Peking University is one of the most illustrious in China, dating to the 19th century and located near the Summer Palace in the capital city of Beijing. It is now bringing its grand academic credentials to bear in blockchain studies.

The Frontiers in Blockchain Research Lab emerged at Peking University in 2020, aiming to direct the efforts of academics at the institution toward the cutting edge of blockchain and crypto research. Projects undertaken by the lab include “Preventing Spread of Spam Transactions in Blockchain by Reputation” and “An Efficient Permissioned Blockchain With Provable Reputation Mechanism.”

The leading light behind the lab is Xiaotie Deng, a Stanford PhD who has previously taught in Shanghai, Hong Kong and the U.K. He specializes in algorithmic game theory and its application to digital finance. He has copiously published on the subject of that intersection.

Xiaotie Deng also founded the Distributed and Automated Games and Managerial Economics Lab, which pays attention to blockchain technology in its own right. In particular, the lab looks at “cross-chain mechanism design.”

Read More: The Top Universities for Blockchain by CoinDesk 2021

Times Higher Education ranked Peking University as the best academic institution in the Asia-Pacific region in 2021 and 16th globally. The institution has educated some of the most significant figures in China’s history, from Mao Zedong to current Premier Li Keqiang.

Although China banned all cryptocurrency transactions in September 2021, that does not take away from the adoption of blockchain technology more widely in the country for alternative functions. The state has actually supported some blockchain firms, helping them to explore use cases in fields like medicine and energy. President Xi Jinping called upon China to adopt distributed ledger technologies in October 2019.