The Cambridge University’s Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) has announced the launch of first Global Blockchain Benchmarking Study that aims to present a global empirical outline of how blockchain and cryptocurrencies are used today.

The study’s first area of focus will be on the significant challenges of security at cryptocurrency exchanges. The CCAF has invited companies that enable the purchase, sale and/or trading of cryptocurrencies to participate in a survey. The survey participants will have the option to be prominently acknowledged in the benchmarking report with their logo displayed.

"Cryptocurrencies are good examples of financial innovation that is emerging outside of the traditional financial system. We at the CCAF believe that digital currencies as well as related crypto-based distributed systems, have a critically important role in enabling the digitalization of the broader economy. There is growing demand for an in-depth empirical study of the sector to provide a better understanding of the opportunities and risks associated with this evolution – a research gap that we are happy to help close with this study,” Robert Wardrop, CCAF Executive Director said in a press release.

There will also be other surveys that will cover areas such as protocol development, cross-border transactions, various distributed ledger technology use cases, mining, and regulation/compliance. The findings from the research will be published thereafter by the CCAF in early 2017. It will be freely distributed to participating organizations, industry trade associations, and the media.

“This first global benchmarking study highlights the industry’s increasing maturity. With this research, we are aiming to collect useful benchmarking data while not exposing any trade secrets or security practices that could assist a competitor or adversary. We at the CCAF are very much looking forward to working with industry and our partners on this research,” Dr. Garrick Hileman, the CCAF principal investigator on the study said.

The University in June announced its efforts in bringing blockchain education to the curriculum. During the announcement, it revealed the topics that will be covered includingP2P lending, new forms of credit analytics, alternative investments, crowd-funding among others.