Kraken exchange celebrates 10th anniversary with $300,000 grant to University of Wyoming

Leading cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has officially announced its partnership with the University of Wyoming to launch a multi-year effort to educate students on digital assets and cryptocurrencies.

Over the next three years, Kraken is committing up to $300,000 towards the University of Wyoming and its efforts to promote the crypto industry to prospective students who wish to pursue a career in cryptocurrencies and digital assets.

“On our 10th anniversary, we’re setting sights on the future by investing in expanding access to quality education on Bitcoin and cryptocurrency,” said Kraken CEO Jesse Powell (main picture).

“We hope the program will capture imaginations and contribute to a better financial future for Wyoming and for the world.”

The program will focus on the study of Bitcoin and digital asset technologies which represent the growing presence of the crypto industry in Wyoming. Kraken has established roots in the state following the 2020 launch of Kraken Bank, which operates as a regulated Wyoming-based financial services firm.

To achieve these goals, Kraken will offer scholarship support to PhD students at the University of Wyoming, collaborate with university educators to offer free learning opportunities for K-12 students, and facilitate paid professional development opportunities for K-12 teachers.

The pledge will also support a computing-based summer camp, further expanding the University of Wyoming’s efforts by bringing real-world computing knowledge and applications to both students and educators.

Assistant Professor of Computer Science, Dr Mike Borowczak, said: “This gift from Kraken enables us to recruit and retain a high-calibre researcher who will work in an interdisciplinary space with other researchers from both the Wyoming Advanced Blockchain Laboratory as well as the Cybersecurity Education And Research Center”.

The partnership contributes to Kraken’s ongoing expansion of the size and scope of its grant program to include digital asset industry initiatives beyond open-source development. Throughout 2021, Kraken also aims to pledge more than $1 million to support developers of open-source cryptocurrency projects and outreach initiatives. 

The partnership with Kraken further reinforces Wyoming’s proactive stance towards cryptocurrencies and its position as the most crypto-friendly state in the US. The state recently legally recognised a DAO and introduce legislation that recognises DAOs as a form of limited liability companies.

Prominent Wyoming senator Cynthia Lummis has also been an advocate for cryptocurrencies in Wyoming. Since her appointment to the Senate Banking Committee in February, she has established a Financial Innovation Caucus which aims to bring DeFi to the forefront of the Committees’ discussions, focusing on educating fellow committee members.