Steven Pu: Harvard’s $2B Fund Freeze Highlights Why Blockchain Is Not Yet Ready For Institutional Adoption

By: mpost io|2025/05/02 15:00:05
0
Share
copy
Latest Donald Trump Administration’s decision to freeze $2.2 billion in federal funding for the Harvard University, with 60 more universities reportedly at risk, has intensified discussions about financial resilience.The freeze demonstrated the vulnerability of even prestigious institutions to centralized control, in this case, the US government’s ability to restrict access to critical funding. Proponents of blockchain technology argue that decentralized financial systems could, in theory, help prevent or mitigate such actions. While blockchain may appear to be the ideal solution on paper, it was not a prominent part of the conversation in this context. Steven Pu, Co-Founder of Taraxa, believes that this situation reveals an important truth: blockchain technology is not yet ready for large institutions like Harvard—not because it lacks functionality, but due to ongoing gaps in adoption, transparency, and trust.Steven Pu Advocates For Blockchain’s Role In Enhancing Institutional Transparency And Accountability Amid Trust ChallengesSteven Pu argued that decentralized blockchains could have potentially prevented such a funding freeze, noting that while blockchains have the capacity to address such issues, they have not yet earned the level of trust needed for widespread adoption. Many institutions, including Harvard, continue to operate in environments that are highly conservative and risk-averse. Transitioning from centuries-old financial systems to blockchain technology, which is still relatively new and, arguably, chaotic, requires not only a technical shift but also bureaucratic and cultural adjustments. Additionally, the blockchain industry has not helped its case. There has been a greater emphasis on promoting inflated transaction performance numbers rather than demonstrating actual functionality. The claim of “1 million transactions per second” has become more of a joke than a serious metric, with no substantial proof on mainnet to support it. Until there is a shift towards building systems that are secure, auditable, and capable of scaling, institutions are likely to continue relying on existing systems they know and trust.In terms of transparency, Steven Pu stressed that it is not merely an ideal but a fundamental responsibility, particularly for institutions managing public or donor funds. Blockchain technology offers a level of auditability and integrity that legacy systems cannot provide. Once a transaction is recorded on the blockchain, it cannot be altered without detection, which establishes a new standard for accountability. However, the goal is not to completely replace existing financial systems. Rather, the potential lies in integrating blockchain into current infrastructures, offering institutions tools to provide publicly verifiable records, tamper-proof audits, and more effective oversight. Over time, such integration could lower operational risks, reduce compliance costs, and increase trust from stakeholders who are demanding greater transparency. Realistic Blockchain Standards And Verified Infrastructure Are Essential To Gain Institutional TrustSteven Pu further emphasized the necessary changes before reputable institutions can view blockchain as more than just a passing trend, suggesting that the focus should shift from promoting unrealistic visions to establishing standardized, achievable outcomes. Institutions prioritize real-world functionality over theoretical documents like whitepapers, and at this point, blockchain often appears to be dominated by inflated metrics and unsupported performance claims.At Taraxa, a report was recently published showing that actual mainnet performance is often overstated by up to 20 times, a discrepancy that goes beyond a simple error and can be seen as a misleading omission of facts. Until standardized, real-world benchmarks are established and protocols are held accountable for their true capabilities, institutions will remain skeptical of blockchain’s claims. The lack of verified benchmarks and accountability has led to ongoing skepticism from institutions, which are right to question unverified promises.In order to gain the trust of serious players, there is a need for a new standard of measurement, one that includes real benchmarks, publicly available metrics, and auditable claims. The delay in blockchain adoption is not due to technological failure, but rather the lack of trust in the claims made about it.In regards to stablecoins, it was noted that they serve as a temporary fix rather than a long-term solution. While stablecoins facilitate payments, they do not address the core issue of the trust gap between institutions and the blockchain industry. The real opportunity lies in building decentralized financial systems that institutional players can integrate without sacrificing compliance, auditability, or security. This includes concepts like decentralized lending, automated compliance, programmable governance, and transparent asset management—systems built on infrastructure that is verifiable, not just marketed as such.Currently, the blockchain infrastructure is compared to castles built on sand. Without credible and proven infrastructure, stablecoins risk becoming another speculative tool that does not provide a real solution. If the goal is to manage assets such as sovereign wealth or university endowments on the blockchain, what is needed is not clever tokenomics, but solid, reliable infrastructure that has been rigorously tested and proven. The post Steven Pu: Harvard’s $2B Fund Freeze Highlights Why Blockchain Is Not Yet Ready For Institutional Adoption appeared first on Metaverse Post.

You may also like

Strategy Founder: The Next 10 Years of Bitcoin

In the next decade, the biggest evolution of Bitcoin is precisely "responding to change with invariance." The four-year cycle is giving way to capital flows such as ETFs, corporate and sovereign reserves, and bank credit, while digital credit and digital currency will grow layer upon layer on top of...

Forbes Special Report: Stablecoin cross-border payments are faster now, but not cheaper yet

Cross-border payments using stablecoins are rapidly expanding, bringing speed and accessibility, but due to insufficient institutional liquidity, they have not yet delivered on their promised cost savings. The technology has been validated, and regulations are improving, but the industry has not yet...

Li Feifei's latest long article: When video generation, robots, and NVIDIA all claim to be world models, we need a taxonomy

Language gives machines a way to talk about the world. The world model is the means by which machines ultimately understand, imagine, reason, and interact with it.

Blaming the desolation of the cryptocurrency world on the rise of AI is a form of intellectual laziness

The emergence of giants signifies a mature business model. Although it will reduce speculative space, there is also enough room for error, allowing for the continuous emergence of new forces.

The impact of OUSD on Circle, Tether, and Paxos: not a single negative factor, but a more complex reshaping of competition

OUSD will not be the last new competitor; Circle needs to respond more actively in terms of products, distribution, and ecosystem collaboration.

A valuation of 8 billion dollars, doubling in 8 months! What makes the crypto-friendly bank Erebor Bank stand out?

Erebor is a high-profile experiment taking place at the intersection of banking, cryptocurrency, and industrial policy.

Popular coins

Latest Crypto News

Read more
iconiconiconiconiconiconicon
Customer Support:@weikecs
Business Cooperation:@weikecs
Quant Trading & MM:bd@weex.com
VIP Program:support@weex.com