Blockchain has been a hot piece of cake this year, thanks to cryptocurrencies. While there are countries like India, where the government is doing everything to ban cryptocurrencies, countries like Turkey are working to utilize the powerful blockchain technology to the fullest. Daily Sabah, a local news outlet from Turkey has reported that the country has established the first university-level blockchain center.
It’s called as “The Istanbul Blockchain and Innovation Center (BlockchainIST Center.)” It was inaugurated at Bahçeşehir University (BAU.) Mr. Bora Erdamar, the center’s director made the following statement about it. He says, “BlockchainIST is set to be the most important center of research and development and innovation in Turkey in which scientific studies and publications are made in blockchain technologies.”
He also adds that “Turkey may have a chance to become the leading country in technology that will transform humanity.” With this statement, he also mentioned the importance of cooperation with businesses, government institutions and educational institutions in regards to conducting research and implementation of the technology.
With the help of cooperation from educational institutions, students and interested people can do research and find solutions using the powerful blockchain technology. With cooperation from businesses, there could be actual implementation of the technology and with support from the Government, the implementation could get much easier and cheaper.
Establishment of a university-level center means, the country has accepted blockchain and its technology. With the center, the country aims to teach blockchain technology to interested students and bring experts in this field. Turkey, also wants to solve the blockchain expertise gap all around the world. However, the deployment would start from Turkey.
The year 2018 has been a blockbuster for the powerful blockchain technology. As Stanford University also established the center for blockchain research which was supported in part by the Ethereum Foundation. Many other universities all over the world have introduced courses on blockchain, smart contracts, and cryptocurrency.
Fundação Getúlio, a popular Brazilian University started offering the country’s first Master’s degree in Crypto Finance. Ripple, the company which owns XRP also donated $50 million to 17 universities to support education in blockchain and cryptocurrencies.
Turkey and Cryptocurrencies have had a different history altogether, It’s just 8 months back that the country’s Directorate of Religious affairs took harsh stance on Bitcoin saying, “Bitcoin is Haram” and is not compatible with Islam. On February 2018, Deputy Chair of Turkey’s Nationalist Movement party not only proposed cryptocurrency regulations but also about having a coin called TurkCoin.
People always misunderstand “Blockchain” with “Cryptocurrencies.” In reality cryptocurrencies are just one implementation of the technology. The technology can be used in a lot of sectors and solve a lot problems around the world. MNCs also have started understanding the value, that’s why Sony, the Japanese technology company applied two patents for a blockchain-related hardware.
