Ripple Hosts Blockchain Research Event at University of California

On Oct. 3 and 4, Ripple hosted a gathering of 200 developers, researchers and graduate students at the University of California, Berkeley campus for its first annual University Blockchain Research Initiative conference.

Known as UBRI Connect 2019, this is Ripple's major academic conference focused on blockchain and digital assets from a multidisciplinary perspective, hosted in partnership with Berkeley.

A closer look at UBRI. According to Weber, Ripple's UBRI program currently consists of 34 university partners around the world, half of which are based in the United States.

Through UBRI, Ripple plans to help enrich this research in order to create true innovation in the blockchain and cryptocurrency ecosystem.

Instead of using funding to direct research, UBRI is choosing to partner with university departments and faculty that are already engaged with blockchain.

"We haven't gone to our UBRI university partners telling them what products and technical issues we need solutions for," Weber said.

While UBRI does not dictate how funds are spent, the program organizers believe that the university partners are genuinely interested in what Ripple is doing.

Through UBRI, Ripple funds universities across various academic disciplines.

URBI also works with Stanford University's engineering department, noting that the graduate students and faculty there have helped Ripple discover two breakthroughs in cryptography that are important for helping the blockchain scale.

UBRI Connect 2019 also provided a stage for Ripple's Xpring and RippleNet to discuss the recent developments with XRP, the cryptocurrency used by the Ripple payment network.