University of Luxembourg To Join Ripple’s Blockchain Research Initiative

By Rishma Banerjee

As per recent reports, The University of Luxembourg is joining Ripple’s blockchain research initiative, which focusses on developing the networks needed for micropayments.
The university will be participating in the University Blockchain Research Initiative, to work on initiatives in order to change the way consumers pay for content on the internet.

The research at the university’s Interdisciplinary Centre for Security Reliability and Trust (SnT) using Interledger payments rails is being led by Radu State, and he explained:

“Users currently pay for web content either through subscriptions or with their data, through exposure to advertising… There’s currently no cost-effective, practical way for people to pay per second to listen to music, access quality journalism or watch a film, but micropayments will allow us to pay as we consume, using tiny fractions of a cent that don’t impact our budget.”

Interledger uses a network of connectors – each making exchanges in at least two crypto or fiat currencies – to facilitate users to route money seamlessly across the Internet and financial barriers.

SnT’s will be working on defining how connectors exchange this information in a dynamic way, allowing millions of payments per second to take the cheapest route through the network. State elaborated that connectors will generate revenue by playing on exchange rates, and since cryptocurrencies prone to erratic volatility, they will also need to ascertain that the network copes with this inherent instability.

Pierre Gramegna, Luxembourg’s minister of finance, said:

“In a world in which an ever increasing share of content consumption takes place online, SnT’s project on micropayments, based on Ripple’s Interledger technology, has the potential to significantly improve the way users pay for digital and online content.”

Ripple’s University Blockchain Research Initiative launched in 2018, with the University of Luxembourg one of 17 institutions initially selected.

Ripple has partnered with 30 academic partners to assist them in identifying research, technical projects and other academic activities in blockchain, cryptocurrency and digital payments.