Bitcoin is hot in Brooklyn!  This summer Jay-Z and Twitter co-founder, Jack Dorsey, team up to bring a FREE cryptocurrency education course to Marcy Houses, the low-income neighborhood where the young rapper grew up.  The course is simply named.. The Bitcoin Academy.  Although the two are not teaching the course themselves, they have two instructors with high cryptocurrency accolades, Lamar Wilson (Black Bitcoin Billionaire) and Najah J. Roberts (Crypto Blockchain Plug).  The classes are offered in-person and online two nights per week throughout the summer.  If a student decides to participate in-person, they will also be served dinner.  

The program’s goal is to “provide education, empower the community with knowledge, and get rid of some of the barriers so that residents can learn more about Bitcoin specifically and finance in general.” - The Bitcoin Academy

Additionally, The Bitcoin Academy gives the students the necessary tools in order to get started with cryptocurrency: a MiFi device with one year of limited data, a smartphone, and $25 worth of Bitcoin. Plus, priceless financial and cryptocurrency information that has the potential to change their lives if they are willing to put in the work.

The students will also need to know how to keep their cryptocurrency safe once they start earning!

How do you keep cryptocurrency safe?

The best way to keep crypto safe is in a cryptocurrency hardware wallet because they are the only type of wallet where the private keys remain completely offline.  This prevents cryptocurrency from being stolen or hacked. A hardware wallet is a physical device that is separate from online cryptocurrency exchanges, such as Binance and Coinbase.  However, you are able to transfer your crypto assets from an online cryptocurrency exchange to the hardware wallet and vice versa.  If you were to lose your hardware wallet, you can always restore your coins to a new wallet as long as you have the recovery seed phrase.  

What is a recovery seed phrase?

The recovery seed phrase is a list of 12, 18, or 24 words that store all the information needed to recover your wallet.  Writing down and securing the recovery seed is the most important task in using a hardware wallet. You use the recovery seed to gain access to the cryptocurrency if your hardware wallet is reset, lost, stolen, or damaged.  Your cryptocurrency is not technically stored on your hardware wallet.  The information for all cryptocurrency is stored on a collective decentralized network known as a blockchain; your recovery seed phrase gives you access to the crypto assets that are protected by it.  

The best way to protect your recovery seed phrase is on a stainless steel recovery seed backup tool and place that tool in a safe place.  These tools are physically indestructible; they are resistant to fire, flooding, corrosive conditions, impacts from accidents, and even bulletproof!  Making a copy of your recovery seed on a steel backup device and hiding it in a separate location is a good idea.  

There is much to learn about the blockchain and world of cryptocurrency; the students of The Bitcoin Academy are having the knowledge brought to their doorsteps. The course received skepticism from some residents during its first week.  However, others found it to be an exciting opportunity!