MIT Sloan Brings Bitcoin Conference to Campus
The MIT Sloan School of Management has announced that the university’s own Bitcoin Club will host its yearly Expo on March 5 and 6. Bitcoin, for readers who missed out on the Silk Road darknet market controversy of 2013—along with their chance to purchase guns, pharmaceuticals, and data from the comfort of their own home—is an open-source virtual currency, which, according to its official site, “uses peer-to-peer technology to operate with no central authority or banks.”
The Bitcoin Club has maintained a ubiquitous campus presence since its inception in late 2013, encouraging MIT students (and the public at large) to adopt the currency. The Expo, scheduled to take place at MIT’s Samberg Conference Center, is one of the only student-run academic conferences dedicated to the controversial cryptocurrency. The conference will feature scheduled guest speakers including CTO of Digital Asset Holdings Shual Kfir, Lighting Network co-author Joseph Poon, and Bitcoin’s core co-creator Jonas Schnelli, all of whom will lead discussions on how to develop “Bitcoin-related ideas, projects, programs, events, and businesses.”
Computer science junior and Bitcoin Club president Nchinda Nchinda explains in an interview with Bitcoin Magazine that the first day of the Bitcoin Expo will explore the development of the currency alongside the Internet, as well as overlapping social challenges. Day Two will survey the growing influence of Bitcoin’s blockchain technology—a decentralized network whose distribution keeps hackers at bay—within the financial sector.
The Bitcoin Club presented its inaugural Airdrop in 2014, which distributed $100 to incoming first-year students after the club managed to raise half a million dollars. The same year, the club hosted the BitComp, which awarded $15,000 worth of prizes to innovative student-developed Bitcoin-centric applications.
Nchinda emphasized the conference’s academic, rather than commercial, focus. “Last year, student tickets were free. This year I’m trying out the idea of ticket refunds in Bitcoin. We [also] ask speakers to come pro bono, which creates an interesting meld of established companies and fledgling startups.” He hopes that the Bitcoin Expo will help club associates foster discussion about the virtual currency from a variety of perspectives—“finance, mining, cryptography, or marketing.”
About the Author
Jonathan Pfeffer
Jonathan Pfeffer joined the Clear Admit and MetroMBA teams in 2015 after spending several years as an arts/culture writer, editor, and radio producer. In addition to his role as contributing writer at MetroMBA and contributing editor at Clear Admit, he is co-founder and lead producer of the Clear Admit MBA Admissions Podcast. He holds a BA in Film/Video, Ethnomusicology, and Media Studies from Oberlin College.
