The Kerala Blockchain Academy (KBA), a joint initiative of the IIITM-K and global Blockchain Education Network (BEN), has become the first Indian institution to be granted associate membership of the Hyperledger blockchain project, Deccan Chronicle reported.

Hyperledger is an open source collaborative effort created to advance cross-industry blockchain technologies. It currently includes 10 business blockchain and distributed ledger technologies (DLTs). Earlier in January, it released the Hyperledger Sawtooth 1.0 which was followed by the acceptance of Hyperledger Caliper, a blockchain performance benchmarking tool, into incubation. More recently, Hyperledger Fabric version 1.1.0 was released.

With its membership, KBA will be able to tap into the technical expertise of the Hyperledger ecosystem to fine-tune and develop the blockchain solutions it had been pursuing. The KBA has already developed two innovative solutions:

• SkillChain: A blockchain-based job portal for unorganized or informal sector, which provides a transparent and trusted platform for the inter-state migrants and employers to directly connect with each other.
• AgroChain: A blockchain-based transparent marketplace where the farmers and consumers can implement a co-operative farming eco system.

Last year, AgroChain won the NITI Aayog prize at the International Blockchain Hackathon organized by NITI Aayog and blockchain startup Proffer.