Josef Tětek

On #TrezorAcademy.

For the past ~16 months, my main focus has been bitcoin education in the global south, mainly Africa. How does that work and what have we achieved through the Trezor Academy initiative?

Back in 2022, I was greatly inspired by

's book Check Your Financial Privilege and the Oslo Freedom Forum conference. Also later that same year, the first pan-African bitcoin conference -

- took place. Suddenly it seemed that the dream of many a bitcoiner was becoming a reality: bitcoin was finally helping the poor, unprivileged, forgotten. I immediately wanted to get involved, which is how the Trezor Academy program came to be.

Education is tricky. Especially so when the subject is something as elusive as bitcoin - as Satoshi said, “Writing a description for this thing for general audiences is bloody hard. There's nothing to relate it to.” Yet, I have found that explaining bitcoin to people in countries where fiat money doesn’t work for the majority of population is easier than doing the same in the Global West.

What is the best way to learn the basics of bitcoin? What worked for me and most bitcoiners I know are in-person meetups, where everyone has a chance to ask questions and discuss the subject for hours. So that is precisely what Trezor Academy is: a series of physical meetups, led by a local bitcoiner that understands local contexts. In three consecutive meetups, the participants learn the Whys, the Hows, and the Whats of bitcoin.

As of June 2024, we ran the Trezor Academy meetups in following places: Ghana, Cameroon, Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, Burundi, Botswana, South Africa (Soweto, Khayelitsha), Namibia, Benin, Mexico, Venezuela, and Bali. Around 500 participants got a chance to learn about bitcoin, self-custody, scam awareness, and general financial literacy.

According to our survey results, 58% of the participants did not know about Bitcoin before attending Trezor Academy, but 92% indicated that they will use Bitcoin more in the future and 97% will continue to study Bitcoin more.

Here are some examples of the feedback we received:

👉“I learnt a lot at Trezor Academy. The course that caught my attention the most was what bitcoiners should do. I learned several things and I'm applying them now” (Benin) 👉“This was amazing. I hope more of these session will come happen in Botswana” (Botswana) 👉“The Trezor Academy is more important for me because I have been taught about Bitcoin and I learned so many things that I didn't know before.” (Burundi) 👉“I learned that bitcoin is borderless and can be used worldwide.” (South Africa / Khayelitsha)

We are well aware that 500 participants may seem like a drop in an ocean. It would be very easy to play the numbers game and run a broad & shallow program and report thousands of graduates. But the impact of doing so would be negligible. What we’re aiming to do is plant seeds - spark the interest in individuals that can further spread the word to their friends and families. I believe that is the only way to truly “orange pill” the global south - through viral, bottom-up adoption that serves the needs that are very context-specific.

If you’re interested in the Trezor Academy program, you can learn more at https://academy.trezor.io. You can also apply as a local organizer! The slides for the meetups are available here: https://academy.trezor.io/resources. I am always looking for valuable feedback!

Onwards!