Crypto-company gives US$50 million for research

Business Insider 08 June 2018

Crypto payments company Ripple has announced a new US$50 million fund to finance university research into blockchain and cryptocurrency technologies after partnering with 17 universities around the world for the new project, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University College London, Princeton University and the Australian National University, writes Oscar Williams-Grut for Business Insider.

Universities involved in the project will be able to apply to Ripple's University Blockchain Research Initiative fund for cash. Some of the US$50 million has already been allocated. Eric van Miltenburg, senior vice president of global operations at Ripple, said in a statement: “Academia has traditionally been a critical driver of technical innovation. The University Blockchain Research Initiative is an acknowledgement of the vital importance of the unique role universities will play in advancing our understanding and application of cryptography and blockchain technology. It also speaks to the reality that university graduates will fuel a continually evolving and maturing financial marketplace and workforce.”

Ripple is not the first to collaborate with the university sector. Charles Hoskinson, who helped develop ethereum, last year committed to investing US$1 million in setting up new blockchain labs at the University of Edinburgh and the Tokyo Institute of Technology.
Full report on the Business Insider site

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