Trinity Business School (TBS) is to begin offering degrees in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) from next year, Dean Andrew Burke has announced.
Beginning with the class of 2023, graduating students will have the opportunity to forgo the traditional paper degree written in Latin and instead be issued an official Trinity NFT, which can be stored in a digital wallet and instantly verified by future employers.
The initiative is being undertaken in partnership with NFT marketplace OpenSea.
Speaking to Trinity News, Burke said: “TBS is always seeking to innovate, to be agile, to leverage new technological solutions, and to adaptably train the next generation of business leaders for the market of tomorrow.”
“For us, the partnership with OpenSea was a no-brainer.”
Burke continued: “The exceptional thing about degree NFTs is that they’ll persist forever; no need to have a certificate in a frame, these tokens will always be useful.”
OpenSea’s Director of Marketing, Charles Ponci added: “Many people think NFTs are just for art, but academic tokens are going to be huge.”
“We’re really excited about this project. The vote of confidence from Trinity is such a big boost, when so many other universities aren’t willing to try things like this.”
NFTs are verifiable digital certificates entered on a public register called a blockchain, the same technology that underpins cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.
Trinity is the first university in Ireland to adopt the technology for awarding degrees.
Update 6:25pm: April Fools
