An ex-MakerDAO contributor and student at Carnegie Mellon has reportedly pledged to give 10,000 MKR – equivalent to roughly $4.3 million – to fund for a project researching DApps. 

Specifically, Nikolai Mushegian has publicly revealed his initiative on January 1st via his web page. Particularly, the 6,800 MKR ($2.9 million) fund is an additional investment to the project, following his previous 3,200 MKR ($1.3 million) donation. 

Per the post, Mushegian clarified the motive behind his action, claiming that the fund is dedicated to setting up “a research program for decentralized applications/protocols and game-theoretic mechanisms.”

He further revealed that a more detailed research agenda will be rolled out in the upcoming weeks. 

Additionally, Mushegian shared that he is annoyed by individuals seeking illegal profit in the sector, including the idea of “the increasing rent-seeking behavior from some of the big players in this space, and also from existing banks and tech giants”. He has high hopes in the university’s resilience, in combating against pressure generated from the authorities and financial institutions. 

Carnegie Mellon is a leading name when it comes to distributed ledgers. Its Tepper School of Business offers a cross-disciplinary course, called “the Blockchain Initiative”, which has been successful in designing a local digital coin for the university, dubbed the “CMU Coin”.