Perm State University (PSU) is the first academic institution in Russia and one of the first in the world to create a laboratory specifically designed to investigate the implications of blockchain and crypto-technologies.
The new research centre named “The Laboratory of Crypto-Economics and Blockchain Systems” will both create mathematical models and work on the practical implementation of the blockchain technology, reports Perm news agency “TEXT”.
The laboratory will explore a range of areas where crypto-technologies can be successfully applied, including settlements between banks and on exchanges, financial settlements in international holdings and groups, open electronic voting, copyright validation for digital content and electronic notarial procedures. The laboratory will also focus on modelling the microstructure of crypto-asset financial markets.
However, cryptocurrency, which is the main application of blockchain so far, is not on the list: the fact apparently connected with the harsh stance of Russian regulators who keep emphasising the risks associated with cryptocurrency. This is one of the reasons why bitcoin and other alternative currencies may be soon banned in Russia.
Sergey Ivliev, an assistant professor at Perm University, has been appointed the head of the laboratory. The research team also includes graduate student Vera Sukhanovskaya, the founder of Economic Networks Ben Cordes and Richard Olsen, professor of the University of Essex.
The research will be supported by Lykke, a company founded by Olsen in September 2015. The company positions itself as a marketplace based on the bitcoin blockchain for multiple asset trading with immediate settlement.
Tatiana Mirolyubova, the dean of the Faculty of Economics hosting the new laboratory, emphasises the advantages of combining education and cutting-edge research within one institution. “It is very important that students, as well as graduates doing their master degrees and PhDs, could work side by side with the leading world researchers,” she said.
PSU is not the first university in Russia that demonstrates its interest to blockchain technologies. The business incubator of the Higher School of Economics is launching a three-month acceleration programme for financial and blockchain technology projects. But unlike Perm University, HSE does not establish a permanent laboratory for under- and postgraduate students to work in. It is rather a project aimed at businesses and developers. So when it comes to introducing blockchain to education in Russia, PSU seems to lead the trend.
Andrew Levich
