Matt Levine, Columnist

Are Blockchain Diplomas the Real Deal?

MIT is issuing degrees using blockchain technology. How cute.

October 22, 2017 at 7:19 PM UTC

Matt Levine is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. A former investment banker at Goldman Sachs, he was a mergers and acquisitions lawyer at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz; a clerk for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit; and an editor of Dealbreaker.

Who needs a paper diploma when you have blockchain?
Photographer: MICHAEL OKONIEWSKI

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How can I tell if you have a degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology? One way would be for me to ask MIT. If they say yes, then you have a degree from MIT. If they say no, then you don't. That is what having a degree from MIT, customarily, means: that MIT acknowledges you as a graduate. MIT is an important credentialing institution because a lot of people trust its degree-granting process. It is, to use the term of art, a trusted intermediary. It is thus well suited to keep the ledger of who has degrees. MIT's list of people who have MIT degrees defines the set of people who have MIT degrees.

But you know whatever this is fine sure: