Published on: 2026-10-21
Source: Novosibirsk State University –
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
The Non-Stop University CRYPTO Olympiad was created in Akademgorodok, Novosibirsk, in 2014, and over 13 years it has significantly expanded its geography: this year, more than 1,500 people from 53 countries took part.
This is the only international cryptography olympiad that includes both educational problems and unsolved scientific issues. The aim of the olympiad is to attract young researchers to the problems of modern cryptography. After each olympiad, scientific articles are published analyzing the problems presented to participants, including the unsolved ones that require separate scientific research.
— We have held two very successful rounds of the Olympiad. This year, we recorded a record number of registrations for the Olympiad — 1,528 participants from 53 countries, — comments the Chair of the Program Committee, Associate Professor of NSU Natalya Tokareva.
The development of artificial intelligence has changed a lot in the course of the Olympiad, but the organizers were prepared for such changes.
— The tasks of the olympiad are designed in such a way that the use of AI is only welcome. For this olympiad, we received twice as many solutions as in 2025 — almost 4,000. We will have to process all of them manually., — emphasizes Natalia Tokareva.
Several open problems in cryptography were solved by participants during the second round of the olympiad (based on the results of the quick analysis), which confirms a high level of preparation.
— Participants come to compete with each other — and this speaks to a high level of trust in us as a platform. Many of them participate repeatedly and have been able to see that we approach the evaluation impartially. All tasks are reviewed twice by the experts of the program committee, blindly, and the overall results are only tallied at the very end. Even for us organizers, the prize winners remain unknown until the last moment, — adds Natalia Tokareva.
The competition organizers wish the participants further progress in the study of cryptographic problems, thank the international program committee for their openness and interesting tasks, as well as the event partners for their support, and congratulate them on this unique achievement.
The organizers and partners of the olympiad are the Cryptographic Center (Novosibirsk), Novosibirsk State University, the companies Kryptonite, Crypto-PRO, Aktiv, the University of Leuven (Belgium), Southern Federal University, Khakademiya, Belarusian State University, Tomsk State University, and the company Enseucrypto-Lab.
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