The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is investigating whether a student at the University of Michigan attempted to hack the West Virginia’s voting app. “Not one single vote was changed” On Oct. 5, according to CNN, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia, Mike Stuart, wrote that the FBI is investigating the “unsuccessful attempted intrusion” by an outside party to gain access to the Voatz app, a mobile app that was used to collect ballots from overseas and military voters in the 2018 election. Stuart said that during the West Virginia’s 2018 election cycle his office …

The University of St. Gallen in Switzerland is setting its sights on blockchain technology to fight fake diplomas, a type of fraud that has been on the rise globally in recent years. Degree certification According to a CNN Money Switzerland interview from Sept. 19, the University of St. Gallen has announced that it is introducing a blockchain-based pilot project to verify the authenticity of its degrees in a matter of seconds rather than several days. The university’s CIO Harald Rotter said: “I saw that it could be necessary and it could be a valid use case to transfer or to …

Huobi University, the research and education arm of cryptocurrency exchange Huobi, announced its collaboration with the University of Gibraltar on various blockchain initiatives. On Sept. 5, Houbi Group, the parent company of both Huobi University and Huobi exchange, announced what the firm describes as its “first formal collaboration with a Western university.” As Cointelegraph reported in October 2018, the Government of Gibraltar in collaboration with the University of Gibraltar have created an advisory group focused on the development of blockchain-related educational courses. An official partnership Per the release, Gibraltar's Minister for Commerce Albert Isola signed a memorandum of understanding on …

New research by major cryptocurrency trading platform Coinbase shows that 56% of the top 50 universities in the world offer one or more classes on cryptocurrency or blockchain tech. Metrics indicate growing interest Coinbase shared its research in an official blog post on Aug. 28 in which it used rankings from US News and World Report for its list of the top 50 universities. This included both undergraduate and graduate level offerings. The research found that twice as many students took blockchain or crypto courses when compared to last year and that many top universities also have a student-run clubs …

Cryptocurrency firm Ripple’s head of social impact Ken Weber has said universities around the world must expand their education programs to offer blockchain and digital assets training courses that directly relate to actual roles in the industry. Demand exceeding supply Weber addressed the lack of a qualified blockchain workforce and relevant education resources in an interview with OpenAccessGovernment published on Aug. 20. He also cited a report which suggests that “there’s been a 517% increase in demand for software engineers with blockchain development skills in the past year” — but “demand is far outweighing supply.” Weber said: “A large part …

Blockchain accelerator MouseBelt has launched a blockchain education initiative at three campuses in the University of California system. Blockchain education at U.S. universities In a news release shared with Cointelegraph on Aug. 22, MouseBelt announced an initiative with UC Davis, UC Los Angeles and UC Santa Barbara to support blockchain-focused education, research and entrepreneurship. An initial donation from the company will be divided between the three campuses. MouseBelt plans to invest $500,000 for student projects and raise another $500,000 to fund researchers directly — supporting up to five early stage companies with up to $100,000 in investment through a UC …

Cryptocurrency giant Ripple has partnered with Kyoto University and the University of Tokyo as part of its University Blockchain Research Initiative (UBRI). Ripple announced its new Japanese partnerships in a press release on July 30. Emi Yoshikawa, senior director of global operations at Ripple, noted that there is high interest in blockchain within Japanese academia: “Japan is quickly becoming a leading force in crypto assets and blockchain. The region has always been forward thinking and exploring ways to improve the current financial system [...] We have seen high levels of interest from the academic community on topics around blockchain and …

Canadian-based University of British Columbia (UBC) has announced a blockchain and distributed ledger technology training program for master’s and PhD students. UBC announced the development in a press release on June 11. The training path is reportedly designed to build competency around blockchain tech, and is focused on its application in four public benefit areas: health and wellness, clean energy, regulatory technology and Indigenous issues. UBC says they hope to train 139 students over a six-year period, and graduates should have the tools to evaluate blockchain solutions as well as identify opportunities for blockchain implementation. Canadian national non-profit research organization …

Global tech giant IBM has entered a partnership a Russian metal producer to launch an educational program in blockchain, local news agency TASS reports June 6. Nornickel, a Moscow-based globally leading producer of nickel and palladium, has signed an agreement with IBM and the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) to set up a study and training center for specialists to develop digital technologies for the mining and metals industry. According to the report, the agreement was signed on June 6 at the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum by Nornickel’s VP Sergey Batehin, IBM’s general manager in Russia and …

The Maltese government has awarded 19 students blockchain scholarships worth a total of 160,000 euro ($179,000), local publication the Malta Independent reports May 23. The scholarships were granted by Silvio Schembri, Parliamentary Secretary for Financial Services, Digital Economy and Innovation, using the $351,000 scholarship fund that was set up by Malta Digital Innovation Authority (MITA) and the University of Malta in August 2018. According to the Malta Independent, all the awardees will further apply for a Master's degree in blockchain and distributed ledger technologies (DLT), with separate groups of students specializing in blockchain studies relating to law, finance, business, and …

Emin Gun Sirer, a professor at Cornell University and a major global blockchain expert, will launch his own cryptocurrency and blockchain network, Bloomberg reported on May 16. Sirer, the creator of the first crypto based on proof-of-work (PoW) — Karma System — is now planning to launch a blockchain network that he touts as running as many transactions per second as payment giant Visa. Having raised $6 million from major investors such as Andreessen Horowitz, Polychain and MetaStable in February, Sirer’s Ava Labs has reportedly launched a private test version of the Ava network on May 16, while the public …

A project at the University of Nevada, Reno is developing a new blockchain-powered autonomous vehicle project, according to a press release published on April 23. The Intelligent Mobility project, coordinated by the University of Nevada, Reno and the Nevada Center of Applied Research (NCAR), has chosen enterprise blockchain and Internet of Things (IoT) firm Filament to develop an autonomous vehicle smart city project. According to the press release, the new blockchain-enabled initiative is designed to improve safety and communication between driverless connected cars and the surrounding infrastructure. Carlos Cardillo, director of the Nevada Center for Applied Research, explained that the …