Crypto Education Ramped Up In 2022 Through Learn2Earn Initiatives On Polkadot

Anyone who got into crypto in 2022 was handed a baptism of fire. The industry faced its toughest tests since the day Satoshi brought his seminal whitepaper into the public domain 13 years ago. But despite all the grim news the year brought to those ducked low in the crypto trenches, there were also glad tidings to impart.

One of the biggest ways in which crypto advocates have made progress over the last 12 months is through advancing education. Namely in teaching the next generation of crypto adopters the fundamentals of what makes the industry tick and how best to experience it to the fullest. After all, despite the steady improvements being made in onboarding and UX, web3 still isn’t the most intuitive environment to negotiate.

Revolut Goes Back to School With Polkadot

This year, crypto banking app Revolut upped the education with its “Learn2Earn” programme. Popularized by Coinbase’s Earn.com initiative, the L2E concept sees participants rewarded with small amounts of crypto for expanding their industry knowledge.

As part of its financial literacy program, Revolut rolled out a primer on all things Polkadot – complete with $15 of DOT for all those who completed the course. “There’s a huge appetite from our customers to learn more about cryptocurrencies,” said Revolut’s Emil Urmashin upon launching the scheme. “Learn & Earn will help them better understand the trends, risks and potential opportunities associated with crypto.”

Revolut wasn’t the only entity aiming to further understanding of the Polkadot network this year however.

Web3 Foundation and edx Join Forces

Polkadot educational initiatives also come from another direction this year courtesy of Web3 Foundation. The research and development organization, whose work centers around the Polkadot ecosystem, teamed up with edx. The pair set up Web3x, a four-part course covering the fundamentals of blockchain and the Substrate software development kit and Rust programming language – all of which are integral to Polkadot.

The free course launched in late October, kicking off with a two-parter on “Introduction to blockchain and Web3” and “Introduction to Polkadot.” edX is an open online course provider developed by Harvard and MIT. It hosts online university-level courses available to students at no charge.

The Case for Crypto Education Comes Into Focus

The need for crypto education, both to intermediate users and complete beginners, came into sharp focus this year. A series of centralized crypto failures, including the collapse of spot and futures exchange FTX, strengthened the case for non-custodial solutions.

For new users, however, decentralized wallets, with their requirement to assume sole responsibility for storing recovery keys and seed phrases, can be daunting. Interacting with DeFi protocols and understanding the permissions being signed away by a web wallet with no undo function adds another layer of complexity.

The rewards for mastering non-custodial products, including complete control over digital asset storage and the elimination of trusted third parties, are substantial. But becoming au fait with the workings of DeFi requires time and dedication. Programs such as Revolut’s Learn2Earn and Web3x move users closer to establishing familiarity with the tools for gaining financial freedom.