Great news: Today, Paxful launched the La Casa Del Bitcoin Educational Center, a new education and training center in San Salvador, El Salvador providing free and accessible learning opportunities around Bitcoin to build financial inclusion. The center will also be home to the Paxful and Built With Bitcoin Foundation offices, hosting events and meetups to build community participation and educate the masses about Bitcoin.
To share more about the center, we turned to Ray Youssef, Paxful CEO and Co-Founder to learn more:
Tell us a bit more about the center. What do you hope to achieve most with the opening of the La Casa Del Bitcoin Educational Center?
For Paxful it comes down to global education and financial inclusion. One third of the world is currently unbanked and in El Salvador, around 70% of citizens do not have access to a bank account. This must change and we know that the time is now.
Bitcoin is unlocking tremendous talent in emerging markets and we see La Casa Del Bitcoin doing the same in El Salvador. La Casa Del Bitcoin is a home for the people and by the people. The center is providing free educational resources and financial literacy opportunities to anyone interested in learning about bitcoin. Whether you’re a small merchant or learning about peer-to-peer for the first time, we aim to connect people with opportunities to strengthen their understanding of bitcoin as a means to financial freedom. Education will continue to be at the forefront of all that we do. Mass adoption of Bitcoin begins and ends with education.
Why El Salvador?
In June 2021, when President Nayib Bukele announced that Bitcoin was to become an official currency in El Salvador, I flew to the country in the weeks following to understand what was taking place on the ground level. For the people of El Salvador, they’re ready to embrace change. I saw this in every business owner I met and every community I visited.
There are many lessons that El Salvador can teach the rest of the world. They’re ready to adopt Bitcoin and we have a team on the ground helping to make it happen.
What can the rest of the world learn from El Salvador?
In El Salvador, Bitcoin is a movement of the people and movements start from the ground level. We are seeing the true use cases of Bitcoin all over the country.
While El Salvador is leading in many ways, our biggest hurdle to global adoption continues to be education. Financial literacy should be a right, but many people are denied this. We won’t get to 1 or 4 billion users without education for the 100%. This same lesson can be applied to the U.S., where over 7 million people are currently underbanked.
Education is crucial and we each have our part to play in strengthening the Bitcoin economy and reaching global adoption. Paxful is on the ground in every corner of every emerging market educating people around Bitcoin as a peer-to-peer financial system for the masses. This is how we’ll make it happen.
What are some of the curriculum topics?
It’s important to note that every class and every resource at the center is free. Each class will be taught in Spanish and students will have the freedom to take a course at any educational level that fits them best. Curriculum courses cover topics ranging from an introduction to Bitcoin, making safe trades, to utilizing Bitcoin for humanitarian projects.
Who can visit the center?
The center is a place for anyone and everyone. It’s about financial inclusion and accessibility. We are about real people, real use cases, and real stories. La Casa Del Bitcoin will cater to any person who has an interest in learning about Bitcoin and achieving greater financial freedom. The center is not only offering educational tools to learn about Bitcoin but opportunities to access greater financial resources for wealth generation.
Why do you think other countries can learn from emerging markets when it comes to bitcoin as a means of exchange?
In Africa and Latin America, people understand that the best thing about Bitcoin is that it allows people to transact freely. Emerging markets are leading global bitcoin adoption and countries like the U.S. have much to learn from them. What we know is that the U.S. has far more in common with the people of Africa and the emerging world than they realize. Bitcoin can be a bridge to create business and commerce between these two worlds. Bitcoin has the power to transform the global financial system and we’re seeing that right in the heart of El Salvador.
