French Engineering School Teams Up With Local Startup To Certify Diplomas Using The Bitcoin Blockchain

The operational hurdles prove surprisingly minimal, Grunspan contended. "There is not much to do: the technology is there, the rest is just a matter of schools' will," he pointed out. His practical argument underscores a genuine problem facing credential verification: "This is simply using the blockchain for certifications, since it is easy today to fake certificates using Photoshop." Yet another strategic question awaits resolution: Does ESILV maintain its own blockchain, or does it defer verification duties to a third party? Grunspan contemplated both scenarios: "Would a recruiter go on a school's website to verify the veracity of a diploma, or would he rather go on a platform such as Blockchain.info? In my opinion, the simplest way would be a link to Blockchain.info."

Not operating in isolation, ESILV follows the path carved by Holberton School, headquartered in San Francisco's technology sector. This coding academy initiated blockchain-authenticated academic records in October 2015, deploying Bitproof technology—an online blockchain authentication platform. The driving force behind Holberton, co-founder Sylvain Kalache, has expressed conviction in this method's future dominance. According to him, in the following years blockchain certification will be used by many schools simply because it is more efficient, cheaper, faster and safer than other available solutions. At the heart of this commitment sits student protection: "We think first about our students — we want to make sure that our certificates will always remain valid and verifiable by employers. It will also keep them safe and impossible to copy or hack," Kalache declared in a release announcement.

Beyond spearheading France's first blockchain diploma program, ESILV is simultaneously upgrading its fintech curriculum. Come September 2016, a new specialization launches within the financial engineering and computer science department, providing instruction in blockchain technology, security and network principles, payment systems, and web development architecture. ESILV had already made a mark on French higher education history. Last September, the school became the nation's pioneer in offering bitcoin instruction as part of formal curriculum. This expansion reflects institutional commitment to experiential learning within the cryptocurrency space. "We want to make students work on real needs of bitcoin and blockchain startups," Grunspan reiterated.