Bitfury Partners with Russian University on Blockchain Project

IT service management giant Bitfury has partnered with Russia’s Plekhanov University of Economics to create an accelerator for blockchain projects, Cointelegraph reports citing Russian media.

The university will also provide courses and additional education dedicated to “training specialists who are able to create innovative projects using digital technologies in a short time.” This will enable specialists to “bring [the projects] to market amid the new industrial revolution,” Dmitry Ufaev, the head of Bitfury Russia, told Forklog.

According to the news outlet, the project will be backed by Russia’s Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media. A ministry official cited by website stressed that the pilot program meets the aspirations of both public institutions and large corporations that need to be modernized.

Major universities worldwide are offering more and more crypto-related courses. According to a recent Coinbase study, 42 percent of the world’s top 50 universities, such as Berkeley, Stanford and Cornell, offer at least one class on cryptocurrencies and blockchain.

On Nov. 6, Bitfury closed a funding round led by European venture capital fund Korelya Capital, having raised $80 million.

The company also recently hired an investment banker, Antoine Dresch, to its board of directors, and a former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) member, Annette Nazareth, to its advisory board.