Through a new project called the ‘University Blockchain Research Initiative’ (UBRI), the team behind the Ripple (XRP) token will accelerate the research into new blockchain applications through universities.
According to an official announcement on the Ripple website, seventeen universities scattered across the US, Australia, Netherlands, Brazil, India, South Korea, the UK, Luxembourg, and Canada will get a share of the $50 million allocated for the project.
Explaining the motive behind the new project, Eric Van Miltenburg who manages global operations at Ripple said,
“The University Blockchain Research Initiative is an acknowledgment of the vital importance of the unique role universities will play in advancing our understanding and application of cryptography and blockchain technology.”
Citing specific uses of the fund by institutions, Ripple confirmed that in the University of Pennsylvania, the UBRI would provide funding to engineering students who choose to tread the path of blockchain and cryptocurrencies.
At the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands and the University of Luxembourg, new blockchain research programmes will also be supported with a part of the funds.
Other named beneficiaries include
- CSAIL at MIT
- The Center for Information Technology Policy at Princeton University
- Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley
- University of Waterloo
- UCL (University College London)
- University of Oregon
- The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Korea University
- University of Nicosia (Cyprus)
- Australian National University
- Fundação Getulio Vargas (Brazil)
- McCombs School of Business, UT-Austin
- IIT Bombay
International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad (IIIT-H)
Ripple has followed in the steps of Charles Hoskinson, founder of the Ethereum blockchain who in 2017, donated $1 million to set up new blockchain labs in the Tokyo University of Technology and the famous University of Edinburgh.
It is believed that an investment into the next generation of tech reformers will fuel a continually evolving and maturing financial marketplace powered by the blockchain.
A walk back to the crypto exchange market shows that Ripples XRP remains the world’s third valuable token, just behind Bitcoin and Ethereum.
The company has, however, put an ongoing lawsuit citing the token as a security on the sidelines, to show its support for the fast-growing blockchain community.
