Zcash maker teams with Gemini, Binance for new crypto education program

For many newcomers, cryptocurrency can be an incredibly foreign, unfamiliar, and complicated concept to grasp, let alone embrace—but it’s one that, in theory, could help many communities and countries that are hurt by monetary policy or have inadequate access to banking services.

That’s where Crypto in Context aims to help. The initiative, first established by Zcash maker Electric Coin Company in partnership with a New York high school teacher, has pulled in several other blockchain and crypto companies to help spread education through workshops and more.

Electric Coin Company officially unveiled the initiative via a blog post yesterday, noting that partners such as Gemini, Flexa, and Messari had helped with the original pilot program and that Binance, Digital Currency Group, and LEANLAB Education have since come onboard.

According to the post, the initial Crypto in Context pilot was created with South Bronx teacher Carlos Acevedo, who was teaching his students about financial literacy and reached out for industry assistance in educating them further about cryptocurrency.

That initial alliance led to a two-day workshop that yielded three student internships and led to a second workshop, along with Electric Coin Company sponsoring other educational events. One was a virtual workshop hosted by Syrian refugee Moe Ghashim, who had been teaching fellow refugees in Turkey about cryptocurrency and related matters.

Now, Crypto in Context aims to spread such educational efforts globally, with further events planned for this fall and a platform allowing local leaders to propose and host events. Electric Coin Company will help fund events and coordinate logistics, including lining up sponsors and presenters.

“Crypto is the first real attempt to allow people from any background to get access to value. We’ve been either sanctioned by other governments or policed by our own. Crypto in Context adds collaboration on top of access to value,” said Ghashim, in the blog post. 

“For example: An unprivileged person from the Middle East can collaborate with a privileged person from an advanced country to exchange value and ideas freely. This is simply mind-blowing,” the refugee said.