tl;dr
UC Berkeley launches the Center for Digital Assets with $1.3M in Ripple funding, aiming to advance blockchain and digital twin technologies through academic-industry collaboration.
**UC Berkeley Launches Center for Digital Assets with $1.3M Ripple Funding**
UC Berkeley’s College of Engineering has unveiled the Center for Digital Assets (CDA), a groundbreaking research hub dedicated to advancing blockchain and digital twin technologies. The initiative is funded by Ripple Labs’ University Blockchain Research Initiative (UBRI), which has allocated $1.3 million in Ripple USD (RLUSD), the company’s US dollar-backed stablecoin, to support the center’s mission.
The partnership between UC Berkeley and Ripple builds on a seven-year collaboration through UBRI, which has previously supported academic research in blockchain, cryptocurrency, and digital payments since 2018. Ripple’s commitment to the new center underscores its vision for fostering innovation in digital assets and decentralized systems.
**Addressing the Demand for Digital Asset Research**
A 2025 report by the International Data Corporation (IDC) predicts global data will reach 175 zettabytes by 2025—equivalent to 250 billion DVDs. This exponential growth highlights the urgent need for frameworks to define and measure the value of digital assets, a key focus of the CDA.
Tarek Zohdi, associate dean for research at Berkeley Engineering and the center’s faculty director, emphasized the importance of the initiative: “Digital content has been part of our human experience and economic systems for decades. The center aims to foster pioneering research, education, and innovation in digital asset technologies, which are critical for future economic systems.”
**Collaborative Innovation and Education**
The CDA will unite UC Berkeley faculty, academic affiliates, and Ripple engineers to develop open-source technologies addressing challenges in blockchain and digital finance. The center’s work will span three pillars:
1. **Collaborative Research and Pilots**: Leveraging Berkeley’s research facilities and faculty expertise to innovate digital technologies.
2. **Academic and Talent Development**: Educating students in digital asset technologies, economics, and entrepreneurship through hands-on experiences with tools provided by Ripple.
3. **Ecosystem Growth and Global Impact**: Expanding communities and sustainable blockchain ecosystems through academic, industry, and student engagement.
In addition to the center, UC Berkeley and Ripple are launching the **Berkeley Digital Asset Accelerator (BDAX)**, a program supporting startups in the XRPL public blockchain ecosystem. The pilot cohort, set to launch in October, will select 10 teams from 46 applicants, with future cohorts potentially including ventures focused on digital twin technologies.
**A Vision for the Future**
UC Berkeley Chancellor Rich Lyons praised the initiative, calling it a “transformative collaboration” that drives breakthroughs in financial technology. “The Center for Digital Assets exemplifies the game-changing discoveries such partnerships foster,” he said.
Ripple’s investment in the CDA aligns with its broader strategy to advance blockchain innovation. Recently, the company minted 1.8 million RLUSD tokens on the XRP Ledger, marking its first issuance on the network since September 2023, and followed up with an 8-million-token release on Ethereum in late September.
As the digital economy evolves, the CDA and its partners aim to shape the future of trust, value, and innovation in decentralized systems. With Ripple’s support, UC Berkeley is positioning itself at the forefront of a new era in technology and finance.