Ripple has entered a partnership with Canada’s largest university by enrollment, the University of Toronto. The partnership is a part of Ripple’s University Blockchain Research Initiative (UBRI), a program that supports a diverse portfolio of blockchain research, technical development, and innovation at universities around the world.
The university plans to start work on an independent XRP Ledger Validator. UBRI has been driving significant blockchain and crypto technology research in Canada, which is an addition to the number of benefiting tertiary institutions in the country.
The program will allow university students to acquire and improve skills that will make them relevant in the fast-growing crypto industry.
In the last five years, Ripple has invested over $2 million in UBRI for top universities and colleges in Canada to foster knowledge acquisition in crypto and blockchain technology in the country. This is just a part of a total of $47 million the company has disbursed to universities worldwide, and the budget is increasing to $80 million for 2023.
Despite the ongoing case with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Ripple is working towards developing the crypto industry. This is a giant stride towards ensuring its impact is felt.
It is hardly surprising that the partnership is with Canada’s top university since the US has been hard on crypto and has intensified efforts this year by cracking down on crypto companies. UBRI has been chiefly active outside of the U.S. because of this, as other countries remain more crypto-friendly.
“As more crypto projects and companies look to build outside of the U.S., creating evergreen educational opportunities and growing a pipeline of talent is critical to our industry’s long-term success.” Ripple’s Senior Vice President of Strategic Initiatives Eric van Miltenburg, stated.
Blockchain technology has many applications beyond crypto. With this program, Ripple is helping to raise the next generation of crypto and blockchain leaders who will help drive the industry’s growth in the future.
