[July 02, 2018]

ObEN Partners With Tencent, Gao Rong VC to Form Tsinghua University Blockchain Research Center

ObEN Inc., the artificial intelligence (AI) company creating Personal AI (PAI) technology to revolutionize digital interaction, announced it is partnering with Tsinghua University PBC School of Finance (PBCSF) to establish the Blockchain Research Center, donating $1 Million USD to the project.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180702005265/en/

ObEN COO and co-founder Adam Zheng (second from left) at the launch of the Tsinghua Blockchain Center (Photo: Business Wire)

The Blockchain Research Center is designed to break new ground in the areas of education and research, especially as it pertains to the financial sector. The center aims to make PBCSF an incubator and knowledge center for the exploration of blockchain technology in China and beyond, supporting areas including academic study, technology innovation, use case exploration, and policy recommendation, in addition to cultivating new blockchain talent and forging meaningful partnerships within the blockchain industry. The Blockchain Research Center will also host conferences and summits annually to connect key players within industry, government, and research with the aim to become an international knowledge hub for blockchain.

"ObEN is very pleased to join Tsinghua University PBCSF to form this new Blockchain Research Center and advance te adoption, research, and application of blockchain technology," said Adam Zheng, ObEN COO and co-founder. "China is a very important market for ObEN, and its citizens have been incredibly keen on the adoption of this new technology. Supporting research into the effective integration of blockchain from both a technology and policy perspective will have a positive effect for the blockchain industry worldwide."

Tsinghua University is China's leading research university, ranking as the top engineering and computer science university worldwide. Tsinghua PBCSF, also known as the Wudaokou School of Finance, is already home to some of Asia's leading financial researchers and analysts, and has long acted as a think tank and incubator for China's top financial institutions. PBCSF also previously served as the graduate school of The People's Bank of China. Along with ObEN, PBCSF is joined by Tencent, Gao Rong Venture Capital and more. Together these partners have pledged $5 million USD over the next five years to support this research center.

"As a foundational layer of infrastructure, blockchain has always been considered to have a wide range of applications in the financial industry," Professor Li Liao, Executive Deputy Dean of Tsinghua PBCSF. "In the past one or two years, the application scenarios and feasibility of blockchain in the financial field have made great progress with continued exploration, especially as part of the real economy. On the other hand, blockchain faces many challenges in terms of security, transaction speed, capacity, scalability, and ecosystem construction that still need to be tackled."

Blockchain is a core component of ObEN's technology, which utilizes advanced machine learning technology to allow users to create their own PAI with just a selfie and brief voice recording. PAIs are intelligent 3D avatars that look, talk, and even sing like the user and can serve numerous functions as digital representatives for the user. In an effort to maintain security and data sovereignty for the individual, ObEN has elected to secure all PAIs and the associated user data on the Project PAI blockchain protocol, promoting the creation of a new digital economy centered around use of PAI-based applications.

ObEN's first application on the PAI blockchain will be available in mid-2018. Learn more at projectpai.com.

About ObEN

ObEN is an artificial intelligence (AI) company developing Personal AI technology that revolutionizes personal digital interaction, enabling never before possible social and virtual interactions. The company's technology allows users to create intelligent 3D avatars that look, sound, and behave like them. Deployed on the blockchain, ObEN's Personal AI (PAI) technology enables users to create, use, and manage their own PAI on a secure, decentralized platform. Founded in 2014, ObEN is a K11, Tencent, Softbank Ventures Korea and HTC (News - Alert) Vive X portfolio company and is located at Idealab in Pasadena, California. To learn more about ObEN, please visit oben.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180702005265/en/

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