The Blockchain Education Alliance launched by blockchain accelerator MouseBelt has gained several noteworthy new members.

Ashlie Meredith, the university program director for MouseBelt Blockchain Accelerator, told Cointelegraph on Feb. 11 that the new members include payment processing behemoth Mastercard, the innovation arm of major crypto exchange Binance, Binance X, Ripple's accelerator Xpring and cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin.

Smart contract platform NEO, internet-of-things startup IoTeX, blockchain security firm Quantstamp and big data blockchain service Constellation Labs also joined the alliance.

According to its official website, the Blockchain Education Alliance aims to support education “to ensure students receive the skills, connections, and knowledge necessary to contribute to the blockchain ecosystem.”

At its launch in October 2019, the alliance counted Stellar Development Foundation, Tron, Hedera, Icon, Ontology, Wanchain, Harmony One, Nervos, Orbs, LTO Network, Emurgo, Nem, and ETC Labs among its members.

In August 2019, MouseBelt launched a blockchain education initiative at three campuses in the University of California system.

Blockchain and crypto need education

The blockchain and cryptocurrency industry has long been suffering from the lack of a specialized workforce able to move the space forward. In late August 2019, Ripple’s head of social impact, Ken Weber, said that universities around the world should expand their education programs to offer blockchain and digital assets training courses.

Last month, Nikolai Mushegian, a former MakerDAO contributor and Carnegie Mellon alumnus committed 10,000 MKR — valued at just under $5.65 million at press time — to his alma mater to develop a research program for decentralized applications. In October 2019, a Master’s degree in blockchain and distributed ledger technology was launched at the University of Malta.