Latest news with #CornellTech
Business Insider
03-05-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
I went to Cornell's new MakerLAB, and student entrepreneurs told me they're 'bracing' for Trump's threats to cut funding
A laser printer whirred to life as it etched the twisted-T-shaped logo of Cornell University's Tata Innovation Center onto a large neon orange acrylic slab. Between the printer's clicks, a student excitedly explained to me that the printer could work with several materials. She was one of half a dozen students tinkering in the MakerLAB, designed to help students and tech entrepreneurs prototype their creations. The event's cheery mood, celebrating the opening of the lab on Friday, was also scattered with concerns about policies being implemented by the second Trump administration. Federal funding to universities for research could be withheld if they do not comply with President Donald Trump's new policies on doing away with diversity, equity, and inclusion. Cornell supports DEI programs and is at risk of losing federal funding. I spoke with Monica Gertz, a postdoctoral fellow who helped create a wearable device that applies machine learning to restore speech in patients with limited speech. She said the research center supports her work, though she worries about scaling as federally funded research programs dwindle. "I am bracing myself for when funding pullbacks hit my project," Gertz told me, adding that she had applied for small loans through the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. "Right now, I can keep this going to a certain point, but I do need to get money so I can start hiring people to really accelerate the pace," Gertz said. "I have amazing interns right now, but I'm at the point where I need to start paying people, so there is concern." From an auditorium elsewhere in the 15,000-square-foot innovation center, Cornell Tech Dean Greg Morrisett addressed a crowd that had gathered to celebrate the MakerLAB's opening. He brought out huge novelty scissors to cut a red ribbon, christening the lab open for business. "On the recent chaos from Washington, it's really disruptive," Morrisett told me. "I'm really worried about what's happening in Washington because we want to attract the best talent from all around the world and keep them here, in New York and the US, but the administration has not been helping us in that regard," he added. Morrisett said that Cornell Tech did a recent economic impact study that said the school generates about $750 million annually in economic activity for New York City, including from startups and alums. "We bring in lots of international students, but over half of them stay here in New York City," Morrisett said. "They get jobs here, they work here, and they contribute to the economy." Several local leaders and politicians also attended, including Rep. Jerry Nadler. Nadler vowed to fight back against the administration to preserve funding for research centers like Cornell's. "We have been witnessing an attack on our academic institutions—threats of funding cuts, stifling of voices, and encroachment on freedom," Nadler said. "I recommit myself to using every tool I can to fight back on these attacks and to celebrate investment that gives our students, faculty, and campus community the tools they need to success, such as the MakerLAB."
Forbes
01-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Crypto Experts Predict Blockchain Trends Fueled By New U.S. Rules
On April 25, 2025, the Cornell Blockchain Conference at Cornell Tech's Verizon Center in New York City spotlighted a growing convergence between academic rigor, institutional credibility, and a maturing blockchain industry. What emerged was not just a conversation about scaling technology—but about scaling trust, regulation, and the next wave of entrepreneurs. Abhishek Bhattacharya, the President of Blockchain at Cornell Tech, helped coordinate the event on the main stage. John Wu, President of Ava Labs, and a Cornell alum framed Ava's strategy as one bridging traditional finance and decentralized systems. 'We were huge risk-takers in technology, but very conservative when it came to regulation,' Wu said during a fireside chat. 'In a weird way, the coming wave of regulation favors the builders who've already aligned with those standards.' Katherine Kirkpatrick Bos, General Counsel at StarkWare, was on a regulatory panel earlier discussing expected changes in regulations at the state level, the importance of a crypto general counsel as strategic business partner given the near-constant material shifts in the regulatory environment, and expecting continued focus on stablecoins, tokenization, and payments. Starknet, a layer two network built by Starkware, has $117.16m in total value locked (TVL) with 3.69 million transactions over the prior week according to Dune. Regarding Wu highlighting a conservative approach to compliance and regulation while being risk-takers with technology, Bos said, 'the best crypto companies know that legal and regulatory strategy is key. In many ways, the industry is under a microscope, and lawyers in crypto add value by working alongside product teams and developing a proactive strategy for compliance and regulation.' According to Wu, who said he just met with over 15 U.S. Senators and Representatives in Washington, he expects significant movement in Washington D.C. on stablecoin and market structure legislation before year's end. Wu predicted by the end of this year there would be a stablecoin and market structure legislation in the U.S., and it couldn't come soon enough. Bos agreed, saying 'crypto has long been seeking reasonable regulation, and the likely passage of a stablecoin bill is a great first step.' Emin Gün Sirer, founder and CEO of Ava Labs, positioned Ava Labs as a company ready to meet global demands from its base in New York City. Sirer was the original founder of the Cornell Blockchain student group at Cornell. Sirer began by tracing the evolution of blockchain from Bitcoin's original design and the need for broader infrastructure. 'We didn't know how to build blockchains that scale,' said Sirer. Sirer then claimed, 'One of the first things we did at our labs was develop the world's fastest consensus protocol—so that a group of nodes operating in unison could act together as fast as possible, at the speed of light.' Finally, Sirer argued every use case needs its own chain. "Some might be able to share infrastructure, but most have unique demands—and for that, they need a chain that operates according to its own rule set, its own technical specifications, and its own roadmap,' said Sirer. The Avalanche blockchain has $1.32 TVL (total value locked) with 2.16 million transactions over the prior week according to Dune. Sirer also highlighted the role of blockchain in gaming and how users may not actually realize the technology that is used in the future. Sirer described the launch of 'Off The Grid', a next-generation battle royale game where players can collect in-game assets—such as the arms and legs of defeated opponents—as NFTs. In Off The Grid, those body parts are actually NFTs minted on the Avalanche blockchain, demonstrating how ownership and gameplay can be merged without disrupting user immersion. Ari Juels, Chief Scientist at Chainlink Labs and a professor at Cornell Tech, kicked off a student-led pitch competition at the end of the day capturing the energy and excitement of fresh minds working in the space. The Initiative for Cryptocurrencies and Contracts (IC3), which Juels is a co-founder of and co-directs, servies as a launchpad for student-led ventures. One of the pitches was called Prinx, a blockchain-based 'Robinhood for IPOs' that democratizes access to late-stage private equity. Co-founders Brendan McShane and Patrick Sullivan presented their tokenized pre-IPO exchange to a professional crowd eager for fresh ideas. McShane said, 'Our mission is to bring late-stage private equity to the masses. Through Ari Juels' class, we were able to bring Prinx to life.' Another innovation idea came from a project dubbed BitGPT. Lia Müller, founding partner of BitGPT, introduced to the crowd a fiat-crypto native payment system using the once-abandoned HTTP 402 gateway—enabling micropayments between machine agents 'This is the next evolution,' Müller said. 'We're moving from human invoices to machine-initiated micropayments, just as we once moved from mail to email. The rails are being laid for what's next.' What distinguished this year's Cornell Blockchain Conference wasn't just the prominence of speakers like Sirer, Wu, Bos, and Juels—but the way their narratives converged. Whether discussing throughput, legal compliance, financial market integration, or student-led experimentation, one theme was constant: The blockchain industry is stepping into maturity. From the halls of Congress to university classrooms, builders are aligning with standards, not avoiding them. And that, more than any hype cycle or price movement, may be the real signal that Web3 is here to stay.
Forbes
30-04-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Ava Labs And Student Projects Shine At Cornell Crypto Conference
On April 25, 2025, the Cornell Blockchain Conference at Cornell Tech's Verizon Center in New York City spotlighted a growing convergence between academic rigor, institutional credibility, and a maturing blockchain industry. What emerged was not just a conversation about scaling technology—but about scaling trust, regulation, and the next wave of entrepreneurs. Abhishek Bhattacharya, the President of Blockchain at Cornell Tech, had the honor of moderating the featured panel on the main stage that included leaders from Ava Labs. Emin Gün Sirer, founder and CEO of Ava Labs, shared a sweeping technological vision centered on building for real-world adoption. From his roots as a Cornell computer science professor to pioneering Avalanche's consensus model, Sirer positioned Ava Labs as a company ready to meet global demands from its base in New York City. Sirer began by tracing the evolution of blockchain from Bitcoin's original design and highlighting the two foundational pillars that guided Ava Labs in building its platform. 'We didn't know how to build blockchains that scale,' Sirer said. 'One of the first things we did at our labs was develop the world's fastest consensus protocol—so that a group of nodes operating in unison could act together as fast as possible, at the speed of light.' The second pillar, he explained, was the concept of a network of networks. Sirer emphasized that Ava Labs was the first in the space to demonstrate this architectural approach. 'Every single use case deserves its own chain,' he argued. 'Some might be able to share infrastructure, but most have unique demands—and for that, they need a chain that operates according to its own rule set, its own technical specifications, and its own roadmap.' Sirer also highlighted the role of blockchain in gaming through the launch of 'Off The Grid', a next-generation battle royale game where players can collect in-game assets—such as the arms and legs of defeated opponents—as NFTs. The audience chuckled as the legendary computer science professor described the game mechanics, but his point was clear: blockchain is becoming so seamlessly embedded in user experiences that players may not even realize they're interacting with decentralized technology. In Off The Grid, those body parts are actually NFTs minted on the Avalanche blockchain, demonstrating how ownership and gameplay can be merged without disrupting user immersion. John Wu, President of Ava Labs, and a Cornell alum (as well as a Harvard MBA grad) framed Ava's strategy as one bridging traditional finance and decentralized systems. With experience in hedge funds and venture investing, Wu's insights connected the capital markets' language with blockchain's potential as financial infrastructure. 'We were huge risk-takers in technology, but very conservative when it came to regulation,' Wu said during a fireside chat. 'In a weird way, the coming wave of regulation favors the builders who've already aligned with those standards.' Katherine Kirkpatrick Bos, General Counsel at StarkWare, was on a regulatory panel earlier discussing the importance of a crypto general counsel as strategic business partner given the near-constant material shifts in the regulatory environment, and expecting continued focus on stablecoins, tokenization, and payments. Regarding Wu highlighting a conservative approach to compliance and regulation while being risk-takers with technology, Bos said, 'the best crypto companies know that legal and regulatory strategy is key. In many ways, the industry is under a microscope, and lawyers in crypto add value by working alongside product teams and developing a proactive strategy for compliance and regulation.' Having just met with over 15 U.S. Senators and Representatives in Washington, Wu said he expects significant movement on stablecoin and market structure legislation before year's end. His broader message: blockchain isn't just evolving—it's institutionalizing. Wu predicted by the end of this year there would be a stablecoin and market structure legislation in the U.S., and it couldn't come soon enough. Bos agreed, saying 'crypto has long been seeking reasonable regulation, and the likely passage of a stablecoin bill is a great first step.' Ari Juels, Chief Scientist at Chainlink Labs and a professor at Cornell Tech, kicked off a student-led pitch competition at the end of the day capturing the energy and excitement of fresh minds working in the space. The Initiative for Cryptocurrencies and Contracts (IC3), which Juels is a co-founder of and co-directs, served not only as the intellectual framework for industry giants like Avalanche—but now also as a launchpad for student-led ventures. One innovative project idea was Prinx, a blockchain-based 'Robinhood for IPOs' that democratizes access to late-stage private equity. Co-founders Brendan McShane and Patrick Sullivan presented their tokenized pre-IPO exchange to a professional crowd eager for fresh ideas. McShane said, 'Our mission is to bring late-stage private equity to the masses. Through Ari Juels' class, we were able to bring Prinx to life.' Another innovation idea came from a project dubbed BitGPT. Lia Müller, founding partner of BitGPT, introduced to the crowd a fiat-crypto native payment system using the once-abandoned HTTP 402 gateway—enabling micropayments between machine agents 'This is the next evolution,' Müller said. 'We're moving from human invoices to machine-initiated micropayments, just as we once moved from mail to email. The rails are being laid for what's next.' What distinguished this year's Cornell Blockchain Conference wasn't just the prominence of speakers like Sirer, Wu, Bos, and Juels—but the way their narratives converged. Whether discussing throughput, legal compliance, financial market integration, or student-led experimentation, one theme was constant: The blockchain industry is stepping into maturity. From the halls of Congress to university classrooms, builders are aligning with standards, not avoiding them. And that, more than any hype cycle or price movement, may be the real signal that Web3 is here to stay.
Forbes
30-04-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Ava Labs, Student Projects Shine At Cornell Crypto Conference
Emin Gun Sirer, chief executive officer of Ava Labs, spoke at the Cornell Blockchain Conference ... More titled, "A New Era of Innvoation in Crypto". On April 25, 2025, the Cornell Blockchain Conference at Cornell Tech's Verizon Center in New York City spotlighted a growing convergence between academic rigor, institutional credibility, and a maturing blockchain industry. What emerged was not just a conversation about scaling technology—but about scaling trust, regulation, and the next wave of entrepreneurs. Abhishek Bhattacharya, the President of Blockchain at Cornell Tech, had the honor of moderating the featured panel on the main stage that included leaders from Ava Labs. Emin Gün Sirer, founder and CEO of Ava Labs, shared a sweeping technological vision centered on building for real-world adoption. From his roots as a Cornell computer science professor to pioneering Avalanche's consensus model, Sirer positioned Ava Labs as a company ready to meet global demands from its base in New York City. Sirer began by tracing the evolution of blockchain from Bitcoin's original design and highlighting the two foundational pillars that guided Ava Labs in building its platform. 'We didn't know how to build blockchains that scale,' Sirer said. 'One of the first things we did at our labs was develop the world's fastest consensus protocol—so that a group of nodes operating in unison could act together as fast as possible, at the speed of light.' The second pillar, he explained, was the concept of a network of networks. Sirer emphasized that Ava Labs was the first in the space to demonstrate this architectural approach. 'Every single use case deserves its own chain,' he argued. 'Some might be able to share infrastructure, but most have unique demands—and for that, they need a chain that operates according to its own rule set, its own technical specifications, and its own roadmap.' Sirer also highlighted the role of blockchain in gaming through the launch of 'Off The Grid', a next-generation battle royale game where players can collect in-game assets—such as the arms and legs of defeated opponents—as NFTs. The audience chuckled as the legendary computer science professor described the game mechanics, but his point was clear: blockchain is becoming so seamlessly embedded in user experiences that players may not even realize they're interacting with decentralized technology. In Off The Grid, those body parts are actually NFTs minted on the Avalanche blockchain, demonstrating how ownership and gameplay can be merged without disrupting user immersion. John Wu, President of Ava Labs, and a Cornell alum (as well as a Harvard MBA grad) framed Ava's strategy as one bridging traditional finance and decentralized systems. With experience in hedge funds and venture investing, Wu's insights connected the capital markets' language with blockchain's potential as financial infrastructure. 'We were huge risk-takers in technology, but very conservative when it came to regulation,' Wu said during a fireside chat. 'In a weird way, the coming wave of regulation favors the builders who've already aligned with those standards.' Katherine Kirkpatrick Bos, General Counsel at StarkWare, was on a regulatory panel earlier discussing the importance of a crypto general counsel as strategic business partner given the near-constant material shifts in the regulatory environment, and expecting continued focus on stablecoins, tokenization, and payments. Regarding Wu highlighting a conservative approach to compliance and regulation while being risk-takers with technology, Bos said, 'the best crypto companies know that legal and regulatory strategy is key. In many ways, the industry is under a microscope, and lawyers in crypto add value by working alongside product teams and developing a proactive strategy for compliance and regulation.' Having just met with over 15 U.S. Senators and Representatives in Washington, Wu said he expects significant movement on stablecoin and market structure legislation before year's end. His broader message: blockchain isn't just evolving—it's institutionalizing. Wu predicted by the end of this year there would be a stablecoin and market structure legislation in the U.S., and it couldn't come soon enough. Bos agreed, saying 'crypto has long been seeking reasonable regulation, and the likely passage of a stablecoin bill is a great first step.' Ari Juels, Chief Scientist at Chainlink Labs and a professor at Cornell Tech, kicked off a student-led pitch competition at the end of the day capturing the energy and excitement of fresh minds working in the space. The Initiative for Cryptocurrencies and Contracts (IC3), which Juels is a co-founder of and co-directs, served not only as the intellectual framework for industry giants like Avalanche—but now also as a launchpad for student-led ventures. One innovative project idea was Prinx, a blockchain-based 'Robinhood for IPOs' that democratizes access to late-stage private equity. Co-founders Brendan McShane and Patrick Sullivan presented their tokenized pre-IPO exchange to a professional crowd eager for fresh ideas. McShane said, 'Our mission is to bring late-stage private equity to the masses. Through Ari Juels' class, we were able to bring Prinx to life.' Another innovation idea came from a project dubbed BitGPT. Lia Müller, founding partner of BitGPT, introduced to the crowd a fiat-crypto native payment system using the once-abandoned HTTP 402 gateway—enabling micropayments between machine agents 'This is the next evolution,' Müller said. 'We're moving from human invoices to machine-initiated micropayments, just as we once moved from mail to email. The rails are being laid for what's next.' What distinguished this year's Cornell Blockchain Conference wasn't just the prominence of speakers like Sirer, Wu, Bos, and Juels—but the way their narratives converged. Whether discussing throughput, legal compliance, financial market integration, or student-led experimentation, one theme was constant: The blockchain industry is stepping into maturity. From the halls of Congress to university classrooms, builders are aligning with standards, not avoiding them. And that, more than any hype cycle or price movement, may be the real signal that Web3 is here to stay.
