LUMS to introduce country’s first-ever cryptocurrency academic programme

LAHORE: Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) has anchored investments exceeding Rs670 million in crypto tokens to design Pakistan’s first-ever academic programme for blockchain, distributed ledger technology (DLT), and associated platforms, according to a news release by the varsity.

The news was also confirmed by an alumnus and founder of Stacks, Muneeb Ali, on Twitter.

We’ve made a $2.5M worth of cryptocurrency donation to enable a Bitcoin and crypto internet research center in South Asia at LUMS. https://t.co/OJgPrillO4

— Muneeb (@muneeb) February 20, 2021

The varsity will use the five million STX tokens, currently equivalent to about Rs670 million or $4.1 million, granted by Hiro, formerly known as Blockstack PBC, to develop and build educational programmes that will enable faculty and students to research blockchain, cryptocurrencies, distributed ledger technology and more.

"The news release says $4.1m this is because the value of the cryptocurrency has already appreciated since the grant," Muneeb explained.

(The LUMS news release says $4.1M this is because the the value of the cryptocurrency has already appreciated since the grant.)

— Muneeb (@muneeb) February 20, 2021

In an official statement, the Stacks Pakistan founder added, "This new collaboration on crypto not just strengthens my association with LUMS but can prepare the next generation of engineers and entrepreneurs to architect the next generation of the internet by leveraging the blockchain technology".

“This will not only enable new business models but is also expected to usher in a new era of novel distributed applications over the blockchain. Stacks Pakistan is laying the foundations for this change and will immensely benefit Pakistan.”