University-Affiliated Cryptocurrency: Hippocampus

For our Founders Lab Thesis Project, we are investigating the viability of a cryptocurrency that will be marketed towards students, prospective students, alumni, and faculty members of Arizona State University (ASU). Our cryptocurrency is known as “Hippocampus”. Essentially, individuals within the target audience will have the opportunity to exchange their fiat money for our university-affiliated cryptocurrency. These individuals will be incentivized to utilize the university-affiliated cryptocurrency as opposed to fiat money, because this cryptocurrency will offer them discounts on college-related expenses, such as tuition, student loans, textbooks, supplies, on-campus housing, on-campus dining, and much more. As the demand for Hippocampus increases, so will its value, which will benefit ASU as a whole. We created a Spring 2022 Semester Survey and surveyed a sample of 250 ASU students regarding the viability of our Founders Lab Thesis Project. 73.2% of participants revealed that they would support a university-affiliated cryptocurrency, and 62% of participants revealed that they would personally utilize a university-affiliated cryptocurrency. Additional activities that we completed to enhance our Founders Lab Thesis Project include interviewing an avid cryptocurrency user, learning about the Blockchain Research Lab, meeting with a financial advisor to understand the financial implications of a university-affiliated cryptocurrency, collaborating with a group of university students at Portland State University who implemented their own university-affiliated cryptocurrency, and touring a cryptocurrency-mining company to grasp an understanding of how cryptocurrency is mined.