Majoring in Bitcoin: Designing a Curriculum for Higher Education | Bitcoin 2026

Good morning. >> So my name is Christina Mazanova. I work in the intersection of Bitcoin media and education uh including leading the master's degree in Bitcoin at Hasperis University. Bitcoin is no longer technical experiment and we are here to discuss how traditionally slowly moving academia can catch up with something that fundamentally changes how we think about money and society. Please welcome to the stage Ella Huff and Salida. Good morning everybody. >> Good morning. Good morning. >> Good morning. So higher education um where are we standing right now when it comes to academia and Bitcoin? >> You want to start? >> I'll try. Um there's a big opportunity for growth. I think we're seeing overall massive adoption of education across different languages across the globe, different countries, but there's there's a lot a lot of room left. A lot of them left. >> You know, I wish Karo was on this panel, Caro Way, because I think we're at a bit of a tipping point at the moment. So, Karo just launched the Bitcoin Education Institute um which is really aimed at helping fill the gaps that we see today in higher education regarding Bitcoin curriculum. You have an exciting announcement as well about your master's program. Um I was able to have a Bitcoin major approved in May and so I think it's progressing um especially if you look over the past four years or so. So there is a clearly demand right like there's people that want to learn more about Bitcoin. Why Bitcoin needs um structured academic degree? Why selfstudy doesn't uh do the thing for everybody? Well, I would actually say I think self-study does work. It's what we filled this whole conference with. I don't know 30,000 people this year of self-study. Um, but I think if you take a step back and you look at why am I going to college? What's the benefit of going to college? In my view, and maybe s agree, disagree, you're going to ask questions and think about the unknown and try to move our world forward. And if you're just learning information that has been known, um, you're not really pushing that envelope. And Bitcoin is this transformative force in our world in so many areas from economics, energy, human rights. And so to then continue to build that world that I think we all want to see, having that structured education when you're already in school, already meant to be learning, talking with peers, I think it's a necessity there because this is in my opinion the most important topic that could be studying. I see it also in, you know, in the structure that you can offer at a a higher education institution where you can build actually a um intersection of different topics um instead of just uh you know navigating yourself the the uh bitcoin, Twitter and YouTube. So the structure is uh very important for me. um you're building uh your own uh educational system. How how is it uh what's the uh pitfalls of doing so? pitfalls. Um I mean you don't have as many peers to discuss or you know we're so lucky we walk in these four walls and we're surrounded by people or we can ask oh hey how are you thinking about that you know what do you think of this and I was incredibly fortunate and people like S uh people like professor Sarah Krex at Cornell Troy Cross who's here who I could go to and ask these questions but most of the time you're in school you're sitting in the classroom having these discussions questions and I didn't necessarily have that and so I think that's an area that we can fix as well moving forward with structured education as you were saying >> and to that point I think I was lucky enough to cross paths with her for two years at Cornell and even though I was in the brand school program I faced very similar sort of solitude you know it's when you're interested in Bitcoin Bitcoin can be you know it it there's so many angles to understanding Bitcoin the technical aspect, the human rights aspect, the finance aspect. When you have Black Rockck, which I think coming publicly saying, hey, not only was I wrong, but let me open this public ETF and it has to come to the best performing ETFs in history for Black Rock. Right? So there's huge signal there. But in general, I think what what I found out from my experience at helping out co-founder Bitcoin club is there is a specific benefit to laying a framework of some core basics of Bitcoin the protocol right just so that we can understand all right there's funding points proof of work what is proof of work and and then sort of help standardize that in a way that then folks can just take over from a computer science perspective from a human rights perspective you know, you name it, right? But but I do see deep value with which I'm grateful to Ella for for her leadership over at Cornell on sort of creating a safe space with weekly sessions where folks across grad school, undergrad, again outside of Cornell who just attend to understand Bitcoin focused education. So, so I do see the value in that quite quite a bit. >> And one thing that Sal is touching on that we were briefly just chatting about is and I think leaning into the grassroot ethos of Bitcoin. And so we were both at Cornell. There was no top down. This is how you do this. And so we said, "Okay, we'll just go bottom up." You know, let's start a club. Let's meet weekly. And at the beginning, not many people knew much of anything. And so we just started at the basics, have the good foundations, building blocks, and then you can lather it up and do independent research on different areas that students are able to then go and do. Um, so I think that's leaning into the strengths of Bitcoin is important as well when you're thinking about what to build and how to build it. >> Yeah, it's a commodity build, right? Uh, the way I I I think about the program at Esper, this university is also I'm not building a curriculum for, you know, making your CV look better. uh but it's building a community of people that are uh willing to go beyond uh uh you know very shallow um topics and willing to study Bitcoin on on a intersection of different topics. Uh when we are building this and we three of us are building actively right now uh what do you think is a good approach? Uh we mentioned the bottom up but do we need uh the demand of the students to change? Do we need uh uh changing the curriculum of the universities or do we need to um uh change who is actually teaching it? I think it's a little bit of everything and I think we can look at some case studies that's going on and Sal if I forget any important case study remind me. Um MIT has been a leader historically. So many years ago they had a Bitcoin course and it was more technical focused and this past fall semester they just revamped it and what they they did something really unique in that they also invited professors in. So they built a curriculum they had students that didn't know much about it and they invited professors to come in and learn. And so that's one important path when we're thinking. You also have so did a survey maybe 4,000 or so professors across the world that have written papers about Bitcoin and have started research and so integrating into what you're already doing. And then there's, you know, initiative reaching out to different universities saying, "Hey, I think this is really important for the future of your students and this community like you've done and go and work with them." Um last night I was chatting with Farita Nabarma who everyone um should know and she announced or she shared that she has started a program in Africa across the continent working with six different universities scaling up to 12 to go in and teach Bitcoin curriculum and none of those students know anything prior. It's just an added course in the engineering department. So there's many ways you can look at it >> and you know to to to all this conversation there's sort of an equity perspective you know if we're teaching Bitcoin in South America or you know different countries on a non US-centric perspective you know there's talking about specific ETF inflows doesn't really make that much sense compared to the peer-to-peer nature of you know being able to lose money right so I think that in general not only the 50% share that news about sort of what's happening in Africa. There's so much growth happening and what excites me the most right is sort of how these platforms applications are becoming sort of concrete so folks understand okay I want to understand Bitcoin from a policy perspective from a tech perspective human rights perspective there's so many great frameworks already being built and obviously what you're building is obviously excited as well >> welcome to predict the world is a market. Everything is a market. Get a 100% cash back up to $100 on your first predict bet if it loses. Predict where everything is a market. Um you've mentioned that you were missing the peers, right? Uh how how do we get people excited of taking courses on Bitcoin at the universities? I mean I think like anything you have to show why it matters to them. You know what is me signing up taking this course going to help me achieve? And so that's why not directly related to education, but I think jobs is really important and more internships, more job opportunities for Gen Z people of all ages. But if you show, hey, I took this class, I learned this skill, and now there's this job. Right now, there's not a lot of recruiting on campuses, you know, there's not a lot of what's the cost benefit, you know, analysis here. It's just not in the immediate incentive. And so I think if we fix that, that's really important. 1,00% incentives, right? And particularly if I was sharing with you guys a little while ago, I'm getting focus from colleagues at Cornell and the MBA program saying, "Hey, remember that Bitcoin stuff you were talking about? What's you know, what is that? How, you know, tell me more about it?" Since the the fuse of traditional recruiting, consulting, banking, they are being challenged, disrupted somewhat by AI and and sort of, you know, they couldn't touch us a little bit of everything. Okay. I'm like, "Oh, yeah. Yeah, now you remember, you know, this is sort of what what is emerging. this is why Black Rockck is adopting it, blah blah blah. But incentives like jobs is the number one answer to to get folks particularly as you know rising leaders in undergrad or grad school understanding how they will add value and fit in in the ecosystem. for sure. Jokes. I agree. >> And on that note as well, community, right? That's really important. And so, one thing that BEI, the Bitcoin Education Institute, and BSN, the Bitcoin Students Network is doing that Sal and I were working on at Cornell is building the pockets of community so that you don't feel like you're the only person doing this. And so, BEI is really building the professor network and then also helping with grants and so reducing the reputational risk that you might face. So having people on the shared mission with you as well is important. >> It's um very interesting. I come from a different uh from different educational system, right? Like I'm from Europe and uh we are at the uh at the stage where even Austrian economics is not being taught at universities. Um so getting uh god forbid bitcoin on the on the coral is for the traditional universities something unheard of. So we are falling back to our own resources and building uh free universities um and uh paid for universities that's education is free um free in Europe. So the the the intersection what I'm trying where I'm heading to is Bitcoin is inherently global, right? How do we build a education curriculum that is prepared for the global of Bitcoin but also keep it localized and keep it relative uh to that region? >> I have some quick thoughts on that. So when local adoption matters whether that's an exchange of money exchange of you know if you're in a war zone country and you want to protect your wealth there's many ways to to use Bitcoin right as as much as value transfer and I think that depending on local geography can be tailored to that right sure you know that's really really poor that's you know market then we you know finance takes a very different nuance than if you are if you just rather from port right and that we have the luxury of s talking about ideas. So to me I think that local adoption as as a exchange of value was absolutely fundamental that could then prepare the education system that framing that that you speak of. No, no, I agree. And I think there's some elements that could be centralized, but a lot that should be decentralized for different areas. And so what I mean by this, for instance, is so bust a nonprofit um based in Africa. They've created for instance a kit that just how do you run a bit dev for instance, so more of a technical lens. It's on GitHub. Anyone can go and download it. But then you take that back to your local bit devs and you figure out what's the best way to run it. what's the news that's most relevant for your area. Um, same thing with a group from Presidio Bitcoin with a project called Builder. Same idea. Here's a kit. Here's how you do this. Here's how you localize it. And so, you know, S mentioned proof of work cryptography. That's more generic across. Um, and you see places like Ventium in Sa Paulo. Um, there's developer schools in Madera and Portugal. So, all over the world. But then you show how does this affect my community? How can this solve a problem that we're facing? Um so then you localize it after as well. Okay. What I'm hearing here across is more Bitcoiners need to build the curriculum for themselves and and and get more uh uh incentivized and get more engaged in in their education. It's a lot about uh you know taking the responsibility for your own education as well as for your own uh uh bank in the pocket. So um 5 to 10 years from now if somebody studied uh Bitcoin um masters where they are what they can do what others people cannot do. Well, it depends on what they like, right? If you're a developer, if you're in the right activist, finance, I think when the market when the market signals not just adoption by hedgeimmons, but institutions, by individuals, but the market signals proof of work, gravity, and it's all about Bitcoin. So if you master the knowledge of Bitcoin, the knowledge network of Bitcoin and you're part of it, then the opportunities are endless on on what sort of value you want to add to the ecosystem. Do you want to, you know, do you want to work within Bitcoin and finance or Bitcoin human rights Bitcoin in developers? I think that really investing on on on that education side of of understanding the Bitcoin with whatever whatever rush you vote, right? It's only going to pay even more dividends 5 10 years from now. Low time preference. I like that question. That's great. >> I think there's two parts of the answer. You know, one if you invest in yourself in your own knowledge, you know, you gain that for yourself. knowledge go up and then you share it with your friends and family that has a huge impact alone on just your life and how you see the world. Um I also think you know many of us have been influenced by Jeff Booth and what world do you want to put your time and energy into building and if we think about fiat and everything that the dollar impacts from you know money of course but food, healthcare, architecture, Bitcoin can touch all of that as well. And so you can think about how do you build a more sound, more truthful world where there's increased agency. And so I think that's a very hopeful world to look through. And so 5 10 years when you're increasing the agency of all 8 billion people by sharing this education and then helping them share it and go further because as we were chatting about earlier, there's so much still undiscovered. And you find that question that you feel like you uniquely can answer and discover. you know, it's it's it's abundant and exponential as to what the world could look like. Then you have a background in Bitcoin, a higher education, you build it for yourself. Um, but you also work for a Bitcoin company. You work for Strategy. How is companies nowadays looking at someone who doesn't have necessarily Bitcoin education and how they're looking into someone who does have specific Bitcoin education? Well, I think it certainly depends on the role. So, S could not do his job if he doesn't have Bitcoin education. I certainly couldn't do my job if I didn't know about Bitcoin. Um, but I intend of course I think if you're a lawyer, you know, you should have it's probably better waiting to have a good sound understanding of the law and then also be a Bitcoiner. That's an additive. Um, solid you >> and I think that's a disagree. I mean in in general within the 5 10 year low time preference I think that if if you understand whatever mechanics of Bitcoin you choose to understand that that that you really connect with that there's so many venues to explore that from a work perspective whether that's a nonprofit a for profit whether that's a you know anything within the spectrum of productivity whatever embraces Bitcoin you are possibly able to add value within your expertise And that's sort of where it it does make sense to to sort of put in the time to understand so you know Bitcoin miners that's such an important topic right and it's very nuance you really have to understand what you're talking about but so is Bitcoin and human rights it's very nuance right so to me I think that to to her point's point yeah if I didn't have the knowledge of Bitcoin that could not you know be add value to the ecosystem but little by little once you start mastering bring this knowledge you then are able to share it any part with with others and ultimately you know help help the growth for us as sustainable ecosystem >> and to specifically answer your question it's really important for us at strategy that all of the employees across the globe there's 27 offices 1500 employees that they understand Bitcoin because it's it really has the power to change that person's life their family's life and so we want to make sure we're providing that education to the whole team and so that's something that I'm very grateful that I get to work on. And then we're lucky that Bitcoin Policy Institute team um is also nearby in DC and they put on a lot of great educational programming that the strategy team can come to as well. So again, community effort >> and and and I think there's specific values such as being this laser eye focused, right? Something that that I I'm I'm grateful to to BPI is the relentless and and and laser focus on Bitcoin and Bitcoin only, right? And I think that Bitcoin has no CMO, no CEO, no no headquarters. So how they have been able to create a framework in structure that really can help advance education with with with everyone right that that that that wants to engage Bitcoin in a way that is sustainable, scalable and and and you know I see countries around the globe that doing that. I believe there's another institute in the UK in India as well that was recently announced on X. So it it's it's possible and this the single laser focus for Bitcoin definitely pays the advance I think. Yeah, I I the way I'm seeing it is also because I come from a PTCA again and I see when we are hiring someone, right? Uh there are positions that are you need an expert in their field, you need a a great accountant or you need a good lawyer or you need a uh a different non-technical uh person and there is a a a big gap on the market for people that are good experts on in their field but they're not Bitcoiners. They don't get the culture, they don't get the the the reason why. And then you have lots of Bitcoiners that are enthusiasts and they understand everything, but they are not necessarily like the expert in uh in their field. And so there is a gap for for the colle to to make people to transition from their fiat jobs to Bitcoin jobs. >> And we were all people that didn't know anything one day either. >> Absolutely. you know, we all received the support of the community and knowledge that people put out and were able to learn more. >> And just adding to that, if for folks that might not might be looking at this, might not know, there's a whole ex community about Bitcoin like Bitcoin Twitter, it always blows my mind just how you have subject matter experts, tech developers, uh, human rights, and they they put out all this knowledge about Bitcoin at the intersection of Bitcoin and how it touches everything and it's free. very few subject matters, very few topics do that. So to me, I I'm always just blown away of all this knowledge network and and and just how accessible it is for those that that want to access, right? That want the wants to engage the the knowledge. >> Yeah. But there is also back to my point to the structure, there is also a problem that it's very difficult to filter the noise and filter the the signal. uh and it goes for education or sort of information um you know you have some uh very technical discussions on Twitter and you just kind of make your mind and choose the side and and decide what what's right and what's wrong. So I think there is a need of more um structural discussion in in academia that can provide some answers because traditionally uh the innovation uh was happening through uh through academia it's not anymore and so we need to catch up with that >> and AI is getting better at answering questions so it's becoming very quick to get a good answer too. Is there anything that you want to leave on the last uh note that what drives you? What education means to you? Yes, I had something in my head where I thought the question was going but so I'll just say that first. You know, I think sometimes, and I feel this certainly, you see Bitcoin, you learn about all these areas, and maybe it's a little overwhelming that you think you have to master all of the topics all at once. And certainly wasn't the case in my journey. You know, you just start with a 30 minute podcast, then you work up to a 2-hour one, you read a book, um you come to a conference, to an event. So, you can start there step by step. Doesn't matter how old you are, what age you are. as Sal was mentioning, reach out to people. Um, but I think for me why I feel very passionate about this is as I was saying, I think this is a, you know, transformation of human agency and flourishing for everyone and having that education is so powerful to have that knowledge of what it can then unlock in your life. And so that's why I wake up every day. Um so >> I'm fortunate to have crossed paths in my life with with um my my wife and I absolutely um love her and something that I my journey is a little public journey and public throughout my life. Um I've experienced Bitcoin as something that is that no one can take away from no one can print more of it. And what that means ultimately is that I can store my hard work, my life, my energy into something that compared to fiat, if I have a million bucks, but through no fault of my own, that gives me value in policies that I might agree might not agree with. And and it substitute just people working two jobs, two have, you know, two full-time jobs to make and just to keep up. So when I understood Bitcoin, I understood specifically what proof of work meant and the mechanics of it and I have talked about uh all the time is that is a distinct acknowledge by the market now is a digital commodity that it's it nobody can print more of it and when that clicks and how you can store your wealth, your life, your energy into it, it's a it's a peaceful vote to protect your effort, your life. really have one for you. >> Amazing. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for sharing your experience and keep building. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Christina. Thank you, Zach. >> Every year, this community comes together to celebrate, to debate, to build what comes next. And every year the stage gets bigger. Sound money center stage. So where do you go to celebrate the next chapter in Bitcoin history? You come home. Nashville. July 2027.