An Australian university’s blockchain research institute is facing an uncertain future despite a blistering crypto market rally, as one professor claimed on X that it had been “shut down.”
“The first econ and social science blockchain research center was shut down by RMIT,” Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) Blockchain Innovation Hub researcher Ellie Rennie said in a Nov. 22 X post, adding there was “no clear reason” why.
Still, the institute’s co-director, Jason Potts — also Rennie’s husband — told Cointelegraph that it’s a “fluid situation” that is “still in discussion” and “no decision” had been made on whether it will be shut down.
“It was my understanding that yesterday the Blockchain Hub was being shut down,” Rennie said, walking back her earlier posts on X after Cointelegraph asked for further comment. “Today, there are now ongoing discussions.”
Source: Ellie Rennie
RMIT’s process requires that it consult with staff for one week, meaning Potts must pitch a viable solution to finance the Hub if it is to survive, people with knowledge of the matter told Cointelegraph.
The Hub, which opened in 2017, hasn’t produced enough high-quality research or consulting work to garner the funding to be self-sustaining, they said.
Unusual timing
RMIT’s discussions over whether to shut down the research center come just as crypto roars back into mainstream consciousness.
Bitcoin (BTC) has rocketed 45% to almost $100,000 since Donald Trump’s United States presidential election win, after he promised to overhaul US crypto regulations.
A person familiar with the situation, given anonymity to discuss the matter, said Potts and co-founder Chris Berg had repeatedly told staff that the Hub is “an experiment.”
The source said Potts had spoken of how the Hub aimed to develop “a new type of business school” where academics were expected to be “industry-engaged and entrepreneurial,” so being published in top-tier journals — important for getting research funded — “was a secondary consideration.”
This may be why the Hub couldn’t fit into “standard university procedures,” the person said, adding: “We were told the university wanted us to rapidly gain a reputation in the blockchain space that it could then leverage to gain students and industry relevance.”
RMIT Building 97 in central Melbourne houses the Blockchain Innovation Hub. Source: Apple Maps
“We were working to industry time in a fast-moving business environment and could not keep to ‘academic time’ and practices,” the person said.
It is understood the decision on whether to shut the Hub will come down to RMIT’s deputy vice-chancellor of business, Colin Picker.
Related: Coinbase launches Stand With Crypto advocacy group in Australia
While funding may have been challenging to acquire in recent years, the global landscape may be altered by the US election of a pro-crypto president.
Regulators in many countries look to the US — the world’s largest economy with its leading financial center of New York City — for guidance on how to regulate their markets.
Perceptions of crypto have shifted since the election of Donald Trump, who has promised the US will be “the world capital of crypto” and will rein in the Securities and Exchange Commission, which had launched numerous lawsuits against industry players.
The current SEC chair is set to quit when the president-elect is sworn in.
In Australia, some within the center-right Liberal Party have pledged support for the local industry in the leading up to a federal election slated on or before May 17, 2025.
Local players have called for clearer consumer protection laws for crypto, with local exchange Swyftx saying a wave of potential investors is being sidelined due to “the risk of entering an unregulated market.”
Magazine: Crypto has 4 years to grow so big ‘no one can shut it down’ — Kain Warwick, Infinex