Big block on campus

To view this email as a web page, go here.

Sponsored by   October 2, 2018 BEST SCHOOLS FOR BLOCKCHAIN: CoinDesk has debuted a new list of rankings detailing the top universities for those hoping to get their academic bona fides in the fields of blockchain and cryptocurrency.  CoinDesk consolidated the information available as of August 2018, and based the rankings on three (weighted) factors: the number of blockchain-related courses, the number of related organizations on campus, and each school’s access to the wider industry. Stanford tops the list, serving as the home of the ethereum-backed Stanford Center for Blockchain Research. This university was able to attract top names in the crypto industry as well. Notably University of California, Berkeley (UCB), is the only public university to make the list coming in at a close second. Full Story CLINTON TAKES THE STAGE: Former U.S. president Bill Clinton appeared at Ripple's Swell conference in San Francisco, an event that also saw the startup debut the first companies that are making commercial use of its XRP-tied product, xRapid.  Among those is Catalyst Corporate Federal Credit Union, which provides a range of financial services to around 1,400 credit unions, primarily in the western and southwestern U.S. On the topic of blockchain, Clinton remarked during the back-and-forth session with Gene Sperling that "this whole blockchain deal has the potential it does only because it is applicable across national borders, income groups." Full Story KIP'S BLOCKCHAIN MOMENT: In what may be seen as a historic event, Korea Investment Partners (KIP), the largest venture capital firm in South Korea, is investing in its first blockchain startup. Announced Tuesday, KIP is putting an undisclosed amount of money into Temco, a blockchain-based startup that aims to revolutionize supply chain management systems for small- to medium-sized businesses (SMEs) using the technology. This startup aims to disrupt the supply chain by allowing "vendors to track the movements of products from distribution to eventual consumption on a blockchain, and then share the data as well." Full Story Where can the brightest minds learn about blockchain and cryptocurrency? CoinDesk ranks the best U.S. schools in a special research feature. California’s Stanford University came in at number one, boasting the most courses, a high-caliber faculty and a strong student community. Coming in second was another California school, UC Berkeley, which scored high on our methodology due to strong student enthusiasm. New York University was ranked third, and uniquely focused on the business side of blockchain. Find out the rest of our rankings here  For more research insights check out the CoinDesk Research section here. You can also follow CoinDesk's research analyst Peter Ryan on Twitter for the latest insights. SPONSOR SECTION   You wouldn't ride a bike on a highway, it's inefficient. Maxonrow bridges the economic divide through carefully built blockchain solutions for businesses, governments and societies... all interacting under one network and compliant in all levels with global AML/KYC policies. Stop riding the bike, welcome to Maxonrow.   BEAR HUG?: Is Bitcoin stuck in bearish territory? According to the latest market analysis, the world's largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization was unable to cross its 50-day hurdle of $6,650 as of this morning. Full Story BEST OF THE BEST: UNION SQUARE VENTURES: 'Build it and they will come' is the central theme in Field of Dreams -- unfortunately that is not true for Web 3.0.  The blog post by Dani Grant and Nick Grossman aims to elucidate that one transformative application built on the distributed web will push infrastructural changes, not the other way around. "First, apps inspire infrastructure. Then that infrastructure enables new apps," they wrote. The article concludes that once an app is built out, more defined infrastructure can be built out to make the development of such applications easier. THE REST:  WALL STREET JOURNAL: This report details the various unscrupulous activities undertaken by 'bots' to manipulate cryptocurrency markets. The article -- detailing how traders use automated trading software to gain a sometimes sketchy edge in the market -- comes as regulators invetsigate such acts in the world's biggest crypto exchanges. The creator of one program wants more people to engage in these practices, posing the age old question: if everyone is cheating, is anyone cheating? THE WRAP: Has this year's downturn in crypto prices been a boon? According to some observers, that may be the case. As The Wrap details, panelists at an event in California on Monday were posed the question. “I’m thrilled that market has taken a little bit of a dive, because it gets rid of a lot of the fat,” film producer Lauren Selig was quoted as saying.     We've launched our first-ever podcast, "Late Confirmation," a digest of top stories in the blockchain world, delivered daily from the team at CoinDesk and sponsored by the Oxford Blockchain Programme. Listen to Latest Episode and Subscribe   WHO WON #CRYPTOTWITTER   ConsenSys Jobs Blockchain Jobs Circle Jobs BitGo Jobs Copyright © 2018 CoinDesk. All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: 250 Park Avenue South New York, NY, 10003, US Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list