Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, IIT Bombay has made a team that is a part of one of the ten teams selected by the Algorand Foundation under the Algorand Centres of Excellence (ACEs) Program. The team is being led by Prof. Manoj Prabhakaran, Department of Computer Science and Engineering. IIT Bombay has received Algorand grant for strengthening its research work in blockchain technology. Blockchain is a distributed digital database that is shared using a computer network. It records transactions and tracks ownership of assets such as cryptocurrencies, land records and goods in the supply chain.
The aim of ACE program is to award USD 50 million, which comes to near about 400 crore Indian rupees. It will be awarded among the ten teams over five years. At present, over 550 participants are representing a total of 46 countries in Algorand program. The winners have been selected by an international panel which constitutes of 27 experts from diverse disciplines.
Cryptocurrency is being linked to environmental concern these days. Let's understand how are they inter-related. Cryptocurrency is gaining momentum worldwide and has blockchain technology at its backbone. Some well-known crypto currencies like Bitcoin require power-heavy processing on several computers connected in the network to record a single transaction. Due to the high power consumption, the carbon emission is high, raising questions about its environmental impact.
What is Algorand?
Algorand is a accompany that works with the aim of not harming the environment. The company designs blockchain technology by reducing power consumption. The reduced power consumption reduces the carbon emission too. Algorand Foundation attempts to grow a carbon-negative ecosystem using Algorand blockchain technology in various areas.
“The Algorand blockchain technology uses a design and protocol that requires less computational power than other cryptocurrency implementations, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, making Algorand carbon-negative,” said Prof Ribeiro.
Algorand’s dedication toward carbon offsetting
Considering the claim of Algorand, it dedicates a part of every transaction fee for the purpose of carbon offsetting. The aim of company is to aid research in green blockchain technology. In order to be a step closer to the goal, the company is setting up Algorand Centres of Excellence (ACE) across the globe.
IIT Bombay is gearing up to receive around USD 350K (roughly 2.8 crore Indian Rupees) from total grant of USD 8 million (about 64 crore Indian Rupees) to the MEGA-ACE project. The team will educate students with multi-lingual material. Various collaborative events like workshops, schools, hackathons, and blockchain will be organised at IIT.
