Join Our Telegram channel to stay up to date on breaking news coverage
JayZ and Jack Dorsey collaborate to launch Bitcoin Academy – and the communication isn’t particularly inviting about this.
Cryptocurrency has allowed common folks to achieve financial freedom like nothing in history could. However, people are still confused about the offerings of blockchain – especially finance. Thankfully, several education institutes have emerged to help them.
But none of them might hold the candle to what the JayZ and Jack Dorsey are doing regarding bitcoin. They have banded together to create Bitcoin Academy – an initiative to help low-income groups learn about Bitcoin and possibly reap its rewards.
Launching the Academy in Housing project
The academy is headquartered at Marcy Houses, a Public Housing Complex in Brooklyn, home to “It’s the hard knock life” singer Jay Z.
The project will feature free online classes taught by crypto educators such as Lamar Wilson, the man behind the content site Black Bitcoin Billionaire, and Najah Roberts, CEO of Crypto Blockchain Plug, an event and education space that aims at providing a thorough approach to educating the world about crypto.
JayZ and Jack Dorsey Bitcoin Academy Team Up
Jack Dorsey and JayZ have been bitcoin televangelists in their respective fields, and both share an interest in the bitcoin business. Jay Z sold a majority share of his Tidal streaming service to jack Dorsey’s digital payments company, Block (nee square).
And not just that – both entrepreneurs have teamed up and have used their personal Bitcoin holdings to promote cryptocurrency usage in Africa.
The official website reads that this academy aims to “empower the community with knowledge, and get rid of some of the barriers so that residents can learn more about Bitcoin specifically and finance in general.”
There is promise in this initiative. And from the looks of it – the academy is trying to start from the roots to educate low-income groups that have only heard about bitcoin from afar.
However, most of the community doesn’t see it that way and has criticized the academy.
Empowering or Tone-deaf – The Community Asks
As expected, this initiative is not lauded but criticized by most on Twitter. And their reason for criticism? Bitcoin.
Teaching people for free is uncontroversial. It is to be lauded in America, where the public-school education system suffers under the weight of reducing budget.
However, “cryptocurrency is a world littered with hacks, scams and fraud” – the Verge wrote, citing Twitter users who have compared Bitcoin Academy to the classic Pyramid scheme.
The financial freedom the crypto market offers is something marginal income groups find titillating. And why won’t they? They have seen the news riddled with headlines about 2x, 3x, and even 100x gains investors made. It offers an alternative way to earn financial freedom that looks far away when we talk about traditional investments.
“But the alternative doesn’t mean that it is safer.” Tonatzin Carmona, a researcher, currently analyzing economic inequality and race, told Techcrunch.
Tonantzin questions – “Will this education helps the disadvantages accomplish their goals?”
The researcher is not the only one that has put forth legitimate concerns about the academy. Many are saying that it will expose the low-income groups to a volatile market – reminding all of us that it is a group that tries to save as much as possible.
The coloured community has been going through many battles in recent times ranging from redlining to subprime loans to predatory inclusion that makes them susceptible to remain in the low-income strata of the society.
And the academy is now encouraging to interact with a crypto market – a volatile ecosystem that only recently witnessed one of the biggest crashes (Terra Crash).
Isn’t it a bit tone-deaf to teach people about a volatile market they would be afraid to get into? – the community asks.
Why tax billionaires to create a robust social safety net when they come up with great ideas like this?
If you asked Marcy Houses residents how to best meet their needs, how many would say “a bitcoin class”? https://t.co/wU0GO5Juz0
— austin robey 😢 (@austinrobey_) June 9, 2022
Proper Education Can help prevent falling into volatile traps – Academy spokesperson
When asked whether the academy will provide financial safeguards to those learning to prevent losses, the academy spokesperson said that the academy is centring the program around specific points that prevent such things from happening.
Many would say that this is a diplomatic answer. The academy has not replied with further insights into this response.
Caution against Bitcoin are increasingly getting common – and for legitimate reasons
The world has seen many countries openly adopting Bitcoin. But they have also witnessed the financial issues these countries are dealing with.
For instance, El Salvador, a nation with over 70% unbanked individuals, has adopted bitcoin as a legal tender. Despite that, the country hasn’t seen any economic uptick so far.
Hopeful individuals say we must give it time to observe the changes. But the promise of bitcoin is a rapid change that can alter people’s fortunes overnight, so there must have been some positive changes in the economic condition by now.
Regardless, the Academy aims to provide a better economic foothold to the disadvantaged. How far these intentions get realized remains to be seen.
Read More
Join Our Telegram channel to stay up to date on breaking news coverage
