Ripple & UC Berkeley Launch $1.3M Digital Assets Center

Pioneering Blockchain Research with Academia

Ripple has announced a strategic partnership with the University of California, Berkeley, marked by a $1.3 million investment in $RLUSD. This funding will establish the Center for Digital Assets and Blockchain Technology, an initiative designed to push the boundaries of innovation in Web3, blockchain infrastructure, and digital twin technology.

This move solidifies Ripple’s growing interest in not only advancing blockchain utility but also nurturing academic research and development. UC Berkeley, known for its cutting‑edge contributions to tech and innovation, will lead the research in collaboration with Ripple’s engineers and scientists.

What the Ripple UC Berkeley Partnership Means

The newly launched center aims to explore the intersection of blockchain technology and digital twins—virtual representations of real‑world systems. This technology has vast potential in industries like logistics, healthcare, and finance, making Ripple’s investment timely and strategic.

Ripple is using $RLUSD, its US dollar stablecoin, to fund the initiative—highlighting its real‑world application beyond trading. The partnership is part of Ripple’s long‑term vision to encourage blockchain adoption by investing in academic ecosystems.

The center will also serve as a hub for students, researchers, and industry leaders to collaborate, develop prototypes, and test real‑world blockchain applications. By working with academic institutions like UC Berkeley, Ripple hopes to solve some of the industry’s most complex challenges.

A Step Towards Practical Blockchain Use

As the digital asset industry matures, this partnership signals a shift towards more practical and scalable solutions. With Ripple’s funding and Berkeley’s academic muscle, the center is expected to produce influential research papers, tools, and technologies that could shape the next generation of Web3 applications.

This is not Ripple’s first university initiative—it previously launched the University Blockchain Research Initiative (UBRI)—but the dedicated center at Berkeley reflects a deeper, more focused commitment to blockchain innovation.