Circle to Roll Out Free Crypto Literacy Program to HBCUs

Students at four U.S. historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) could have access to a free crypto literacy program offered by Circle, the financial technology company, in October.

This post is part of Education Week.

According to a press release shared with CoinDesk, students can take a mandated or extracurricular part of their fall 2022 curriculum in Circle's courses, on such topics as Bitcoin and blockchain technology, Ethereum and tokenization, and Web3 and applications. Also, students with excellent academic performance may get earlier access to apply for Circle internships and employment.

The new program is part of Circle Impact, the company’s initiative to improve financial inclusion and economic prosperity. Earlier this year it cooperated with Bowie State University in Maryland and Rhodes University in South Africa to offer a module in digital financial literacy for business students as part of the spring 2022 semester.

“Launching Circle U in partnership with these esteemed academic institutions is a step toward helping to provide equitable access to education that can equip students with the necessary knowledge to become sophisticated actors and builders in this industry,” Mercina Tillemann Perez, vice president of Circle Impact, said in the release.

As cryptocurrency and Web3 technology attract more mainstream attention, schools have begun eyeing the development of the young industry and offering more blockchain-related resources to their students. This week CoinDesk published Best Universities for Blockchain 2022, ranking the 50 top schools from a screening pool of 240 schools worldwide. There are no HBCUs on the list, nor on the lists in 2020 and 2021.

Read more: Crypto Goes to College

Circle declined to disclose the four schools that will benefit from this program of the more than 100 HBCUs across the U.S.

More academic institutions and partner organizations are expected to have these resources for spring 2023, Circle said.