Stanford is launching a new research initiative with some help from Ethereum and OmiseGo.
The Center for Blockchain Research will focus on developing best practices for students and professionals to use blockchain for financial instruments and data management, among many other applications.
Led by Stanford computer scientists Dan Boneh and David Mazières, the center will explore how to scale and secure blockchain networks for the entire world while keeping computing systems affordable and sustainable.
“Blockchain massively lowers the barriers to creating tradeable, digital assets,” Mazières said. “It allows individuals who don’t know each other, or even trust one another, to make irreversible transactions in a whole variety of fields in a safe and secure way.”
The initiative may explore applications of cryptocurrencies for humanitarian purposes. According to Stanford’s announcement, “Thanks to its best-known application as a cryptocurrency, blockchains could be used to provide safe, secure vouchers to help refugees purchase food.”
Stanford’s research initiative coincides with several big blockchain projects in the private sector, spearheaded by companies such as IBM, Intel and Microsoft.
Blockchain technology creates a digital ledger of transactions, distributing multiple identical copies over the internet. Each new transaction is added to the chain of information, which is stored on every copy of the ledger. There is no central authority controlling the ledger. Decentralization guarantees that recorded transactions can’t be modified. It also allows unknown parties to settle transactions without a middleman. The authentication procedures of intermediaries such as banks, realtors, municipalities, escrow agents, insurance adjusters, title companies, courtrooms and labs can be entrusted to the blockchain.
The center’s initial five-year research program is sponsored by The Ethereum Foundation, Protocol Labs, the Interchain Foundation, OmiseGO, DFINITY Stiftung and PolyChain Capital.
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