World’s top universities team up with BitDAO

BitDAO and Mirana Ventures have launched EduDAO in partnership with some of the world’s most prestigious universities.

EduDAO is a decentralised autonomous organisation (DAO) connecting disparate university ecosystems to enhance collaboration and data exchange and foster a new generation of blockchain and Web3 innovators.

University partners include Berkeley RDI, Blockchain at Berkeley, Penn Blockchain, Harvard Blockchain Club, MIT Sloan Blockchain Club, Blockchain at Michigan, Blockchain@USC, Oxford Blockchain Society, and Tsinghua University Students Blockchain Association.

Financed by the BitDAO treasury, EduDAO will serve as an independent steering committee, allocating up to $11m in funding annually for project grants, research, and standalone product development with $33m in the fund to start.

Each university group will operate autonomously, controlling allocated budgets to provide students and faculties creative freedom.

This will also serve as an incentive for alumni to remain with the projects post-graduation.

In return for funding, university groups will participate in BitDAO governance votes — determining the protocol’s development — and provide recurring contributions back to BitDAO itself.

Contributions may include building governance or treasury tooling improvements, contributing to other BitDAO funded DAOs, or building standalone products that benefit the BitDAO ecosystem.

Harvard wants its students to contribute to crypto

EduDAO is the brainchild of Jon Allen, managing partner for Mirana Ventures who said: “Tomorrow’s most promising products and designs are being devised at the university level right now; this partnership facilitates that growth at a scalable level by giving students and faculties access to sorely needed investment capital.”

He added that “bridging early-stage VC investments with innovative academic research will build the foundation for the next generation of Web3 technologies”.

According to Allen, this model aims to provide university groups with a wider reach, enabling blockchain innovation through funding as well as advancing collaboration and information sharing.

The research will be shared among the participating universities and the general public via the BitDAO protocol.

Roman Ugarte and Virat Talwar, co-presidents of the Harvard Blockchain Club commented that “placing the power of targeted funding and information distribution in the hands of a decentralised collective of students, faculty members, and alumni is a revolutionary step forward for institutions such as Harvard”.

“As a young organisation, we’re especially excited about the possibility to use the resources and mentorship offered by BitDAO to help build and grow our community in order to further the ability of the students we serve to learn about and contribute to the world of crypto,” they noted.

“More generally, we’re thrilled to be able to pioneer this innovative model and encourage the overall maturation of Web 3 as well as promote blockchain education for the general public.”