In time, The Bitcoin Academy will probably be remembered as Jay-Z’s biggest contribution to Marcy, the neighborhood that saw him grow. Believe it or not, low-income zones and people would benefit from financial literacy the most. Does that mean that Marcy’s lucky residents will be immediately aware that they are getting what they need? Of course it doesn’t. Only those willing to put in the necessary effort will, in time, figure it out. 

Why is The Guardian, a British newspaper, reporting on The Bitcoin Academy from the Marcy’s projects grounds? Of course, it’s worldwide news, but the accusatory tone of the article seems suspicious. In any case, in the article titled “Jay-Z’s bitcoin school met with skepticism in his former housing project: ‘I don’t have money to be losing,’” The Guardian goes out of its way to show that residents are not exactly thrilled with The Bitcoin Academy.

Where have we seen this kind of attack before?  Oh yeah, the coverage of the short-lived protests in El Salvador comes to mind. Anyhow, let’s see what the Marcy residents think about Bitcoin.

Cold Welcome For The Bitcoin Academy

The first interviewee, “58-year-old retiree Myra Raspberry,” seems worried about the current bitcoin crash and shuns the whole The Bitcoin Academy project because of that. She begins with, “It’s kind of late to be doing that when people are trying to hold on to their dollars and everything is so expensive.” So, she doesn’t know that the dollar is losing value every day because of inflation. The Bitcoin Academy fixes that. Raspberry continues:

“Every dime I get got to go to rent, phone, TV and internet. I don’t have money like that to be losing. If I did, I would try to invest in something that’s more reliable, like the basketball game last night. You know I’m going to win something from that.”

Betting is not the same as investing. And the high time preference is evident, Raspberry wants immediate results. That’s not how it works in bitcoin. If she took some courses in The Bitcoin Academy, Raspberry would learn that bitcoin is a savings technology, it’s not even an investment. And the only way to lose money is to sell it at the wrong time. Or to lose your private keys, but that’s a topic for another time.

Another Marcy resident The Guardian interviewed was “Nyashia Figueroa, a 24-year-old resident who plans to work as a caretaker for mentally challenged people.” She seems a little fatalistic.

“Half the people that’s going to go to that class, probably just going to go to the class for the $25 that you get. The other half of the people, they’ll probably take what they learn and forget it down the line.”

That’s fine, Miss Figueroa. Go to The Bitcoin Academy for the $25, stay for the world-shattering savings technology with financial education to boost.

The Guardian actually found a Marcy resident that sees the program as a positive, Luis Rivas said, “I would like to learn how they become a millionaire, and learn what to trade and what not to trade.” That’s fine, Mr. Rivas. Come for the high hopes of easy and high returns, stay for the once-in-a-lifetime financial instrument that can actually help everyone in the world.

BTC price chart for 06/20/2022 on Gemini | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com

The Guardian Tries To Throw Bitcoin Under The Bus And Fails

Since the colorful article doesn’t really prove anything or make any point whatsoever, The Guardian goes for the throat with this little tidbit. 

“Since it was announced last week, the Bitcoin Academy has faced criticism from tech commentators, who have accused the project of preying on financially vulnerable people. Some have compared the marketing of crypto to how predatory lenders targeted people of color with subprime loans in the run-up to the 2008 housing crisis.”

It’s funny that they link to Vice, like that coopted source has any credibility left. The Tech Crunch article, though, is equally as disappointing. For starters, it speaks about bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as if they were the same thing. We could forgive that to The Guardian or Vice, but a publication specifically about technology and finance should know better. In any case, they quote “Tonantzin Carmona, a fellow at Brookings Metro who studies race, income inequality and social mobility.”

“I see cryptocurrencies as part of that legacy of predatory inclusion. That access does come with a cost. They’re saying you’re going to have financial freedom, but that also means you’re getting access to cryptocurrency’s volatility and complexity. You’re getting access to a space that is rife with scams, fraud, hacks and all sorts of things, because there aren’t consumer protections in place as the technology currently stands.”

Evidently, Carmona hasn’t figured out yet that bitcoin and the rest of cryptocurrencies are in totally separate categories. His argument is invalid because of that, but it’s funny that he also ignores that The Bitcoin Academy offers free courses, that one of the main topics is financial literacy, and that one of the lecture topics’ is literally “How not to get scammed.” How can this man, Tech Crunch, and The Guardian be against that? Well, they’ve been lied to about bitcoin. And the publications work for the companies that stand to lose the most once the world lives under a bitcoin standard.

What those companies and publications don’t even suspect is that when bitcoin manages to separate money and state, it will also bring infinite benefits to them. And to the Marcy residents that do the work at The Bitcoin Academy.

Featured Image: The Bitcoin Academy logo from their site | Charts by TradingView