Graduate Students Awarded Opportunity to Participate in International Strategic Infrastructure Summit

Sparks, Nevada, May 13, 2021 – Blockchains, Inc., a Nevada-based blockchain technology company committed to protecting and empowering individuals, and West Virginia University (WVU), today announced the winners of their FinTech Innovation Challenge: The Infrastructure Team of AJ Rowe, Andrew May, Ivy Zhou, and Vesper Huang.

Among the innovative ideas the Infrastructure Team presented was the ability to use blockchain and individual digital identities to enable fractional ownership of real estate. This could provide individuals the valuable opportunity to begin investing in real estate at a young age; an opportunity that many people of any age, especially in the United States, will never have with our current infrastructure.

“What the Infrastructure Team and all the teams demonstrated with this challenge is exactly why it is so important for university-level finance and economics students to become familiar with emerging technologies,” said David Fragale, executive in residence and professor, WVU. “Most universities do not offer courses on blockchain and cryptocurrencies today. Not only were we able to offer it, but then the partnership with Blockchains, Inc., provided students a unique opportunity to work with professionals who are thinking about how today’s strategic challenges can be addressed with emerging technologies.”

This program is part of the Blockchains Education Initiative that was originally launched in 2019, to focus on workforce development through blockchain education. With the success of this recent partnership with WVU, Blockchains continues to inspire students and teachers to learn how blockchain technology can better our world.

“The opportunity to work with FinTech grad students was energizing for all of us at Blockchains,” said Meg VanDeventer, Director of Partner Engagement at Blockchains. “The John Chambers College of Business and Economics at WVU and Professor Fragale provided the right environment so these students could tackle very real issues; and they did so in ways that were impressively innovative, collaborative, and inspiring.”

Seven teams from the FinTech graduate class competed for first, second, and third place, having their work judged by a panel of Blockchains employees, who had a list of criteria for scoring each group.

The Infrastructure Team received first place for being the most creative, impressive, and informative. Second place went to the Tokenization Team of Trevor Withrow, Jameson Mascara, Blake Duffy, and Brandon Harclerode. And third place went to the Stablecoin Team of Salana Berrio and Samantha Hall.

In addition to receiving first-place recognition, the Infrastructure Team has been invited by Blockchains to participate via Zoom with Professor Fragale in the First Strategic Infrastructure Summit between the United States and the Republic of Korea at Seoul National University’s Siheung Campus Education and Collaboration Center on May 20, 2021. Delegations representing both countries are gathering virtually and safely in-person to discuss infrastructure topics and challenges that need to be focused on now, to design a US – Korea economic relation framework over the next 10 years. The summit precedes the meeting between President Moon Jae-In and President Joe Biden that will take place the following day.