The University of Wyoming has launched a Bitcoin Research Institute, headed by associate professor of philosophy Bradley Rettler.
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It’s the first academic institute dedicated to research on Bitcoin, according to Nik Hoffman of Bitcoin Magazine, who writes:
The institute aims to elevate the quality and impact of Bitcoin research by creating faculty positions for Bitcoin research, incentivizing and rewarding good academic research on Bitcoin, encouraging young scholars to pursue Bitcoin research projects, and providing workshops on related papers and books. It will also connect researchers interested in Bitcoin and provide peer-reviewed research for journalists, policymakers, and the public.
Professor Rettler told Inside Higher Ed that he does not want the public to think he is “shilling Bitcoin,” adding: “We’re not telling people to buy it; we’re exploring the dimensions of the existence of Bitcoin.” IHE reports:
The Bitcoin institute will be housed in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, as Rettler plans to foster an interdisciplinary approach that focuses on the intersections of Bitcoin and various fields of study, including philosophy, law, energy and environmental science and computer science.
Professor Rettler is co-author of Resistance Money: A Philosophical Case for Bitcoin. One of his co-authors, Andrew M. Bailey, currently professor of humanities and philosophy at Yale-NUS, will be joining the Institute in 2025. You can check out Professor Bailey’s syllabus for his Philosophy & Economics of Bitcoin course here.
The Bitcoin Research Institute was funded in part by a $1.5 million grant from investor Mark Casey.
