Summary :
Vanderbilt Blockchain is Vanderbilt University’s student-run blockchain organization. We focus on educating users in blockchain and cryptocurrencies in every field from investing to development. We want to promote and facilitate the use of blockchain technology, while also making a difference in the world wherever possible. For this reason, we are proposing a partnership with Popcorn that would create a perpetually-funded scholarship fund.
Abstract :
Right now, every scholarship is centralized, and there are a few people in charge of determining who gets how much money. This leaves out entire regions of the world due to geographic and legal restrictions, while also not being a truly fair way to evaluate someone. This can also lead to scholarship fraud and collusion. There is also the issue of payment, which is a problem for students without access to a bank account.
Using blockchain technology and smart contracts, there is a way to create a scholarship that pays automatically based on objective numbers with no risk of fraud, collusion, or favoritism. By integrating with a project like Popcorn and its yield farming feature, this scholarship can also be funded indefinitely without ever needing to touch funds from the principal.
Motivation :
This scholarship would not only help students around the world be able to afford their education, but also promote the growth of blockchain technology. Since it will be perpetually funded and (at some point in the future) never need outside development or help, there is a world in which this scholarship becomes known and utilized around the world every year, and could span multiple generations.
Additionally, Vanderbilt is a top 15 university in the United States, and thus this partnership would bring lots of great PR to Popcorn and its mission. This PR will also help Vanderbilt Blockchain.
Specification :
We want to accomplish our goal by yield farming POP tokens. We are asking for an initial funding of 100k POP which we can use to yield farm in the Popcorn ecosystem. Any rewards we make from this will be placed in a scholarship fund, where it will be given to students. We may need to use some of the POP to fund incentive programs for arbitration or safe token storage, but this will not be a significant amount (if any at all) of POP. As a student organization, we have no desire to make a profit off this project, and instead want to offer this as a public good to Popcorn as well as to beneficiaries of the scholarship.
We have a few different thoughts about how this would work. Ideally, we would create a system where the entire process is decentralized, and each student submits a transcript to some sort of oracle that automatically processes it, grabs the GPA, and pays out accordingly. Another option would be to create a decentralized governance system where each student is required to look over and confirm the GPAs on the transcripts of other applying students before their application is processed. If a student acts maliciously, their application will be voided, and if there is any discrepancy between what one student says and another it will go to a higher arbitration board made up of Vanderbilt Blockchain executives.
At first, it may have to be a centralized system with Vanderbilt Blockchain acting as the main determiner of who gets how much. Over the semester, we want to develop the aforementioned features to create a truly decentralized and perpetual scholarship.
Poll :
- Approve Vanderbilt Blockchain’s request for 100,000 POP
- Deny Vanderbilt Blockchain’s request for 100,000 POP
0 voters
Thank you very much for your consideration. We look forward to seeing Popcorn’s growth and hope to be a part of it.
Note: This post was edited to fix an error with the poll.