Discover how Clovr Labs collaborates with UMA's Blockchain Technologies Course to drive real-world innovation and support new talent.

Earlier this month, the University of Málaga concluded the third edition of its Blockchain Technologies Course, marking another successful round of industry collaboration, student innovation, and real-world impact.

Since its launch, the course has trained 45 students, who have worked on over 15 industry-driven projects across three editions. It’s a unique program in Spain that bridges the gap between academic learning and practical application, consequently helping students contribute to real tools, technologies, and teams from day one.

For Clovr Labs, we see this initiative as a natural extension of our commitment to innovation and R&D. We’re proud to participate, not just by sponsoring students but by integrating their contributions directly into our suite of products and environments that support our clients.

Blockchain Technologies Course_Clover Labs + UMA

Inside the Blockchain Technologies Course

The Blockchain Technologies Course is designed to equip participants with both a deep understanding of blockchain fundamentals and the practical skills needed to contribute meaningfully to the ecosystem.

The course combines theoretical grounding with applied learning, culminating in a final project developed in collaboration with real companies from the blockchain sector, including us. It covers the fundamentals of decentralized technology at length and how Bitcoin works at the protocol level, as well as smart contract development with Solidity, Web3 tools, and infrastructure deployment for networks like Bitcoin, Lightning, and Ethereum.

Hands-on learning backed by industry partners

What sets this course apart is its close collaboration with industry. Companies not only co-design final projects and act as mentors, they also participate in teaching and co-fund the program.

At Clovr Labs, we’re proud to be one of the participating companies, offering mentorship, project collaboration, and hands-on guidance to students as part of our broader mission to invest in the future of secure, scalable blockchain systems.

Clovr Labs’ project team from the 2024 edition of the course. Left: Marcos Fernández Pérez, Software Engineer at Clovr Labs. Right: Alumni Ignacio Caballero Peñalver and Ana Gil Orozco.

Clovr Labs’ commitment to Blockchain education & R&D

Our involvement in this Blockchain Technologies Course is a long-term commitment to nurturing talent, accelerating innovation, and building meaningful connections between research and industry.

Throughout the course, our team remained actively involved by mentoring three students during their final project, offering guidance on both technical challenges and real-world applications. This hands-on support gave students direct exposure to our processes, standards, and the kinds of problems we solve every day at Clovr.

We were also proud to join the final project presentations in early July, where students shared the results of their work, including a new feature now integrated into NodeGuard, our open-source Bitcoin treasury management tool.

“The Blockchain Technologies Course shows how academic programs, when designed in close partnership with industry leaders, can generate real value, not only for students but for the companies, communities, and clients they’ll go on to serve.” - Aleksandar Yovchev, Head of Product at Clovr Labs.

Real projects. Real impact.

One of the highlights of this year’s Blockchain Technologies Course was the final project developed by three students mentored by Clovr Labs: José Canto Peral, Pedro Scarpati, and Rubén Rodríguez Porras. Their objective was to implement Replace-by-Fee (RBF) functionality in NodeGuard.

RBF is a mechanism that allows pending Bitcoin transactions to be resent with a higher fee, increasing the chances of faster confirmation when the network is congested. For treasury operations, this helps prevent delays and ensures time-sensitive transactions can be prioritized as needed.

The project was technically led by Marcos Fernández Pérez, Software Engineer at Clovr Labs, with oversight from Aleksandar Yabalkarov, Head of Product, who also managed the collaboration with UMA. On the academic side, the course was led by Professor Isaac Agudo, from the NICS Lab at UMA.

The students not only delivered the feature, they integrated it into a real open-source environment, working with Clovr’s engineering team to meet production-level standards. Unlike previous years, this wasn’t a simulation or a proof of concept. It was a contribution that has been integrated into Clovr’s suite of products and now helps improve how our clients manage their Bitcoin transactions.

Clovr Labs’ project team from the 2025 edition of the course. Left to right: Alumni Pedro Scarpati, José Canto Peral, and Rubén Rodríguez Porras.

Investing in the builders of tomorrow

The Blockchain Technologies Course at the University of Málaga is more than just a course — it’s a launchpad. Over its three editions, it has given students the tools, experience, and confidence to contribute to real blockchain projects, many of them going on to join companies, lead client conversations, or even start their own ventures.

At Clovr Labs, we’re proud to be part of that journey. For us, this is about creating real value through collaboration and allowing the next generation of blockchain professionals to contribute meaningfully to tools and systems used in production today.

We’re incredibly proud of what our student collaborators achieved this year, and we can’t wait to see what comes out of the 2026 cohort. We remain committed to supporting technical education, open-source development, and innovation in Spain and beyond.

This program has proven that when academia and industry come together with shared purpose, the results speak for themselves, and we’re excited to keep building on that momentum.

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