Russia: Financial University to Store Diplomas via Blockchain

A state university in Russia has announced that it will store diploma records using blockchain technology, the institution announced in an official statement June 26.According to the statement and a tweet from the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, the institution has recorded "All diplomas issued over the past ten years" using distributed ledger technology.

The reported goal of the move is so that starting September 2018, potential employers will be able to check the authenticity of any digital diplomas on the university's website.

According to the statement, all diplomas have acquired unique identificators encrypted with the SHA-256 algorithm, a Secure Hash Algorithm that serves as a base for Bitcoin's network's proof-of-work algorithm.

The Moscow-based Financial University, ranked 5th among the "Strongest" universities in Russia, is reportedly the first higher education institution in the country to provide publicly encrypted digital diplomas using blockchain technology.

In October 2017, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology became the first university in the world to provide digital diplomas using blockchain.

The Russian government is set to soon pass its major crypto and blockchain-related bill, "On Digital Financial Assets" on July 1.

In late May, Russia's parliament, the State Duma, unanimously approved the first of three readings on upcoming crypto regulations that define cryptocurrencies and tokens as property, and provide general instructions for dealing with crypto and its underlying technology, blockchain.