A new blockchain-focused lab at the University of Ottawa’s Centre for Law, Technology and Society is the latest in a string of new academic efforts to incorporate blockchain into law school curriculum. The University of Ottawa’s lab joins schools such as Cardozo Law, Duke and Vanderbilt, among others, currently providing curricular content for law students around blockchain technology and cryptocurrency.

University of Ottawa professor of law Florian Martin-Bariteau said the lab evolved out of a spike in student interest that started about a year and a half ago. Initially, students were interested in looking at how Canadian law specifically handled blockchain-based cryptocurrencies. “Since the summer, we have focused on cryptocurrencies under Canadian law because it’s in the headlines everyday,” he noted.