Best Universities for Blockchain 2022: University of California-Berkeley

Founded in 1868 and driven by its motto of “let light be made,” the 154-year-old institution east of San Francisco Bay now looks to find answers in the ever-changing field of blockchain technology.

This piece is part of CoinDesk's Education Week

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The Berkeley Haas Blockchain Initiative, which is funded in part by the Ripple University Blockchain Research Initiative and is led by faculty and students, studies various avenues within blockchain, including security, its use to maintain medical records and the possibilities it may provide for financial inclusion.

The research center’s Xcelerator program operates via a joint venture between Berkeley Engineering, the Berkeley Haas School of Business and student-led group Blockchain at Berkeley. The trio collaborate across various departments and work with alumni to further lead discussion between students and organizations. The center is also funded by some of the most prominent software development companies in crypto, including payment protocol Ripple, open-finance blockchain platform Oasis Foundation, and cryptocurrency protocols Algorand and Stellar.

From UC Berkeley’s engineering, business and law departments, the university offers 29 courses related to blockchain for undergraduate students, including Blockchain Fundamentals, and Decal: Blockchain for Developers.

While the university offers only a graduatef degree major, it gives undergraduate students the opportunity to earn a certificate, or minor.

Students interested in blockchain technology have founded five student blockchain clubs, including Blockchain at Berkeley. Tthe Haas initiative has hosted a slew of events that range from a Blockchain Research symposium, a diversity in blockchain conference and a panel on Cybercrime and Cryptocurrency. The research center has also hosted workshops, including a two-part Blockchain 101 series, one of which explored blockchain across industries, followed by another on security.

Scholars at the university have published 67 blockchain papers – 28 of which cite the Stanford faculty as first authors – that overall have been cited over 321,000 times, according to data compiled by CoinDesk.