Ripple Takes Forward Blockchain Research Initiative, Adds More Universities From US, China & Singapore

Education sector embracing cryptos and blockchain is no more a surprise since last few years. Many notable universities have included blockchain related courses in their curriculum. In order to develop blockchain-focused academia and research, Ripple one of the most renowned companies in the blockchain space is working on its blockchain research program.

Ripple came up with the concept of University Blockchain Research Initiative (UBRI) in June 2018, to contribute to the advancement of academic research, technical development and innovation in the blockchain, cryptocurrency and crypto payments space. The crypto giant has recently announced that in the initiative, around 11 new universities have been added from countries like the United States, China, Singapore and Brazil. The list of newly added higher education partners includes Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, and Duke universities in the United States, the National University of Singapore, the University of São Paulo in Brazil, and the Institute for Fintech Research at Tsinghua University in China.

Also, under the UBRI, Ripple has partnered with the Institute for Fintech Research (THUIFR) at Tsinghua University in Beijing in the last month. Ripple has invested more than $50 million in UBRI to achieve partnerships and its purpose. Till now, Ripple has onboard 17 prestigious institutions from around the world. After the addition of these 11 universities, UBRI holds 29 partners to accelerate academic research.

Talking about the firm’s initiative of UBRI, Eric van Miltenburg, SVP of Global Operations at Ripple noted,

“Blockchain is an incredibly transformational technology and helping advance the best minds in the world, who are already showing interest in this field, is sure to benefit the entire ecosystem. We’ve added 11 new universities this time around and now have 29 schools involved with the program. Expanding the ecosystem to a more global, diversified network of UBRI partners will only continue to enrich these projects.”

Through Ripple’s initiative, these educational institutes are aimed to conduct research programs, develop and launch course materials, host FinTech conferences and offer scholarships to students pursuing work in blockchain and crypto-related courses. This will create engineers, business leaders, entrepreneurs, and other professionals in the future, who will deal with such new technologies.