confidential computing, and mobile security. His research has received numerous honors, including the ACM CCS Distinguished Paper Award, ACM SIGSOFT Distinguished Paper Award, and the Springer Cybersecurity Award (Best Practical Research Paper). Prof Zhang’s papers were also selected as Top 10 Finalists of NYU Cyber Security Awareness Week (CSAW) Best Applied Security Paper in 2016, 2018, and 2022. He is a recipient of Ethereum Foundation Academic Grants (2023, 2024) and the NortonLifeLock Research Group Graduate Fellowship in 2020.

Why SECSAT Chose EdgeCloud Hybrid

“$Theta’s hybrid GPU platform uniquely enables us to scale our security research,” said Prof. Xiaokuan Zhang. “The combination of $Theta’s cost-effective NVIDIA 3000- and 4000-series GPUs and high-performance A100s and H100s allows us to explore advanced projects in AI-driven security testing and blockchain infrastructure analysis. We can do this at scale without large incremental costs.”

Through this collaboration, Prof. Zhang’s lab will use $Theta EdgeCloud Hybrid, the world’s first decentralized hybrid GPU platform, to accelerate research across Web3 analysis, XR systems, and memory-safe computing.

GMU joins a global EdgeCloud Hybrid network of 22 universities, including Stanford, KAIST, Seoul National University, NTU Singapore, and most recently Hongik University, alongside sports partners such as the NBA’s Houston Rockets, NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights and New Jersey Devils, MLS’s San Jose Earthquakes and Philadelphia Union, and top esports organizations like Gen.G, Cloud9, FlyQuest, Evil Geniuses, and NRG.

Research Focus Areas Enabled by $Theta EdgeCloud Hybrid at GMU’s SECSAT Lab

The SECSAT Lab explores XR Security by investigating vulnerabilities and systems issues in extended reality environments. The lab conducts measurement and analysis of cross-chain bridge behavior and authentication protocols in the areas of DeFi and Web3 security. Rust Security efforts include detecting type confusion bugs and enhancing memory safety in Rust-based systems. The lab also addresses privacy and data leakage risks in mobile and trusted environments through its research on Side Channels and Confidential Computing.

“Like other recent customers, Prof Zhang from George Mason University and his security research lab selected EdgeCloud Hybrid because of $Theta’s decentralized infrastructure of tens of thousands of community run GPUs,” said Mitch Liu, CEO and Co-Founder of $Theta Labs. “This is in direct contrast to centralized cloud providers like Microsoft Azure and others where the cost is prohibitive at scale and the ramp up time is 10x longer to AI productivity. Edgecloud Hybrid now stands on its own as the leading decentralized cloud infrastructure, one that Microsoft, Amazon and Google won’t be able to ignore.”

About George Mason University

George Mason University is Virginia’s largest public research university and ranks #18 in Security in CSRankings (June 2025). GMU is home to world-class faculty across computer science, cybersecurity, and systems engineering. Its Arlington campus is also host to the NSF Workshop on Networking and Systems Challenges in Immersive Computing and other leading national security events.

Theta Network expands US presence with George Mason University joining as EdgeCloud Hybrid customer was originally published in Theta Network on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
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