University of Wyoming Establishes First Academic Bitcoin Research Inst

The University of Wyoming has launched what it calls the first academic Bitcoin Research Institute to elevate quality Bitcoin research.

Announced during the Bitcoin 2024 Conference in Nashville the new academic research division will be headed by associate professor of Philosophy and author, Dr. Bradley Rettler.

The Institute “aims to produce high-quality peer-reviewed publications about bitcoin from all academic disciplines,” he wrote on X.

Further, the Bitcoin Research Institute aims to create faculty positions, incentivizing and rewarding academic researches. This would stimulating youngsters to pursue Bitcoin-related projects.

Besides, the BRI will also conduct events such as book workshops, weekly seminars, public outreach events, etc.

Dr. Bradley Rettler, Associate Professor of Philosophy at the university, is the director of the newly launched Bitcoin Institute.
The institute’s director highlighted the need for informed research, criticizing previous work for its lack of fundamental understanding of bitcoin.

“Much academic bitcoin research is quite poor, because it’s done by people who don’t understand bitcoin,” Rettler explained. He emphasized the significance of understanding bitcoin to produce valuable research, noting that much existing academic work on bitcoin falls short due to a lack of fundamental knowledge.

This is not the university’s first foray into innovative technology. In 2020, it launched the Center for Blockchain and Digital Innovation. While that center is housed in UW’s school of business and focused on the technology’s applications in the business world, Rettler wanted to create a stand-alone unit for Bitcoin.

“The difference is [the institute is] academic and not project-based,” Rattler said, adding they could have had an academic arm in the Center for Blockchain, but “I don’t want people to think I’m pro-cryptocurrency, because for most of them I’m

The new institute comes as Wyoming continues to develop closer economic ties to cryptocurrency companies.

The Bitcoin mining company CleanSpark plans to build a 75 megawatt mining site in Cheyenne by year’s end.

QUESTIONS ASKED.

Is money -- and digital currency, such as bitcoin -- a medium of exchange, a unit of value, an instrument of power or a social contract? Is money defined by how it functions in society and the trust it creates, or does it have intrinsic value? Does the value of a person correlate with how much money they have? How does bitcoin differ from traditional money -- a fiat currency, such as the U.S. dollar?

Other questions include the impact bitcoin has on the environment and how it can undermine established authorities in good ways and bad -- its use as resistance money.

The University of Wyoming is strategically positioned to lead this initiative due to its interdisciplinary academic collaboration, proximity to renewable energy sources, and supportive legislative and regulatory environment. The institute will also collaborate with various university units, including the philosophy and economics departments, School of Computing, and Center for Blockchain and Digital Innovation.