The partnership was made as part of Ripple’s international University Blockchain Research Initiative (UBRI). The program is aimed at enabling students of educational institutions to acquire knowledge and improve skills that will increase their employability in the crypto industry. The University of Toronto has also indicated a willingness to become an independent validator of the XRP Ledger.
Eric van Miltenburg, Ripple’s vice president of strategic development, said Ripple has invested more than $2 million in UBRI over the past five years to bring blockchain and cryptocurrency education to Canada’s top universities and colleges. The company has allocated about $47 million to universities around the world, and that budget has been increased to $80 million by 2023.
Miltenburg noted that most of the UBRI program is implemented outside the U.S.. This is due to the fact that U.S. regulators have tightened measures against cryptocurrency companies, while other countries are more loyal to digital assets.
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“More and more cryptocurrency startups are being created outside the U.S., so holding educational seminars about blockchain and cryptocurrencies and nurturing new talent is critical to the long-term growth of the industry,” Miltenburg said.
As a reminder, Ripple began partnering with 10 leading universities in 2019, as part of the UBRI research program: Carnegie Mellon University, Cornell University, Duke University, Georgetown University, Morgan State University, the University of Kansas, the University of Michigan and Northeastern University, as well as the National University of Singapore and the University of Sao Paulo.<br