High school team finishes third at Barclays Blockchain Challenge

If understanding the operation of distributed ledger technology within banks is complex, finding a way to make different varieties of business blockchains talk is a daunting challenge.

And yet, that's exactly what a team of high school students – who will be taking their A-level exams in computer science – will do soon. The team, from Bedford School in the UK, won third place at a blockbuster television interoperability hackathon hosted by London startup Blockchain. Clearmatics at the ascent of Barclays fintech hub in London.

Clearmatics, project manager such as the Utility Settlement Coin banking consortium, was challenged to use the company's IOP protocol to obtain two block strings (such as Hyperledger Fabric and Ethereum) to exchange data, to check transactions, etc.

The team of computer science students has been confronted by expert teams from channels such as Santander and Barclays, as well as experienced young companies such as Web3j and Adhara. In a way, this victory has highlighted the diverse level of interest for technology as well as the ongoing generational evolution with new entrants into the ecosystem, so to speak.

Dr. David Wild, Head of Computer Science at Bedford School, said the team knew nothing of the blockchain technology of the company just two days before the event.

Drawing on his experience working with educational software, the teacher suggested a smart contract design to share exam results between schools, exam boards and educational organizations. 39 admission of universities, so that it is less fragmented and interoperable. The students agreed in the field and created a working solution using the Ion framework.

Wild added that coming to the blockchain's interoperability challenge with a naïve point of view has proven to be refreshing and helpful, adding,

"If you're writing software, for example, you want someone who is naive to use it because it tends to use it in unimaginable ways."

In accepting the award, one of the students stated that the team had managed part of the learning curve that came and went from the two-day event.

"We learned a lot about the strength and the smart contracts on the train," they told CoinDesk.