UK Centre for Blockchain Technologies launched in London announcing founding academic members and agenda for 2025.

UK CBT supported the XRPL Meetup in London on January 30, 2025, hosted by one of its founding academic members, UCL. The event focused on DeFi innovation and tokenization on the XRP Ledger, with startup pitches from Palisade, MeCash, and FriiPay. 

The two-day Crypto Strategies for Business Leaders conference, held on 30-31st of January 2025 in Dubai and co-organised by New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD), Ripple, and startAD, NYUAD’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation Hub, featured Dr. Francesco Pierangeli as a key lecturer. 

UK CBT supported the introduction and testing of Frii Consumer Wallet on XRPL to 35 selected students, each receiving a £5 preloaded wallet on the 24th of January, 2025. UK CBT assisted in selecting participants to ensure diversity and engagement. 

UK CBT launches with Oxford, Birmingham, & UCL, driving blockchain research, innovation, & collaboration across academia, industry, & policy.

The UK CBT team attended the fourth Aquarium XRPL Residency Demo Day, with this cohort being focused on DeFi, hosted the 11th of December 2024 by XRPL Commons. 

UK CBT participated as a founding member in the launch of the Tech Regulation Lab hosted on the 28-30th of November 2024 by Nova School of Business and Economics in Lisbon.

UK CBT leadership was in attendance at the Best of UK Blockchain Entrepreneurship event at the House of Commons on November 26, 2024, alongside UK CBT student society representatives. 

A UK CBT-sponsored team of MSc students from the University of Birmingham, composed of Ellis Winstone, Evan Brookes, and Shi Jie (Dan) Tan, participated in the IXH24 Italian XRPL Hackathon 2024 in Rome. 

Discover how Web3 is transforming work, offering flexibility, financial freedom, and decentralised opportunities for the future workforce in the UK.

On the 8th of November, Dr. Francesco Pierangeli spoke at the Scholars in Blockchain International Symposium (SIBIS24) hosted online. Marked as the World's First ‘Professors of Blockchain’ International Symposium, it was organised by the Centre for Evidence-Based Blockchain under the auspices of the British Blockchain Association (BBA).

Dr Paolo Tasca participated at Dubai’s Future Blockchain Summit, discussing DeFi’s role in education and the future of virtual asset regulation.

Walter Hernandez, a UK CBT PhD student at UCL, led a workshop on Automated Market Makers (AMMs) at XRPL Commons in Paris on the 28th of October 2024. As part of the ‘Building on the XRP Ledger’ training series, the session explored how AMMs function, their role in DeFi, and their specific applications within the XRP Ledger ecosystem.

UK CBT leaders hold key sessions at P2PFISY 2024, discussing digital assets and AI-driven financial risks in Dubai.

Dr. Francesco Pierangeli, Deputy Director of UK CBT, participated as a speaker in the panel ‘Escaping the Trough: Can Digital Currency Fuel the Tokenized Asset Market?’ alongside prominent figures such as Michael Mainelli, Lord Mayor of the City of London and Duncan Trenholme, Global Co-Head of Digital Assets at TP ICAP.

Dr. Francesco Pierangeli, Deputy Director of UK CBT, attended Andreessen Horowitz’s (a16z) UK Parliamentary Reception, ‘a16z: Powering the UK’s Tech and Web3 Revolution through Investment, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship,’ held at the Thames Pavilion in the House of Commons.

UK CBT proudly supported the launch of the book Blockchain, Crypto and DeFi: Bridging Finance and Technology by Marco Di Maggio, presented at the Mandarin Oriental in London. The event, hosted by the Brevan Howard Centre for Financial Analysis at Imperial College Business School.

Dr. Francesco Pierangeli, Deputy Director of UK CBT, attended a half-day session on ‘Digital Assets: Beyond the Hype’ at the IBM Innovation Studio in London, organised by the IBM Innovation team and Imperial College Centre for Financial Technology.