STIers: Certified Blockchain Experts

September 23, 2020

Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, 4^th year college students from various STI campuses successfully completed the UnionBank of the Philippines’ Blockchain Xcellerator Program on July 22, 2020.

Launched last February, the program is an eight-week intensive course for developers who want to strengthen their knowledge about blockchain, a public ledger that records not only the assets but also the transactions of a business.

 

Students during the Blockchain Xcellerator Program

 

As part of the course, the students were grouped and tasked to create a blockchain application based on a business model. Through a five-minute elevator pitch to a panel of experts, the teams virtually presented the working prototype of their application.

At the end of the virtual presentation, seven out of 13 students from Bachelor of Science in Information Technology (BSIT) and Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering (BSCpE) courses were certified as blockchain experts.

The seven learners are from the two teams, “Musika” and “Trappic.” They wowed the panel members with their commendable blockchain applications.

STI College Caloocan’s Musika consisting of Junelvin Saceda, Anzel Donor Prax, and Marvi Lean Negrete impressed the panel of experts with the group’s music application platform that runs on Ethereum, an open-source platform that allows developers to build and deploy decentralized applications. The application promotes the original songs of different artists as well as utilizes cryptocurrency as a mode of payment for the songs.

 

Anzel Donor Prax, Marvi Lean Negrete, and Junelvin Saceda during their presentation

 

Meanwhile, Jener Galang, Jan Carlo Espiritu, Mistermar Awa, and Mack Jaygee De Los Santos, known as the Trappic from STI College Fairview, proved their knowledge and skills with their modernized traffic violation ticketing application. The project ensures that traffic violations and payments will not be tampered.

The students were mentored by certified blockchain educators from STI College Global City.

The UnionBank’s first Blockchain Xcellerator Experts Program was launched on October 5, 2019. STI instructors who have a background in information systems, computer science, engineering, and other IT-related certifications participated in an eight-week intensive course about blockchain technology and get certified as blockchain experts.