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Interest in blockchain, the technology upon which Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are based, has surged at Boston University among students and faculty\u2014even amid financial questions about its security, risk factors, and value.\u00a0<\/p>\n
CoinDesk, a leading online media platform that covers the cryptocurrency space, recently named BU to its global list of Best Universities for Blockchain 2022<\/a>, writing: \u201cThe private research university in the heart of the Massachusetts capital offers 12 blockchain-related courses, including blockchain and Social Impact and Crypto for Data Science. At the graduate level, there is a master of science in mathematical finance and financial technology, and a master of science in computer science with a specialization in cybersecurity. The university also offers two graduate certificate programs in financial technology and advanced financial technology. Student interest in blockchain is keen enough to have launched three student clubs, including the Cryptocurrency Club, Fintech Club and the BU Bitcoin Club.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n All of this action begs a number of questions, starting with . . .<\/p>\n \u201cBlockchain is essentially a distributed database technology that is maintained and used by many individuals at once,\u201d says Gerry Tsoukalas<\/a>, a Questrom School of Business associate professor of information systems. \u201cThink of it like Google Docs, where multiple people can read and edit a document at the same time, except without a central entity like Google owning it.\u201d<\/p>\n Mark Williams<\/a>, a Questrom master lecturer in finance and the faculty advisor to the BU Fintech Club (\u201cfintech\u201d is financial technology), emphasizes that blockchain \u201callows for the secure recording of digital transactions through a decentralized, trustless system, which potentially could eliminate the need for traditional intermediaries, such as banks and brokers.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Williams created the first graduate level fintech course at BU and he views blockchain as \u201ca proofing process where decentralized transactions get approved, and are then added to a digital ledger, which is both secure and can\u2019t be changed.\u201d blockchain is also an open-source system (as opposed to a closed platform owned by a company). That means anyone can write programs for it, \u201cthus allowing for creativity and innovation,\u201d Williams says.<\/p>\n This leads to a natural follow-up question:<\/p>\n Besides cryptocurrencies, blockchain has brought us NFTs or \u201cnon-fungible tokens.\u201d NFTs are unique digital identifiers recorded on a blockchain that certify ownership in an asset. As Tsoukalas explains, NFTs or \u201ctokenization offers the ability to divide asset ownership among multiple people.\u201d<\/p>\n For instance, he says, multiple investors could own a house that generates income for all of them. Their ownership would be represented by tokens, and it would give them profit sharing and voting rights.<\/p>\n Williams explains that NFTs \u201chave become a multibillion dollar industry that\u2019s been sweeping the art world, solving the problem of ensuring there\u2019s no counterfeiting and also making sure that royalties go to the artists who actually created the digital representation.\u201d He adds that even Major League Baseball and the NBA have jumped on the popularity of NFTs to create digital sports cards.<\/p>\n And while NFTs have become a high-profile use of blockchain, the technology has many other applications. \u201cI\u2019m really interested in how blockchain could replace financial institutions in a trustless environment,\u201d says Williams. \u201cWhen you think about why a JP Morgan [investment bank] exists, it\u2019s because you have two parties in a transaction who may not know each other, but they both trust the intermediary. If you create an environment where trust isn\u2019t needed, a third party intermediary doesn\u2019t have to get paid on both ends, eliminating what we call the frictional cost of transactions.\u201d<\/p>\n Blockchain could potentially expand access to lending. \u201cThe underbanked [or unbanked] represent about 15 percent of the Greater Boston community,\u201d says Williams. \u201cIf you can provide this marginalized group direct access to financing with blockchain, you\u2019re creating on-ramps instead of barriers, and you\u2019re actually improving people\u2019s standard of living.\u201d<\/p>\n Without question. BU senior Jasmine Fanchu Zhou<\/a>, majoring in economics and math, heard about blockchain for the first time during her senior year in high school. \u201cMy cousin was a trader in crypto and said I should look into blockchain,\u201d she says. After her sophomore year at BU, Zhou worked as a summer intern at a cryptocurrency company called Binance<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt was during that summer internship that I realized what a big world blockchain is, with so many applications beyond just cryptocurrency,\u201d Zhou says. She later joined the BU Blockchain Club, and started attending events in Boston and New York City. \u201cRight now, I\u2019m looking into token economics, which is closely related to my economics studies,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Zhou has noticed a surge in student interest about blockchain. \u201cAbout a year ago, I started hearing more students talking about it. The BU Blockchain Club does a really great job gathering people together and inviting great guest speakers to educate our community about blockchain,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Henry Willis<\/a>, a sophomore majoring in data science, and a member of the BU Fintech Club, went to his first meeting with the club last year and was surprised that \u201cthere were so many members at the meeting that half of us had to stand up.\u201d<\/p>\n Questrom\u2019s Williams sees interest in blockchain pivoting away from cryptocurrency and towards other applications, such as NFTs and smart contracts. \u201cWhat I\u2019m seeing now, likely because of the major decline in the value of cryptocurrency, is more student focus on the underlying technology of blockchain itself. The momentum is moving towards creating stable tokens that can be used on the blockchain.\u201d<\/p>\n Blockchain and its applications cut across multiple disciplines, including computer science, finance, economics, business, engineering, and others. And as CoinDesk<\/a> noted, BU does offer 12 blockchain-related courses, such as blockchain and social impact and crypto for data science.\u00a0<\/p>\n Steven Kou<\/a>, a Questrom professor in management and finance, is teaching a graduate-level course, called Economics of FinTech, which covers blockchain and blockchain programming. \u201cMany, many students have enrolled in this class, which is a testimony to the value students see in it,\u201d Kou says. \u201cBlockchain is an important fintech industry trend. There are jobs available for students, and other universities are offering graduate programs related to blockchain.\u201d<\/p>\n Could a thriving blockchain ecosystem develop in Greater Boston, just as we\u2019ve seen in the life sciences? Zhou believes so: \u201cBoston is a big city with academic giants such as Harvard and MIT in the same area as BU. You have opportunities for collaboration on blockchain, as well as space for educators, students, and start-ups to interact and be exposed to all these amazing blockchain applications.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\nWhat is blockchain, anyway?<\/h3>\n
How is blockchain used?<\/h3>\n
Are students showing greater interest in blockchain?<\/h3>\n
So, is BU ramping up course offerings in blockchain?<\/h3>\n
And what about beyond BU\u2014is a blockchain ecosystem emerging?<\/h3>\n