Published in el Pais, 12 January 2021.
Bitcoin surpassed $40,000 this past week before settling around $35,000. The last time it hit such a bull run it attracted many doubters, wondering how something you cannot see be worth anything more than $0. Many would ask understandable questions: “Can it be duplicated?” “Can it be hacked”? “What exactly is it?” To answer these questions, we should focus on the technology behind it, blockchain.
I have talked about it a few times before but to summarize blockchain is an immutable ledger technology behind cryptocurrency with many possibilities. The problem is despite it being ground-breaking, there are not many resources to learn about it. Few schools offer courses on it and many developers are forced to be self taught after learning more traditional coding methods.
Preparing kids for the future is essential in any educational system and it is generally agreed upon that we fell behind on teaching kids coding with most not getting the opportunity until they electively take it in university. Only now are schools around the world acknowledging that coding should be taught like any other subject such as Math and Science but why stop there? Bitcoin is getting more attention than ever with even mainstream media finally starting to suggestion investing. It will not be long before blockchain will become integrated into society and tech companies around the world would be begging for developers to come work for them. To not offer blockchain developing courses, at least as an elective, in school would cause children to further fall behind and leave society constantly playing catch up.
It could be hard and timely to implement such a project but it would be worth it. Especially for countries who get an edge in blockchain development as it would force tech companies around the world to set up a new headquarters and creating thousands of jobs.
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