Wharton is Accelerating Innovation in Blockchain and Cryptocurrency

A partnership between Ripple, a blockchain-based global digital payments company and the Wharton School along with the School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Pennsylvania, is enabling faculty and student research to unlock the full potential of blockchain.

The joint-school effort is part of a $50 million venture launched by Ripple that is supporting academic research, technical development, and innovation in blockchain, cryptocurrency, and distributed ledger technology.

Eric van Miltenburg, SVP of Global Operations at Ripple. “Much of the enthusiasm and activity to date around blockchain is disconnected from real use cases that result in clear benefits to businesses or civil society. While Ripple won’t dictate research parameters, we are excited to play a role in helping to support faculty and student-led projects that explore increasingly useful applications of blockchain and cryptocurrencies.”

This matters because funding from Ripple’s As the demand for professionals with an understanding of the technology and its applications grows, The Ripple Project at Penn will support eligible MBA-MS candidates each year in a newly established Wharton-Engineering dual-degree program for students engaging with blockchain or cryptocurrency.

Student interest in blockchain and cryptocurrencies at Wharton is robust. Of the nearly 400 members of the Penn Blockchain Club, many are from Wharton.

“Blockchain is a major point of intersection between business and engineering,” according to Kevin Werbach, associate professor of legal studies and business ethics at the Wharton School. “This funding allows us to research a broad range of topics ranging from privacy to smart contract design to regulatory questions to creating trust in decentralized environments.”

Ripple and Penn Wharton believe the partnership will engage students and faculty from a wide range of academic fields and backgrounds to produce strategic research and technical developments that will add value to the global blockchain ecosystem.

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