MIT Thinks It Can Get You to Use Bitcoin

​Bitcoin is everywhere, but the fledgling virtual currency still has a long way to go before your grandparents are using it too. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the birthplace of many core internet technologies, is trying to work those kinks out with a newly announced Digital Currency Initiative.

A collaboration between the MIT Media Lab and the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, the DCI will bring together academics, private companies, governments, and members of the Bitcoin development community, to brainstorm ways to improve Bitcoin, and take the cryptocurrency truly mainstream.

It will mean making the system more secure, easier to use, and expanding the uses of Bitcoin's core technology, the blockchain—and the group isn't taking their task lightly. MIT has hired former White House senior advisor for mobile and data innovation, Brian Forde, to head up the initiative.

The DCI couldn't have picked a better time. Unassuming Bitcoin ATMs have popped up in major cities, and even pet stores are accepting cryptocurrency. The blockchain, the public ledger that records every Bitcoin transaction, could be the basis for other technologies like smart contracts that don't require a lawyer. Hell, even Rand Paul is accepting Bitcoin donations.

But the dark side of Bitcoin could put these projects in jeopardy. The cryptocurrency is used to buy and sell drugs, weapons, and scamming services on the dark web. The technology that supports Bitcoin leaves users open to theft, unless they take technical precautions. The services that enable users to store or exchange their Bitcoin have been revealed to either be vulnerable to scams or scams themselves again and again.

The initiatives will focus on three core areas, according to Forde: providing research to base future Bitcoin policy on, engaging governments and private companies to test concepts with a "high social impact," and connecting with students to research Bitcoin's security and stability. As for what a project with a "high social impact" might be, Forde has a few ideas.

"I think the blockchain could be Open Data 2.0, allowing for governments to be more transparent with their data in near real-time," Forde told me in an email. "Additionally, I think there will be opportunities around identity, remittances, or allowing for algorithmic regulation that would open up more opportunities for emerging technologies, like drones or the sharing economy, to be adopted while at the same time protecting consumers in a transparent way."

Although MIT has several commitments from private companies, they can't disclose names at this time, an MIT spokesperson told me.

And while Forde and the rest of the DCI team certainly have some big ideas, the point of the project is to make Bitcoin innovation a community effort, Forde said.

"We already have faculty teaching cryptocurrency concepts and we hope to expand interest within the MIT community through the MIT Bitcoin Club, workshops, the classroom and other programs like the MIT Bitcoin Project," Forde told me. "The result will hopefully yield more students hacking on cryptocurrencies and building up their skill set to contribute code."

The Digital Currency Initiative is the first official Bitcoin project by the university, although it's hardly the first example of cryptocurrency innovation on campus. Student groups like the aforementioned MIT Bitcoin Project have been working to kickstart Bitcoin innovation in the area for years, even going so far as to give away $100 in Bitcoin to every undergraduate student. It's fitting, then, that one of the first participants in the DCI will be Jeremy Rubin, who helped run the MIT Bitcoin Project.

MIT is, admittedly, a little bit late to the Bitcoin game when it comes to university research hubs, however. Stanford University has already established a think tank for Bitcoin research, and Princeton ran an official university research conference on cryptocurrency last year. While Bitcoin conferences have graced the MIT campus, they were organized by student groups.

But with the installment of the Digital Currency Initiative, it looks as though MIT is finally putting its considerable resources and collective brainpower to pushing Bitcoin technology forward.