Australia’s most historic university has signed a landmark agreement with an emerging cryptocurrency project.

The University of Sydney will work with South Korean blockchain platform Fantom, which aims to compete with the likes of Ethereum and EOS.

Fantom (FTM) has no shortage of money since raising AU$55M in its Initial Coin Offering (ICO) in June of this year, and has agreed to sponsor university scholars to help build their smart contract technology.

Dr Ahn Byung Ik, CEO of Fantom, says it’s an “exciting” agreement for his company and the blockchain industry.

“As we look to accelerate the mainstream adoption of blockchain technology, several key technical challenges need to be addressed, including issues with security, scalability, and high-energy consumption,” Dr Ahn said.

“To kickstart this process, the industry needs to start placing a heavier emphasis on blockchain-focused research and academia, which it desperately lacks.”

For a University established 168 years ago, it’s an exciting leap into a new and rapidly evolving field.

“As educators, it’s our job to provide students with as much experience and as many tools as possible to succeed in the industries of today,” said University of Sydney Associate Professor Bernhard Scholz.

“Blockchain has played a dominant role in the evolution of programming, and we look forward to contributing its advancement through our work with Fantom.”

Fantom aims to process up to 300,000 transactions per second at nearly no cost, enabling businesses and consumers to execute everyday transactions easily across different sectors.

Reaching that goal would place it above Ethereum and EOS in terms of transaction speed and it also plans to be more efficient and secure.

Australia is the first destination in Fantom’s global expansion plan. It has set up an office in Sydney where 17 per cent of its software developers are based.

Investors include Perth-based Kosmos Capital. M

A US state is now accepting Bitcoin for tax payments. Find out more here.