RMIT blockchain unit future in doubt after professor claims it has ‘shut down’

An Australian university’s blockchain research institute is facing an uncertain future despite a blistering crypto market rally, with one professor claiming on X it has been “shut down.”

“The first econ and social science blockchain research center was shut down by RMIT,” RMIT Blockchain Innovation Hub member Professor Ellie Rennie said in a Nov. 22 X post, adding there was “no clear reason” why.

But, the institute’s co-director, Professor 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 would be shut down.

“It was my understanding that yesterday the Blockchain Hub was being shut down,” Rennie told Cointelegraph, walking back her earlier posts on X. “Today, there are now ongoing discussions.”

RMIT’s process requires that it consult with staff for one week, meaning Potts would need to 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 to garner enough funding to be self-sustaining, they said. 

Unusual timing

RMIT’s discussions over whether to shut down the research center come just as crypto has been roaring back into mainstream consciousness. 

Bitcoin (BTC) has rocketed 45% to nearly $100,000 after Donald Trump’s election win, who promised to overhaul crypto regulations in the United States.

A person familiar with the situation, given anonymity to discuss the matter, said Potts and co-founder Professor Chris Berg had repeatedly told staff that the Hub is “an experiment.”

Potts, in particular, said the Hub aimed to develop “a new type of business school” where academics were expected to be “industry-engaged and entrepreneurial” and that getting published in top-tier journals — important for a university’s clout and getting research funded — “was a secondary consideration,” the person said.

“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,” the person said. They added it explained the argument as to why the Hub couldn’t fit into “standard university procedures.”

Related: Coinbase launches Stand With Crypto advocacy group in Australia

“We were working to industry time in a fast-moving business environment and could not keep to ‘academic time’ and practices,” the person said. “That argument was made to us many times.”

It is understood the decision on whether to shut the Hub will come down to RMIT’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Business, Professor Colin Picker.

Magazine: Crypto has 4 years to grow so big ‘no one can shut it down’ — Kain Warwick, Infinex