The governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand has mooted exempting homes built under the government's KiwiBuild scheme from LVR restrictions. Speaking on weekend television, Adrian Orr said it would make sense to exempt the homes from the RBNZ's loan to value restrictions. The KiwiBuild programme is the new government's flagship policy to tackle New Zealand's housing crisis. It aims to build 100,000 "affordable" homes in total, although its target is just 800 to 1000 in the 2019 financial year before ramping up in following years. The price cap for Auckland and Queenstown is NZ$650,000 for a three bedroom home, and NZ$500,000 for other cities. The homes will be sold to first home buyers, but the government is still "working to finalise" other criteria purchasers must meet. Crypto start-up Ripple has committed US$50 million in funding, "subject matter expertise and technical resources" to 17 universities, including Canberra's ANU College of Law, to boost research into blockchain technology. Other universities on the list include MIT, Princeton and UCL (University College London).