Jay-Z, Jack Dorsey Unveil ‘Bitcoin Academy’ for Brooklyn Public Housing Residents

Residents of the Marcy Houses, a public housing complex in Brooklyn, New York, where Jay-Z (née Shawn Carter) grew up, will have the opportunity to take free Bitcoin education classes, funded by the rapper turned businessman and Jack Dorsey.

• “The vision for Bitcoin (BTC) is that it doesn’t have barriers, but lack of access to financial education is a barrier,” according to the mission statement for the Bitcoin Academy.
• Beginning June 22 and running until just after Labor Day, the program will be taught by Black Bitcoin Billionaire Founder Lamar Wilson and Najah J. Roberts, founder of the first African-American and woman-owned crypto exchange and education center in the U.S.
• “Bitcoin is becoming a critical tool for many in Africa and Central and South America,” Jack Dorsey wrote on Twitter (TWTR). “We believe the same potential exists within communities in the U.S. Our goal is to prove that making powerful tools more available to people enables them to build greater independence.”
• Dorsey also teased an expansion to the program, saying there’s “much more to come soon.”
• An April report by Ariel Investments and Charles Schwab (SCHW) revealed that 25% of Black Americans own cryptocurrency, compared with just 15% of white Americans.
• This isn’t Jay-Z and Dorsey’s first collaboration. In 2021, Dorsey’s Block (SQ) – then called Square – acquired Jay-Z’s music streaming service Tidal, which the two envisioned as a new platform for artists to create and be paid.

Read More: How Crypto Can Power the Future of Work for People of Color