The Bitcoin Research Institute will open in August as part of the University of Wyoming’s College of Arts and Sciences.
Bradley Rettler, a Bitcoin activist and Associate Professor at the University of Wyoming, announced the new institute on X on July 28. He will serve as the institute’s director.
Rettler described the current state of Bitcoin
research as “poor” and stressed the industry needs more “high-quality peer-reviewed” publications to ensure the public is properly informed about what Bitcoin is and how it works.
He highlighted a 2018 study led by University of Hawaii Professor Camilo Mora that claimed Bitcoin emissions alone could increase global warming by 35.6° Fahrenheit (2° Celsius) by 2048.
They failed to account for the difficulty adjustment and didn’t know there was a block size cap,” Rettler stressed in a July 28 X post.
One of the institute’s professors is Andrew M. Bailey, lead author of “Resistance Money: A Philosophical Case for Bitcoin.” Rettler was also named as an author of the book.
The Bitcoin Research Institute will officially open in August when the Fall semester for 2024-2025 begins.
Wyoming is fast becoming a leading Bitcoin state in the United States, largely due to pro-Bitcoin Senator Cynthia Lummis and Caitlin Long, founder and CEO of Custodia Bank, which offers Bitcoin custody solutions.
Lummis announced a strategic Bitcoin Reserve bill at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville on July 27, which would see the US buy 5% of the 21 million Bitcoin that will ever enter into circulation.
“It can be used for one purpose, to reduce our debt,” Lummis declared during her keynote speech.
Wyoming lawmakers passed a bill in February, 2023, that prohibits state courts from forcing someone to disclose their digital asset private keys. The state also provides a legal framework for decentralized autonomous organizations.