康奈爾大學(xué)今年推出的課程中包括“貨幣人類學(xué)”和“區(qū)塊鏈、加密貨幣與智能合約入門”。在這所常青藤盟校的28門課程中，只有兩門涉及區(qū)塊鏈，也就是在多個(gè)計(jì)算機(jī)上建立永久性賬本的技術(shù)。

雖然康奈爾大學(xué)對(duì)區(qū)塊鏈現(xiàn)象的接受度超過了其他高校，但它絕不孤單。Coinbase Reports的一項(xiàng)研究顯示，越來越多的大學(xué)開始在各個(gè)專業(yè)設(shè)立相關(guān)課程。

下圖來自于這份報(bào)告。從中可以看出斯坦福和加州大學(xué)伯克利分校等知名院校推出區(qū)塊鏈課程的數(shù)量。

Among the classes on offer at Cornell University this year are “The Anthropology of Money” and “Introduction to Blockchains, Cryptocurrencies, and Smart Contracts.” Those are just two of the 28 courses at the Ivy League school related to blockchain, the popular new technology that creates a permanent ledger across multiple computers.

While Cornell has embraced the blockchain phenomenon more than other schools, it’s hardly alone. According to new research from Coinbase Reports, a growing number of universities are teaching the subject across multiple disciplines.

Here is a chart from the report, which show how other prominent schools, including Stanford and UC Berkeley, are offering multiple blockchain courses:

區(qū)塊鏈在高校受到歡迎其意義重大，部分原因是它仍是一項(xiàng)新技術(shù)，而且仍有一些人把比特幣等基于區(qū)塊鏈技術(shù)的數(shù)字貨幣和電腦宅男以及網(wǎng)絡(luò)罪犯聯(lián)系在一起。

紐約大學(xué)斯特恩商學(xué)院金融系主任大衛(wèi)·葉爾馬克說，2014年他首次教授區(qū)塊鏈和金融服務(wù)課程時(shí)，只有35個(gè)人報(bào)名。而Coinbase Reports的報(bào)告顯示，現(xiàn)在這門課吸引了235名學(xué)生，而且葉爾馬克在春季和秋季兩個(gè)學(xué)期都得開課。

更寬泛的說，除了傳統(tǒng)密碼學(xué)專業(yè)衍生出的諸多區(qū)塊鏈課程外，其他許多專業(yè)也冒出了同樣的課程，從工程到社會(huì)科學(xué)，很多傳統(tǒng)專業(yè)對(duì)此也很感興趣。

報(bào)告指出：“Coinbase的分析顯示，50所頂尖高校開了172個(gè)區(qū)塊鏈班，其中15%來自商業(yè)、經(jīng)濟(jì)、金融和法律專業(yè)，4%屬于人類學(xué)、歷史和政治學(xué)等社會(huì)科學(xué)專業(yè)。”

對(duì)多個(gè)學(xué)科的吸引力或許可以讓我們看到區(qū)塊鏈項(xiàng)目通常如何圍繞依賴激勵(lì)（比如加密貨幣獎(jiǎng)金）的去中心化群體來維持通用而又堅(jiān)不可摧的賬本系統(tǒng)。因此，構(gòu)建一個(gè)成功的區(qū)塊鏈需要的專業(yè)能力多種多樣，比如博弈理論，再比如信息系統(tǒng)和網(wǎng)絡(luò)安全。正如法律學(xué)者普麗瑪維拉·德·菲力皮和艾倫·懷特在他們的突破性著作《區(qū)塊鏈和法律》（Blockchain and the Law）中解釋的那樣，這項(xiàng)技術(shù)還會(huì)改寫某些社會(huì)和經(jīng)濟(jì)規(guī)則。

Coinbase Reports的報(bào)告還包括一項(xiàng)調(diào)查，其結(jié)論是學(xué)生對(duì)區(qū)塊鏈很感興趣。近一半的社會(huì)科學(xué)專業(yè)學(xué)生表示他們?cè)敢馍蠀^(qū)塊鏈課。

而且，該報(bào)告還發(fā)現(xiàn)美國(guó)大學(xué)對(duì)區(qū)塊鏈的興趣特別高。Coinbase調(diào)查的18所國(guó)際性高校中，至少推出一門區(qū)塊鏈或加密貨幣課程的學(xué)校只有五家。該報(bào)告的調(diào)查對(duì)象源于《美國(guó)新聞與世界報(bào)道》評(píng)選的50所頂尖大學(xué)。

Coinbase將上述情況視為好消息，部分原因是它正在積極招募有區(qū)塊鏈經(jīng)驗(yàn)的學(xué)生。據(jù)消息人士透露，Coinbase將啟動(dòng)名為“加密貨幣入門到精通”（crypto 101）的全國(guó)性巡講，活動(dòng)將覆蓋對(duì)區(qū)塊鏈非常感興趣的大學(xué)。

該公司還將舉辦巡回招聘會(huì)，其中包括9月13日在哈佛大學(xué)的一站。另外，它還將在普林斯頓大學(xué)、杜克大學(xué)等多所高校舉辦此項(xiàng)活動(dòng)。（財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)）

譯者：Charlie

審校：夏林

?

The popularity of blockchain on campus is remarkable in part because the technology is still new and because some still associate currencies like Bitcoin (which is run on a blockchain) as the province of geeks and cyber-criminals.

Back in 2014, when David Yermack, the finance department chair at New York University Stern School of Business, first offered his course on blockchain and financial services, he says only 35 people signed up. Now, according to the report, the course is packed with 235 students and he is teaching it both semesters.

More broadly, while a lot of the teaching on blockchain has grown out of traditional courses on cryptography, the subject is also popping up in numerous other disciplines, and interest spans the traditional divisions between engineering and social sciences.

“Coinbase’s analysis found that of the 172 classes listed by the top 50 universities, 15 percent were offered by business, economics, finance, and law departments, and four percent were in social science departments such as anthropology, history, and political science,” the report notes.

The multi-disciplinary appeal likely reflects how blockchain projects typically revolve around decentralized communities that rely on incentives (such as cryptocurrency rewards) to maintain a common, indestructible ledger system. Building a successful blockchain thus requires expertise in fields as diverse as game theory, information systems and cybersecurity. And as legal scholars Primavera de Filipi and Aaron Wright explained in their groundbreaking book Blockchain and the Law, the technology is also poised to remake certain social and economic rules of society.

The report also included a survey that found a high level of interest in blockchain among students. This included nearly half of social science majors reporting that they would like to take a blockchain class.

Finally, the report found that interest in blockchain was particularly strong at American universities. Only five of the 18 international universities among the list surveyed by Coinbase—which was based on the 50 top universities as ranked by U.S. News and World Report—offer at least one class on blockchain or cryptocurrency.

Coinbase itself is treating the findings as good news, in part because the company is actively recruiting students with blockchain experience. According to a source close to the company, Coinbase will be kicking off a national tour to provide “crypto 101” sessions on campuses that have demonstrated a strong interest in blockchain.

The company is also conducting a recruiting tour that includes a stop at Howard University on September 13, and at Princeton, Duke and numerous other schools.