Yesterday the world’s leading stablecoin issuer, Tether, announced a partnership with Business & Technology University (BTU) to develop educational programs related to blockchain, crypto, and peer-to-peer technologies.
The Business & Technology University is based in Tbilisi, Georgia, and is one of the top institutions in the country.
Tether will be involved in developing courses on topics such as Bitcoin, stablecoin, and other technologies that promote financial freedom and free speech.
Specifically, the program will include eight lectures by local and international blockchain experts, guest lecturers, and a final project.
In addition, the collaboration will also include the facilitation of internship opportunities for the university’s students at companies in the blockchain ecosystem.
Summary
Tether: the university between crypto and stablecoin
BTU is a technology university that offers Georgians a wide range of undergraduate programs in fields such as engineering, computer science, and business.
The university’s goal to provide its students with practical skills and knowledge that can enable them to thrive in the modern digital economy.
Globally, there are not many universities that already offer courses dedicated to emerging blockchain-based technologies, and they are often limited to providing theoretical training in this regard.
The thing is that the job market instead requires experts in the field, although often in order to be a true expert such that the real job market is interested, experience in the field matters more in this area than training.
At present there is still a great imbalance between the availability of jobs in this field and the demand coming from skilled personnel, so much so that the latter can go so far as to demand decidedly attractive salaries in order to let themselves be hired.
Universities should fill this gap, but they cannot limit themselves to doing so by providing theoretical knowledge.
For this reason, it is very important that in addition to the classic courses taught by university professors, students have the opportunity to touch these technologies by having them explained to them by those who have been working in the field for years.
Crypto and stablecoin: the BTU course in partnership with Tether
Specifically, BTU’s program in partnership with Tether will take place in collaboration with local digital education platform Academy of Digital Industry, and the country’s largest co-working space, Terminal.
The course will last a month, and will be similar to the Plan B summer school that Tether already organizes in Lugano, Switzerland.
In particular, it is designed precisely to provide students with hands-on experience and knowledge, in an industry where experience often ends up counting more than training itself.
International speakers will give their introductory lectures in English, but most of the lessons will be delivered in Georgian.
Emerging countries
Georgia is certainly not known for having an internationally established blockchain landscape.
However, there are quite a few Georgians who would be willing to go and work abroad for a while as well, in order to get interesting results.
Moreover, it is often a bit easier in emerging countries to experiment with really new things, because they do not start from a strong system that is already largely crystallized, such as the traditional financial system in advanced countries.
So for emerging countries these new technologies are a real opportunity that is not particularly difficult to seize, just by virtue of the fact that nowadays the digital job market is global.
It is enough to mention that the CTO of Tether, Paolo Ardoino, is Italian, while Tether is an international company with distributed offices at the top of which there are also a Dutchman and a Canadian.
Italy is certainly not a country at the forefront of the technological world, but that has not stopped Ardoino, Devasini and Van der Velde from taking Tether to the top of the world.
Comments on the new collaboration
BTU Provost Professor Nino Enukidze said:
“Our collaboration with Tether is an important step towards developing a blockchain education ecosystem in Georgia. We believe that this collaboration will create opportunities for our students to learn from industry experts and gain practical skills that will enable them to contribute to the development of the digital economy.”
Tether CTO Paolo Ardoino commented:
“We are excited to work with BTU to help foster the next generation of blockchain experts. Tether is committed to supporting education and academia, and this collaboration with BTU is an excellent opportunity to engage students in the region. This is only the start of our efforts in Georgia and we look forward to announcing more initiatives in the near future.”
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