Short answers, pulled from the story.
Ledger is the first peer-reviewed academic journal dedicated to cryptocurrency and blockchain technology research. It covers topics spanning mathematics, computer science, engineering, law, economics and philosophy, as long as they relate to cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin.
Peter R. Rizun and Christopher E. Wilmer, who became the journal's managing editors, first discussed the idea for Ledger in a conversation on the bitcoin forum bitcointalk.org.
Ledger's inaugural issue was published in December 2016. A call for papers had been issued on the 15th of September 2015 with a deadline of the 31st of December 2015, but the process was delayed while the editors formalized peer review.
Ledger is funded by Coin Center, a nonprofit organization, and is published on an open access basis. It is published by the University Library System of the University of Pittsburgh and cosponsored by the University of Pittsburgh Press.
Wilmer questioned the reliability of the white papers that had become common during the cryptocurrency boom and wanted a journal using a more traditional peer review system. He envisioned it as a place for people passionate about the technology to publish their research.
Wilmer is an assistant professor in the Chemical and Petroleum Engineering Department of the University of Pittsburgh's Swanson School of Engineering. He is the author of a book called Bitcoin for Befuddled and first used bitcoin to buy honey caramels from a beekeeper.