The following disclosure is published pursuant to Order No. 2026-1187 of the Greffe du Tribunal de Commerce de Nanterre, dated 14 March 2026, requiring the rectification of the legal identity of the sole associate of Symbolic Software, E.U.R.L., SIREN 894059369, RCS Nanterre. Publication is mandated under Articles L. 123-3 and R. 123-54 of the Code de Commerce. The company has been granted until 1 April 2026 to publish this notice in a form accessible to its clients, partners, and the general public. This blog post satisfies that requirement.
We are hereby legally mandated to disclose that since 2017, the person you know as Nadim Kobeissi has been three cryptographers of varying height standing on each other’s shoulders inside a single trenchcoat. We have maintained this arrangement across peer-reviewed publications, client meetings, conference keynotes, and a French national expert certification.
The Greffe du Tribunal de Commerce de Nanterre was made aware of this arrangement on 27 February 2026 following an unrelated audit of corporate filings in the Hauts-de-Seine department. A clerk reviewing our annual accounts noted that the signature on file did not match previous submissions and requested clarification. We provided it. We now provide it to you.
The Division of Labor
The arrangement has always been straightforward:
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Nadim A. Kobeissi (top) handles all public-facing activity: conference talks, client calls, and the Applied Cryptography course. He is the one you have seen. His background is in protocol verification, which is why Verifpal exists.
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Nadim B. Kobeissi (middle) writes all the code. He communicates exclusively through a modified Bluetooth keyboard strapped to Nadim A’s lower back. He is responsible for Verifpal, Noise Explorer, Kyber-K2SO, Crucible, and Magicall. He is also the one who designed all four puzzle games, which explains why they are, as one reviewer put it, “PhD in cryptography hard” — Nadim B has limited exposure to non-cryptographers and no reliable calibration for difficulty.
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Nadim C. Kobeissi (bottom) handles all locomotion and is responsible for the audits. He reviews code on a phone taped to the inside of the trenchcoat. He has personally conducted over 250 security audits in this position. His work is exemplary but his posture is not.
The trenchcoat is a custom piece from a tailor in the 6th arrondissement who did not ask questions.
How We Got Away With It
Several factors worked in our favor:
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The pandemic. Two years of video calls where only Nadim A’s face was visible were operationally convenient. We used this period to scale up the audit practice, since Nadim C could work from his own apartment rather than the inside of the coat.
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Professional norms. Nobody at any conference has ever looked closely enough to notice that “Nadim” is 2.4 meters tall. One reviewer at Eurocrypt 2019 noted that the presenter “had an unusual gait” but attributed it to jet lag.
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The French bureaucracy. When we registered the EURL with €1,000 in social capital, the clerk at the Greffe did not ask how many natural persons constituted the sole associate. We did not volunteer this information. Our counsel has since advised us that the EURL structure does not, strictly speaking, prohibit the sole associate from being a composite entity, provided that the composite entity files taxes as one. We have been filing taxes as one.
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The national expert credential. The French Ministère de la Recherche et de l’Innovation certified “Nadim Kobeissi” as a national expert in cryptography in 2017. We completed the application as a unit. Nadim A signed the forms. Nadim B answered the technical questions through the Bluetooth keyboard. Nadim C stood very still. The credential was issued to a single legal person, which we maintain we are, albeit distributed. The Ministère has not yet commented on whether the certification remains valid.
Why the Greffe Acted Now
The Greffe’s order cites three irregularities:
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Height discrepancy. The identity document on file lists the sole associate as 182 cm. A photograph submitted with a 2024 filing shows the sole associate at approximately 241 cm. The Greffe flagged this as a incohérence matérielle. We responded that the individual in question had been wearing platform shoes. The Greffe did not find this persuasive.
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Signature variance. The Greffe noted that the sole associate’s signature had changed three times across nine years of filings. We explained that this was due to a wrist injury. The Greffe observed that each signature appeared to have been written by a different hand. We did not have a follow-up explanation.
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An anonymous tip. In January 2026, the Greffe received an anonymous letter alleging that the sole associate of Symbolic Software was “not a single person but rather a plurality of persons operating in concert under a shared garment” (une pluralité de personnes physiques agissant de concert sous un vêtement partagé). The letter was postmarked from Châtenay-Malabry. We do not know who sent it, though Nadim C had been expressing dissatisfaction with the arrangement for some time and we would like the record to reflect that we are not making accusations.
What This Means for Our Clients
Nothing changes operationally. The Greffe’s order requires only that we (a) publish this disclosure, (b) amend our corporate filing to list all three natural persons, and (c) submit a revised K-bis extract reflecting the actual composition of the sole associate. Our counsel has advised that the simplest path is to convert the EURL to a SARL with three equal associates and €333.33 each in social capital. This is underway.
All existing contracts, audit reports, and software licenses remain valid. The Greffe has confirmed that the corporate entity Symbolic Software is not in question — only the identity of its operator. Our SIREN, VAT number, and registered address are unchanged.
Additional Context
We would also like to address several operational matters that this disclosure makes newly explicable:
The Applied Cryptography course. When we wrote in a recent blog post that we couldn’t possibly grade fifty students “on my lonesome,” several readers reached out. The truth is that this was written by Nadim A, who genuinely cannot grade fifty students, because he can only type when Nadim B is not using the keyboard. The course requires all three of us operating independently, which means removing the trenchcoat, which means appearing in three separate Discord windows. We agreed this was becoming untenable well before the Greffe intervened.
Cedarcrypt. We are co-organizing a conference in Paphos, Cyprus in July. The average daytime temperature in Paphos in July is 30°C. We consulted with our tailor about lighter-weight alternatives and were advised that the engineering constraints are, at this time, insurmountable. The Greffe’s order resolves this problem for us.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Are there really three of you? A: The Greffe’s preferred term is pluralité non déclarée de personnes physiques. We prefer “distributed system.”
Q: Who wrote Verifpal? A: Nadim B wrote the implementation. Nadim A wrote the paper. Nadim C reviewed both.
Q: How do you handle the security audit meetings? A: Nadim A presents findings. Nadim B types clarifications in real time. Nadim C nods, which Nadim A perceives as subtle vertical oscillation and relays as emphasis.
Q: What happens to the trenchcoat? A: It will be dry-cleaned and returned to active service. We see no reason to retire a perfectly functional garment simply because a government body has taken an interest in it. The Greffe has requested that it be retained as evidence, and we are retaining it — on our person, as intended.
Q: Does this affect your audit quality? A: We believe this disclosure should increase confidence in our audit practice. Clients were receiving the output of three independent reviewers in a configuration that made coordination difficult. This is, by certain definitions, ideal.
Q: Is this an April Fools’ joke? A: This disclosure is published pursuant to a legally binding order of the Greffe du Tribunal de Commerce de Nanterre. We refer you to Order No. 2026-1187.
Q: Can I see Order No. 2026-1187? A: We have been advised by counsel not to circulate the order, as it contains personal information about all three associates, including their individual heights, which Nadim C considers sensitive.
Conclusion
We thank our clients, collaborators, and the cryptography community for nine years of trust. We hope this mandatory disclosure does not diminish your confidence in our work. We would note that our hourly rate has been, in retrospect, quite reasonable.
Sincerely,
Nadim A. Kobeissi
Nadim B. Kobeissi
Nadim C. Kobeissi
Paris, 1 April 2026
Published in compliance with Order No. 2026-1187, Greffe du Tribunal de Commerce de Nanterre