Before the grant, the society incubated the Oxbridge Blockchain Scholarship in partnership with Cambridge Blockchain Society and ChainShot, sponsored by 1kx and DAOMaker. Through this scholarship, the society has taught 53 students how to program on Ethereum, supporting their ambitions to become future leaders in the blockchain economy. Reflecting on the society’s success, Zachary said:
‘We had more than 100 students apply during our three-day application period to the inaugural Blockchain scholarship who vied for seats to devote their entire Christmas vacation to learning how to build decentralised apps. We expected 10-20 applicants, but the appetite from students for crypto programming has quickly spread across Oxford and the other place.
'The graduates of our inaugural cohort spanned technical MBAs and PPEs, undergrads and post-grads in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, to PhDs in Physics and even DPhils in Health Economics and Computational Biology. It was a rare opportunity for technical students across all University departments to learn new technology and build together.’
Jessica Pointing, a DPhil student in Physics, specialising in Quantum Computing, shared her experience:
‘I applied because it seemed like a wonderful opportunity to learn how to build apps on the blockchain and to understand blockchain’s inner workings. In addition, I can say, without a doubt, the training exceeded my expectations. What made the training even better was meeting the amazing community of ambitious, enthusiastic students in this space. The convening of minds from students across many of the disciplines at the university who were all fundamentally focused on this one technology made this opportunity special.
'The Oxford Blockchain Society has provided the opportunity for a group of us to go to Amsterdam to participate in ETHAmsterdam, an in-person ethereum hackathon. The Scholarship opened my eyes to the activity within this space. I look forward to continuing with the organisation and seeing what great things come out of it!’
The society wants more students to join them and help grow an emerging blockchain eco-system at the School, and across the University. Efforts to grow the crypto ecosystem expand beyond the developer ecosystem. Sammi Wei, founder of Saïd Business School’s Blockchain Club, has been hosting weekly blockchain breakfasts and teach-ins for students at Oxford. She is also co-organising and leading Oxford’s first Blockchain Conference at Saïd Business School this summer which plans to bring in industry experts for students to learn more about the industry.