Arizona State University and Dash cryptocurrency have announced a partnership designed to accelerate research, development and education in ways that advance blockchain transaction speed, efficiency and security and expand its uses, the university said in a press release.
The new $350,000 Dash-ASU agreement includes the Dash Scholars Program, which provides $100,000 in scholarships for undergraduate and graduate research fellowships.
“ASU welcomes this initiative and is ready to play its role in creating a potent blockchain research and innovation environment for young talents to develop practical blockchain applications,” said Dragan Boscovic, Blockchain Research Laboratory (BRL) director.
The deal also envisages establishment of research lab and industry open-source projects, providing an additional $100,000 in funding for ASU’s Blockchain Research Lab (BRL) and $50,000 in new funding for the Luminosity Lab.
Besides, a blockchain course will be developed with $100,000 for creating an online graduate course expected to be offered at ASU this fall.
“This is a remarkable partnership precisely because both sides will benefit greatly from tight collaboration,” said Ryan Taylor, CEO of Dash Core.
“Dash benefits from gaining valuable independent insights into how we can improve our plans for scaling to massively large numbers of transactions,” he added.
ASU, in turn, will benefit from gaining access to one of the most innovative teams in the digital currency industry, he said.
Ryan Taylor believes “the entire blockchain industry will benefit from the best practices that will emerge from the research, and the creation of a graduate course is a tremendous leap in blockchain’s path towards rapid, mainstream adoption.”
Dash contributed $50,000 in Blockchain Research Laboratory startup funding in August 2017. In November, Dash and ASU announced the creation of the BRL at ASU, the first in academia.