MIT Connection Science, a new research initiative at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that applies data/analytics to build better societies, has announced that it is the first academic institution in North America to participate in a global Byzantine consensus database.

In order to advance blockchain research, MIT is running a validator for the Ripple Consensus Ledger, a distributed ledger that settles global transactions in real-time and is the foundational ledger for the digital asset XRP. Ripple validators are servers that confirm transactions on the network.

"In this new experiment with Ripple, we are taking MIT's experiential research approach to the blockchain, and we anticipate this collaboration will provide us new opportunities to test and deploy data applications and research," said MIT Professor Alex "Sandy" Pentland. "We’re pleased that the Ripple team has fostered a substantive dialog with us about the future of finance through the decentralization of digital currencies and value."

Ripple validators are lightweight systems similar to running an email server. Ripple claims that its network has never lost or reversed a single transaction in three years of production. Ripple’s technology has been deployed through real-money pilots with 30 different banks around the world, and recently closed 20 million ledgers, in comparison to Bitcoin - which has closed about 400,000 blocks.

"We’re extremely excited for MIT to run a Ripple validator. Having a globally renowned institution like MIT contribute to the consensus process on Ripple fortifies the resiliency and security of the network. Beyond that, it’s incredible to have a partner we respect so much share the mission of enabling money to move like information does on the web today," said Stefan Thomas, Chief Technology Officer at Ripple.

Prof. Pentland is founding faculty director of the MIT Connection Science Research Initiative and David Shrier is the Managing Director. This new experiment will take MIT’s experiential research approach to blockchain and provide new opportunities to test and deploy data applications and research. It is developing novel blockchain, financial services, and enterprise data projects and initiatives, including open-source code projects under the Internet Trust Consortium.

Moreover, MIT Connection Science is also launching the "Future Commerce: fintech innovation" course online, in collaboration with online learning platform GetSmarter, to equip executives and entrepreneurs to navigate financial technology disruption.