By
Godfrey Benjamin
April 8th, 2022
Five prominent universities have invested tens of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency funds through their respective endowments.
Today, there is no sphere that is not interested in blockchain and cryptos. The digital technology is penetrating into human life, encompassing more and more kinds of activities. Education comes as no exception. Universities all over the world are seeking ways to keep up with the times and educating specialists competent in every field of knowledge, including new technologies such as blockchain and digital currencies.
Many centers of higher education have started offering comprehensive courses on cryptocurrencies and distributed ledger technology (DLT). Among them is Stanford University, a private California-based research-focused university, where academic courses on blockchain are taught by professionals with industry experience. A general partner at Andreessen Horowitz and former US Justice Department (DOJ) attorney Kathryn Haun, a consulting economist at Microsoft Dr. Susan Athey, and Coinbase’s chief technical officer Balaji Srinivasan contribute to students’ mastering skills in the technology.
University of California, Berkeley, also offers DLT and applied cryptography-related courses such as “Blockchain, Cryptoeconomics, and the Future of Technology, Business and Law.”
Yale University went further, investing in the cryptocurrency market. The university helped a new crypto fund Paradigm raise $400 million.
Following Yale’s investment, other world’s leading universities also entered the crypto market: Harvard University, Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of North Carolina, and Dartmouth College have become players in the sphere. They have invested tens of millions dollars in cryptocurrency funds through their respective endowments. This money will be invested in both physical crypto and equity in various crypto firms.
As was reported by Jon Victor, the Information’s journalist, such a step means that investors’ attitude toward digital currencies will change. He said:
“A move by endowments into funds that will directly bet on cryptocurrencies signals a major shift in investor sentiment toward the asset class… Backing from such closely watched institutions could help validate cryptocurrencies, which are still considered too risky by many institutional investors.”
Long ago, a billionaire and cryptocurrency investor, Mike Novogratz predicted that a “herd” of institutional investors would power the next bitcoin bull market. In April of this year, Ari Paul, a cryptocurrency fund manager and a former portfolio manager at the University of Chicago’s endowment, stated that many institutions had already showed an interest in crypto investment, but they just needed to wait until outstanding names “make the first move” to “excuse” themselves to do so.
As was recently reported by Coinspeaker, Wall Street strategy firm Fundstrat carried out a research and found out that the institutional investors believe more in cryptocurrency and are more optimistic about bitcoin’s near-term prospects than retail investors.
