By David Brown

Stanford has created the Center for Blockchain Research, supported in part by the Ethereum Foundation, Stanford Engineering’s website posted yesterday, June 20.

The university reportedly established the center in order to examine how blockchain technology can transform traditional business interactions, according to their official announcement.

Ethereum (ETH) co-founder Vitalik Buterin tweeted about his, and evidently his Foundation’s, support for the blockchain initiative June 20:

In addition to the Ethereum Foundation, the Center for Blockchain Research has received contributions from Protocol Labs, the Interchain Foundation, crypto exchange OmiseGO, DFINITY Stiftung and PolyChain Capital.

The preliminary five-year research program will be led by professors of computer science Dan Boneh and David Mazières, and will include other Stanford professors of engineering, particle physics, and law. Beyond blockchain research, the initiative will also develop courses on blockchain implementation, from its potential role in the financial sector to data management in other spheres.

In the Stanford post, cryptography and computer security expert Boneh said that “blockchains will become increasingly critical to doing business globally,” adding:

“Stanford should be at the forefront of efforts to improve, apply and understand the many ripple effects of this technology […] Once you get into the details you quickly realize that this area will generate many PhD theses across all of computer science and beyond.”

Blockchain education has been offered in other universities worldwide, with an Australian research university launching a blockchain course in February and Ripple (XRP) donating $50 million at the beginning of June to seventeen universities globally to support blockchain education programs.