Category: Education

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Crypto News Education Metaverse

Renowned Ivy League Business School ‘Wharton’ Launches Metaverse Certification

In a first for a US Ivy League institution, the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School is launching a six-week online certificate course on business in the metaverse.

Entitled ‘Business in the Metaverse Economy’, the course seeks to educate students about the expanding metaverse and provide them with the tools to address issues within it:

Wharton, one of the world’s leading business schools, has teamed up with consulting firm Prysm Group to design the course, taking the form of more than 50 lectures by industry faculty representatives along with six case studies. The Aresty Institute of Executive Education course has already attracted guest speakers from Adobe, Animoca Brands, R/GA, RLY Network, The New York Times, Second Life and The Wall Street Journal, among other organisations.

According to the program’s academic director, Professor Kevin Werbach:

The metaverse is a significant and broad phenomenon that is still poorly understood. We hope to equip business leaders, consultants, and entrepreneurs with an understanding of the impending opportunities the metaverse brings, as well as the practical knowledge to build solutions of value.

Kevin Werbach, academic program director, Aresty Institute of Executive Education

Australia at Investment Forefront

Wharton claims that the metaverse will become a US$13 trillion market with five billion users by 2030. In fact, research from Analysis Group estimates that as the metaverse increases in popularity, it could make a US$3 trillion global GDP contribution in its first decade.

If growth estimations are realised, a lot more investment will be needed in terms of research and development. An investment of US$100 million was recently made into the launch of the Metaverse Research and Development Centre in Melbourne that will ensure Australia is ready for when the market truly takes off.

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Australia Crypto News Education

Australia’s Swinburne Uni Set to Officially Educate Students on Cryptocurrency

Melbourne’s Swinburne University of Technology will be uniting Web3 and education by partnering with two Australian fintech firms that will help students attain valuable exposure to the cryptocurrency and fintech business worlds.

Swinburne University of Technology Gallery: Images, Photos, and Videos https://collegedunia.com/australia/college/608-swinburne-university-of-technology-melbourne/gallery
Swinburne University to offer a fintech Masters course.

Vital ‘Hands-On’ Experience

Swinburne University will partner with Banxa, a payment service provider that features a fiat-to-crypto platform, and Judo Bank, a fintech loan provider. With Banxa invested in its work within the crypto and blockchain space, and Judo Bank being one of Australia’s very few fintech unicorns, students are guaranteed to get vital hands-on experience as part of their Master of Financial Technology (fintech) degree.

The course director is Dr Dimitrios Salampasis, a 2021 Blockchain Educator of the Year awardee who professes a strong belief in the initiative, stating that students will be “exposed to real-life examples and cases across the spectrum of financial services”.

https://fintech.global/globalregtechsummit/speaker/dr-dimitrios-salampasis/

The whole vision behind this degree is to bring industry in to ensure relevance on the things we teach and to be able to bring these real-life insights for leadership in the classroom. We can ensure that the students get exposed to whatever the latest developments are in the space, because the general fintech space is moving so quickly.

Dimitrios Salampasis, director, Swinburne Master of Fintech

The partnership with Swinburne will allow both fintech firms to host lectures, co-create content, and provide relevant case studies. Students will also receive access to each company’s networks for their learning.

Another Melbourne University Focusing on Crypto

Swinburne isn’t the first Aussie uni to focus on cryptocurrency. Last October, the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University called on the federal government to reform the rules around crypto capital gains tax.

RMIT has also launched a ‘green cryptocurrency’ lab. Co-founded with the CloudTech Group, the lab’s focus is on reducing the carbon footprint of crypto.

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Australia Blockchain Crypto News DeFi Education Real Estate

Western Australia Real Estate Body Introduces Mandatory Blockchain Training

The Real Estate Institute of Western Australia (REIWA) is set to introduce mandatory blockchain training to WA real estate agents in an Australian-first move designed to help the sector adapt and evolve as cryptocurrency becomes more mainstream.

This week's property round-up | Business News https://www.businessnews.com.au/article/This-weeks-property-round-up-77
Real Estate Institute of WA (REIWA) to offer mandatory blockchain training.

Real Estate to Adopt Tokenisation and Smart Contracts

This training will allow the industry to broaden its service offerings and utilise blockchain applications such as tokenisation and smart contracts. Partnering with Perth-based blockchain consulting firm TecStack for the delivery of the training, REIWA will educate its industry on how crypto can affect sellers, buyers, tenants and property managers.

TecStack’s director, Abheeti Pass, has described crypto as “fast-moving technology”, noting that the first to adapt are most likely to have the best chance to capitalise on growth opportunities in the field:

https://www.startupgrind.com/events/details/startup-grind-florence-presents-la-tecnologia-blockchain-e-limpatto-sulla-formazione-reinventing-the-future-w-tecstack/

We are seeing whole new DeFi markets and technology-enhanced property online services opening up, and it is vitally important that today’s real estate professionals know how to understand and cater to these emerging customers’ needs so they can build ongoing relationships based on trust and expertise.

Abheeti Pass, director, TecStack

With an influx of DeFi newcomers in the market who are not using traditional finance methods, there is an opportunity for real estate agents to take on new types of clients.

Crypto Pops in on Property

The real estate sector has been moving slowly but steadily in its adoption of crypto, with increments of progress such as this one cropping up across the globe. September 2021 saw multinational commercial real estate company Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated (JLL) make a deal with blockchain platform VeChain in a push to promote sustainable practices in the sector.

And January 2022 was a big month for blockchain tech in real estate as Propy, the real estate smart token, shot up by 227 percent following its Coinbase listing. Propy is one of the leaders in buying and selling homes via smart contracts.

In other related news, US fintech company Milo is now offering its customers zero deposit, Bitcoin-backed real estate loans. This is a world-first bitcoin mortgage offering, yet it will only be usable for US property.

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Crypto Exchange Education NFTs Zipmex

Zipmex Partners NRL and A-League Teams to ‘Boost Crypto Literacy’

Singapore-based crypto exchange Zipmex has partnered with Australian National Rugby League (NRL) premiership club Penrith Panthers and A-League football club Central Coast Mariners to elevate sports fans’ crypto literacy and expand the exchange’s customer base.

The partnership also includes some smaller community sports clubs – Wyong Rugby League Football Club, also based on the NSW Central Coast, along with Penrith Brothers RLFC and soccer club Penrith Rovers, both based in western Sydney.

Focus on Crypto Education and Giveaways

The partnership will focus on educating the clubs’ fans and members about cryptocurrency by running a series of workshops aimed at crypto newbies.

Zipmex plans to have a regular presence at home games for both the Penrith Panthers and Central Coast Mariners, manning information booths, running giveaways of up to A$500 in BTC, and creating NFTs of high-profile players.

The community-based clubs will see similar types of engagement and education, presumably on a smaller scale.

Zipmex Pushing to Grow its Share of Australian Market

These partnerships form part of Zipmex’s recent push to raise its profile and grow its share of the Australian crypto exchange market. 

The exchange has launched several new products into the Australian market recently, including ZipUp, its high-yield, no lock-in staking program, introduced earlier this month. In March the exchange also partnered with New Venture Wealth to offer Australians the opportunity to hold crypto in their self-managed super funds.

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Australia Blockchain Crypto News Education RMIT University Online

RMIT Ranks Second for Blockchain in Global Uni Rankings

Out of a total of 230 tertiary institutions worldwide, Australia’s RMIT comes in second on the list of top universities for blockchain, according to CoinDesk.

The number one-ranked university for blockchain was the National University of Singapore, which offers multiple blockchain research centres, blockchain-themed conferences, blockchain clubs, and company partnerships, also offering a master’s program in digital financial technology. Coming in third was the University of California, Berkeley in the US.

Three Aussie Unis in the Top 20

Impressively, two other Australian institutions made the top 20 list: the University of New South Wales (UNSW) ranked 13th, and the University of Sydney came in at number 20.

Support for blockchain in Australia has been heavily championed by cryptocurrency enthusiast and NSW politician Senator Andrew Bragg, who has called for the government to attract fintech investors to Australia.

In February this year, Crypto News reported on how Blockchain Australia and RMIT had been calling for government support for blockchain. Accordingly, government grants have been a vital part in helping RMIT secure the No. 2 spot for Australia’s RMIT University as one of the best universities to study blockchain in the world.

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Australia Blockchain Crypto News Education Jobs

Report: Crypto and Blockchain Jobs Up 118% in 10 Months

Cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology have boomed in recent years and organisations need to expand their abilities. Given the relative newness of the industry, jobs and qualifications have not really been geared toward developing blockchain, but this is now changing. Organisations need to appoint individuals with the necessary know-how if they are to keep pace with changes in the market.

In a report released by The Korea IT Times, crypto and blockchain companies have been doing just that, and the number of jobs in those fields is rapidly rising. Organisations have an increasing need for employees with specific crypto and blockchain knowledge. Because of sheer demand, crypto recruitment shortages have been experienced as exchanges have had to compete with banks for the best in the business.

According to data from crypto trading simulator Crypto Parrot, as of mid-July this year crypto and blockchain job postings had grown an impressive 118 percent over the previous 10 months.

Jobs Wanted, Though Not So Much in Software Development

The growth has come with a shift in the most sought-after roles. For example, the share of management posts in crypto and blockchain increased 29.87 percent year-on-year as of July 16, while human resources posts rose a massive 200 percent over the same period.

By contrast, software development jobs have slipped to 29.7 percent of all crypto and blockchain job posts, compared to 34.8 percent in 2020.

Twitter accounts such as Cryptocurrency Jobs post available jobs daily:

In its report, The Korea IT Times observed that blockchain-related roles appear to attract a higher salary range than other technology posts, due to the required strong knowledge of cryptography and expertise in ledger economics and object-orientated programming.

The industry is also finding favour in remote workers due to the pandemic, citing that it proves a good fit for an industry built on decentralisation. Remote working also encourages core developers and researchers to engage with many organisations and employers on different projects.

As crypto, blockchain and DeFi have gained traction in educational institutions, the report indicates that many developers in these sectors remain self-taught. Data suggests that universities and institutions still lag in this area.

Australia Embraces Crypto and Blockchain 

Australia is fast becoming a major player in the world of crypto and blockchain. TAFE Queensland, in partnership with Blockchain Collective, for example, has become the first Australian tertiary institution to offer a registered Diploma of Applied Blockchain.

Australia is also at the forefront of becoming a crypto-friendly country as politicians advocate for better regulations to attract new investors and create more job opportunities for Australians.

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Binance Crypto News Education Gemini Jobs

Crypto Recruitment Shortage: Exchanges are Competing with Banks For Top Talent

If you’ve ever thought of working in crypto, now is the time to reskill and get hired. The crypto industry is growing at such a rapid pace it can’t keep up with the demand for new employees to fill hundreds of open positions.

There are employment opportunities everywhere right now in crypto, with the world’s biggest exchanges posting new positions daily.

“We are hiring aggressively,” Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao said by email this week.

We see the industry growing exponentially on a year-to-year basis, and we need to scale our team to cope with it. We are a geo-equal-opportunity employer. We don’t mind where people are, as long as they produce results.

CZ, Binance CEO

Binance Has 800 Positions Up For Grabs

Binance is the biggest exchange and currently has over 800 positions advertised worldwide through its LinkedIn employment portal. Winklevoss twins-led Gemini plans to expand its Singapore team from 30 to 50 by December. Hong Kong-based Crypto.com currently lists more than 200 openings, more than half of them based in Asia.

According to Neil Dundon, founder of recruitment agency Crypto Recruit, curiosity regarding jobs in crypto has expanded about five to 10 times in the past nine months. Despite that popular interest, however, finding candidates with relevant experience is proving difficult, resulting in some companies being forced to lower their expectations.

A single job posting can attract hundreds of applicants. In terms of length of experience, one or two years is good enough these days. The skills shortage is so bad at the moment that companies are casting a wider net.

Neil Dundon, Crypto Recruit

Just as the best NFL or EPL football players are snapped up by teams with the deepest pockets, highly skilled crypto candidates are being poached by the banks with the biggest wallets: Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup are now offering crypto and trading services to their clients and have scouted top talent to fill these positions.

While investment banks are recruiting the best in the business to come and work for them, smaller companies are having a hard time competing, finding it difficult to source people with crypto experience.

Gemini Job Benefits Include Unlimited Vacation Leave and a Profit-Sharing Program

To sweeten the deal and entice the best employees, Gemini’s APAC managing director Jeremy Ng said the company is considering offering benefits including unlimited vacation leave and a profit-sharing program to attract talent globally.

Even big tech companies such as Facebook and online retail giant Amazon have big plans to expand into crypto. While Facebook works on its Diem token (formerly known as Libra), Amazon recently posted a blockchain job listing for a Head of Product.

The long and the short of it:

  • There are hundreds of new jobs in crypto being listed every day
  • There are not enough job candidates with crypto credentials to meet the demand for these positions
  • Big banks are scooping up all the top talent for themselves
  • Crypto exchange Gemini is sweetening the deal by offering unlimited vacation leave and a profit-sharing program to attract talent globally
  • Roles for developers and customer support are areas of high demand.

Blockchain Collective, an educational body for blockchain learning, plans to meet the high demand for crypto job candidates by partnering with TAFE Queensland to offer an advanced diploma in Applied Blockchain.

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Bitcoin Cryptocurrencies Education

University Receives $5 Million Cryptocurrency Anonymous Gift

While some universities are turning to crypto staking to fund research, others are receiving crypto directly from anonymous philanthropists.

Donation Will Fund Innovation In Finance

The University of Pennsylvania has announced that they have recently received an anonymous donation of $5 million worth of BTC.  The donation was facilitated by NYDIG, an institutional finance company that facilitates the transfer of cryptocurrencies even to traditional banks that may not accept crypto directly.

The donation was acknowledged by Penn State President Amy Gutmann, who thanked the anonymous benefactor and commented on the changing nature of charity.

“As the nature of philanthropy continues to evolve, Penn stands at the forefront of innovative ways to make a difference in the world. I am deeply grateful for this creative and groundbreaking gift to support the important work of the Stevens Center. At the Center, the intersection of finance and technology is being reinvented through research, exploratory projects, and engagement with industry leaders, to make the greatest global contributions.”

All funds will go to the Stevens Center for Innovation in Finance at the Wharton School. The Stevens Center for Innovation in Finance was established with the support and partnership of undergraduate alumnus Ross Stevens.  The faculty is currently a hotspot for students eager to get into fintech, and other non-traditional areas of finance.

Erika James – the dean of the Wharton School – also expressed her gratitude for the unexpected funding, and promised that it will be put to good use.

“With finance at the heart, history, and future of the Wharton School, we are honored to receive this incredible gift. This investment marks a new era and mode of giving to the University and lifts up opportunities for students to become tomorrow’s leaders in finance—through exceptional coursework and transformative interactions with policymakers and industry experts.”

In a time when many donations are simply PR moves, this anonymous donation – possibly from former alumni who may have gotten into crypto early thanks to what was taught at the Wharton School – is a heartwarming reminder that random acts of kindness can go a long way.

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Australia Education

TAFE Trains for Future Blockchain Jobs

TAFE Queensland in partnership with Blockchain Collective are leading the world in blockchain education with Australia’s first registered Diploma of Applied Blockchain.

In the tech world, blockchain is one of the most talked-about emerging trends and  Blockchain Collective Co-Founder, Austin Lewinsmith said soon the technology will be a seamless part of everyday lives for almost everyone around the world. 

“Blockchain technology will underpin the development of the Web 3.0 revolution because it provides highly effective, efficient and secure ways of managing data,’’ said Mr Lewinsmith. 

“Essentially it is a data structure that manages records while ensuring security,  transparency and decentralization.” 

Mr Lewinsmith said a few years ago he and his business partners Nathan Burns and Rafael Bergola were working on several blockchain related projects when they discovered the world lacked recognised and accredited training in blockchain technology. 

“We looked around and there were a few places on the internet that provide bits and pieces of training, but these courses were not comprehensive or officially recognised,’’ he said. 

“We realised there was a need to create accredited educational courses for people  who want to learn, use and apply blockchain so we worked with education  professionals to develop a curriculum.” 

Blockchain Collective turned to the State’s largest and most experienced training provider, TAFE Queensland to deliver Australia’s very first registered Diploma of Applied Blockchain. 

Students can apply for loans to help pay tuition fees

With enrolments now open, it is the first time students can study the qualification with  access to VET Student Loans (VSL) to help pay their tuition fees.

TAFE Queensland General Manager on the Gold Coast, Karen Dickinson said the organisation is honoured to be partnered with Blockchain Collective to offer Australia’s first nationally recognised blockchain course with access to student loans.

“The demand for knowledge and education about blockchain technology is growing exponentially around the world and TAFE Queensland is now at the global forefront  of the industry,” she said.

TAFE Queensland’s blockchain course is project based and focus on the outcomes for students who graduate with a portfolio of work, making them highly employable across many industries.

Ms Dickinson said the curriculum was developed to largely skill people for the non-tech roles such as the management or operational roles within an organisation.

“While software engineers and IT experts are needed to implement and support blockchain applications, non-tech people are also needed to handle business operations that are vital to the overall blockchain project,” she said.

“For example there is a high demand for blockchain project managers who are in charge of the entire lifecycle of a blockchain project — from planning, supervision to execution, and deployment.”

Students of TAFE Queensland’s Diploma of Applied Blockchain (10849NAT) will acquire a range of knowledge, skills and specific competencies to enable them to apply blockchain technologies and gain employment in just about any industry sector in the world.

Classes are taught online with regular face to face workshops at the TAFE
Queensland Coomera campus including virtual participation.

For more information on TAFE Queensland’s Blockchain course go to
tafeqld.edu.au or call 1300 308 233.

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Cardano Crypto News Education Institutions

5 Million Students In Ethiopia Set To Get National Identity Solution Powered By Cardano

Cardano Africa
Cardano Africa

IOHK has formed a partnership with the Ethiopian Ministry of Education in order to implement a blockchain-based national identity solution for 5 million students and 750,000 teachers.

According to a tweet by IOHK Media this will be the world’s largest blockchain deployment to date.

Cardano (ADA) had also previously announced that they are working closely with Ethiopian private and public sector in order to “democratise social and financial services for the world’s 1.7 billion ‘unbanked’ people in Africa”.

How Will Digital Identity Help Students?

By using blockchain technology, qualifications attained by individuals can be verified by the system and therefore ending fraudulent university and jobs applications. Employers will be able to verify the individuals credentials without a third party.

Student IDs will also be paired with data from Learning Management Systems and harnessed by machine learning algorithms to drive personalised teaching, a dynamic curriculum, and data-driven policies and funding.

All teachers and pupils will be issued with tablets with a dedicated network where students can access their academic records. This infrastructure will open the doors to higher education and employment for 80% of students who live in rural regions.

This forms a key plank of our National Digital Transformation Strategy and will underpin a uniquely transparent, data-driven education system based on a dynamic curriculum.

Getahun Mekuria, Ethiopian Education Minister

Is Ethiopia Ready For Such Radical Change?

Doing business in Africa can be difficult due to lack of infrastructure as well as political instability in most countries. Ethiopia is no exception with their inhabitants experiencing Internet shutdowns as well as military forces fighting in the Tigray region. In a report by the Guardian almost 2,000 people killed in more than 150 massacres in this area.

However on the positive side there is a strong belief that blockchain technology is a possible catalyst to end digital exclusion and increase access to higher education.

Ethiopia’s Sheba Valley is already recognised as the leading AI hub in Africa, 70 per cent of our university graduates are in STEM subjects and we are now leading the way in using blockchain to digitalise education.

Getahun Mekuria, Ethiopian Education Minister

IOHK have set major goals, and it seems that they have quite the task ahead to be able to make their vision a reality amid the harsh realities surrounding them in Ethiopia.