The Blockchain Club, a newly formed club headed by Dylan Benedetto, aims to provide its members with a chance to learn and develop their knowledge and skills relating to blockchain.
“The main goal of it is to give experiential learning to everyone in it. So, doing stuff in undergrad that actually benefits you in the real world as opposed to just taking a class that you’re gonna forget about,” Benedetto, a Finance major with a Blockchain minor, said.
“It [Blockchain Club] gives you stuff to put on your resume and hopefully to connect people with companies or individuals looking to hire afterwards. So when you graduate, you have a job.”
According to Investopedia, an online journal dedicated to simplifying financial decisions and information, blockchain is a type of shared database that differs from a typical database in the way that it stores information.
Blockchains store data in blocks that are then linked together via cryptography. As new data comes in, it is entered into a fresh block. Once the block is filled with data, it is chained onto the previous block, which makes the data chained together in chronological order.
Benedetto shared one of the main things the club is working on at the moment.
“One of the big things we’re doing that we already started is we’re actually mining Bitcoin,” Benedetto said. “We have 11 miners set up in the EERB (Engineering Education and Research Building) that actually produces real Bitcoin and they get held by the Blockchain Foundation.”
Different types of information can be stored on a blockchain, but the most common use so far has been as a ledger for transactions. In Bitcoin’s case, blockchain is used in a decentralized way so that no single person or group has control, rather, all users collectively retain control.
Decentralized blockchains are immutable, which means that the data entered is irreversible. For Bitcoin, this means that transactions are permanently recorded and viewable to anyone.
“Then as a club, we’re going to be able to decide what we spend that money on. Whether it’s doing an event for the club or buying more mining equipment,” Benedetto said. “We want to cover the four main pillars of blockchain. Store of value, payment systems, business applications and NFTs.”
While Bitcoin holds a popular connection to blockchain, Benedetto stated that there are multiple aspects of blockchain that people hold an interest in.
“We’ll try and offer something for everyone, you know, blockchain is pretty extensive. So, if you’re into NFTs and not really Bitcoin mining, then you’ll be able to do that.”
Benedetto expressed that any student at UW could join the club, not just business and finance students.
“We would love for anyone to join,” Benedetto said. “The big misconception with blockchain is that you have to know how to program or you have to be a business person. However, blockchain is going to touch every industry, every type of career that you do. Anything from teaching all the way up to actually programming the stuff.”
“People aren’t going to quite realize it, and then when blockchain really flourishes is when people will be using it without realizing that they’re using it. So, having any type of experience with it will give you a leg up in the future, no matter what your degree is.”
