Ismael Hishon-Rezaizadeh is the co-founder and CEO of Lagrange, a company focused on decentralized proof generation for rollups and verifiable AI. With a background in AI and blockchain, he led John Hancock’s crypto practice at just 21, developing decentralized insurance and reinsurance solutions. ^{[1] [3]}​

Education

Hishon-Rezaizadeh obtained a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from McGill University. ^[3]

Career

Ismael Hishon-Rezaizadeh is the Co-founder and CEO of Lagrange Labs, a position he has held since April 2022. Lagrange Labs focuses on Verifiable AI and Zero-Knowledge Machine Learning (zk-ML), developing technology to make artificial intelligence provable on-chain using Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs). The company has developed "DeepProve-1," described as a zkML system capable of proving a full GPT-2 inference. Lagrange Labs has partnered with the Oracle Partner Network to apply its verifiable AI to defense, aerospace, and government systems, and is also bringing its DeepProve technology to the Base blockchain. ^[3]​

Prior to Lagrange, Hishon-Rezaizadeh was Head of Data at Renegade Partners from January 2021 to April 2022. From June 2019 to January 2021, he served as Crypto Engineering Lead at John Hancock, where he developed decentralized insurance and reinsurance products using technologies such as zk-SNARKs. He also founded Quantitative Ventures (April 2019 – January 2021), a platform for automating early-stage venture deal sourcing through data mining and deep learning. Earlier, he founded Simple Manic Phase Monitoring (November 2017 – June 2019), a mental health startup using machine learning to detect manic episodes, and previously worked in data analytics at McGill University's Immunology Department from October 2015 to November 2016. ^[3]​

Hishon-Rezaizadeh holds a bachelor's degree in Computer Science from McGill University. His expertise in blockchain and AI is further demonstrated by a certification in "Blockchain Technologies: Business Innovation and Application" from MIT Sloan Executive Education and a "Corda Certified Developer" certification from R3. He has also served as Vice Chair for the Financial Services IG at the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance, presented research on dynamic zk-SNARKs at the Science of Blockchain Conference, and gave an invited talk on zk-ML at the Olympia Research Summit. ^[3]​

Publications

Ismael Hishon-Rezaizadeh has authored articles discussing the implications of AI and the need for verifiable outputs.

• "The Black Box Problem: Why AI Needs Proof, Not Promises" ^[2] - This article discusses the increasing integration of AI into critical societal sectors and argues for the necessity of provable outputs from AI systems to ensure they operate in the best interest of users ^[2].

Media Appearances

In this episode, host Sebastian Couture speaks with Ismael Hishon-Rezaizadeh about the evolving role of zero-knowledge (ZK) cryptography beyond traditional crypto use cases. The discussion focuses on how ZK-proofs are transitioning from primarily supporting blockchain applications to being explored for national security and defense contexts.