Ripple, the blockchain payment protocol company, has committed an additional $5 million in funding to improve blockchain education and research throughout the Asia Pacific region (APAC).
In an announcement made on June 10, 2025, the company stated it would expand its University Blockchain Research Initiative (UBRI) in the APAC region using the newly allocated funds. This funding aims to advance academic research and foster student-driven innovations across six countries.
📣LATEST: #Ripple commits $5M to blockchain education in APAC via UBRI, impacting six countries A major investment in the future of blockchain technology #XRP 🚀🪙 https://t.co/N0YQrzz3yo pic.twitter.com/k7QesOpyn0 — ToniTheRippler (@thatgirl_chichi) June 10, 2025
The APAC area hosts some of the fastest-developing fintech markets. By renewing collaborations with South Korea, Japan, and Singapore, as well as establishing new partnerships with Taiwan and Australia, Ripple seeks to fortify its standing in the region, contributing a total of $11 million since UBRI commenced.
Technicalities of the UBRI Funding Scheme
UBRI is providing $1.1 million to Yonsei University in South Korea, $1.5 million to Kyoto University in Japan, and in Singapore, funding has surpassed $3 million between Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and the National University of Singapore (NUS).
While NTU will concentrate on creating an autonomous AI agent network on Ripple’s XRP ledger (XRPL), the firm has renewed its relationship with NUS following previous UBRI support that helped establish the first university-based DAO (decentralized autonomous organization) in Asia.
Professor Yang Liu from the College of Computing and Data Science at NTU remarked, “With our current grant, we are developing an autonomous AI agent network on the XRP Ledger to create a transparent, modular, accessible, and collaborative AI platform leveraging blockchain technology. We envision this innovation being pivotal in shaping the future of AI.”
Additionally, the company has teamed up with the National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology (NKUST) in Taiwan to investigate asset tokenization across XRPL, Ethereum, and Solana networks.
“NKUST is excited about this new chapter, partnering with Ripple’s University Blockchain Research Initiative to explore the potential of Real-World Asset (RWA) tokenization on the XRP Ledger,” commented Echo Huang, a professor at NKUST.
Australia’s Victoria University (VU) will work with UBRI on creating a blockchain-based curriculum, while the Australian National University (ANU) continues its investigation into blockchain law and smart contract platforms such as Evernode. Ripple’s total allocation for Australian universities has reached $1.3 million.
UBRI Research Highlights Across APAC and Major Ripple Initiatives
Further Ripple UBRI-sponsored research in the APAC region comprises blockchain sharding, layer 2 integration, and NFT privacy utilizing zk-SNARKs (Succinct Non-interactive Argument of Knowledge) at Korea University (KU), executed by professors Ik Rae Jong and Dong Hoon Lee. Moreover, Professor Hyunok Oh from Hanyang University (HYU) in Korea is developing zk-SNARK enhancements for addressing blockchain privacy and scalability.
Ripple will conduct its 7th annual UBRI Connect as part of XRP Ledger Apex 2025, with a pre-summit hosted at NUS in Singapore. The gathering will convene specialists from 60 institutions across 28 countries for academic panels, workshops, and research dialogues.
The company has previously committed $25 million in RLUSD, Ripple’s proprietary stablecoin, to nonprofits in the US to enhance resources for American educators.
Ripple also intends to enhance crypto-related education in the US and has introduced the National Cryptocurrency Organisation, a non-profit, as part of this initiative.
Key Takeaways
- Ripple has commissioned an extra $5 million to enhance blockchain education and research in the APAC region.
- Overall, Ripple has invested over $11 million in the APAC region since the launch of UBRI.
- Collaborations with South Korea, Japan, and Singapore have been renewed, while new alliances have been established with Taiwan and Australia.
