MIT Digital Currency Initiative announces $100,000 scholarship

Rage Comment : MIT has been actively involved in various activities in the field of blockchain technology. This time, the digital currency plan has set up a scholarship of $100,000 to support minorities and women to attend the 2016 Consensus Mechanism Conference. And it will work with CoinDesk to carefully select scholars attending the conference. Because according to a survey, the understanding of the field of blockchain technology varies by gender and race, so these measures of MIT are mainly to increase the diversity of participants in Consensus 2016 and improve the quality and results of the conference.

Translation: Annie Xu

The MIT Digital Currency Initiative (DCI) has announced a $100,000 scholarship to support underrepresented minorities and women to attend the 2016 Consensus conference: Making Blockchain Reality.

DCI is partnering with CoinDesk to select 50 Consensus Fellows to attend the conference in New York City May 2-4. This is the second scholarship partnership and is dedicated to increasing the diversity of attendees.

The Consumer Attitudes Towards Bitcoin and Other Virtual Currencies study found that people’s knowledge of virtual currencies differs by gender and race. Men are more knowledgeable than women, and Caucasians are more knowledgeable than Hispanics and African Americans.

As we are at the forefront of using cryptocurrency to address financial inclusion and other important issues, it is imperative that we support the participation of underrepresented minorities and provide opportunities for participation by different racial and economic groups. If cryptocurrency is to gain widespread adoption, the digital currency community must reflect the cultural and consumer diversity of society.

With the voices of different social groups, we will increase the adoption and identification of use cases and the types of innovation in application development.

William Wulf

William Wulf, former president of the National Academy of Engineering, said:

"Without diversity, the richness of life experience is limited, and this in turn requires opportunity costs: the cost of products not produced, the cost of designs not invented, the cost of limitations not understood, and the cost of procedures not invented."

The 2016 Consensus Conference Scholarship is open to minorities and women between the ages of 18 and 25, as well as graduate students of all ages. The conference has donated $99,950 in tickets (each ticket is worth $1,999) and will host a private networking event for the scholarships.

DCI will work with the conference to select participating students and young experts.

The 2016 Consensus Mechanism Conference lasted for several days, focusing on the practical significance of blockchain technology and its real-world applications. Participants were mainly thought leaders in the field, and the conference organizers included CoinDesk, Digital Currency Group (DCG) and Coin Center.