With every innovative technology come those who seek to take advantage of its users. Unfortunately, the Bitcoin ecosystem is not exempted from this. Many Ponzi schemes have been built around Bitcoin and unsuspecting investors have lost their wealth in different circumstances.
A developing ill within the crypto environment is the selling of substandard education to an unsuspecting public. This has come in the form of seminars, tutorial sessions and incoherent study materials. The promoters of these programs ride on the emotions of previous investors who have lost money, with claims of teaching them what they should have known before investing. For the newbies, it is their fear of being hurt that is usually exploited.
The struggle for authority
Nawaf Abdullah of eBitcoinics.com thinks that the major motivation behind this developing trend is the quest for relevance within the ecosystem, as the battle for control and authority within the Bitcoin environment continues.
Abdullah tells Cointelegraph that even among crypto enthusiasts there are different categories of people who pursue their individual goals using the disruptive technology. There are those who are primarily concerned about the future of the technology and its numerous use cases, then the network marketers whose priority is to sell a given product or service. There is also the group that will do just about anything to flinch whatever they can from the unsuspecting public.
It is the final group who are the ones most likely to engage in HYIPS and various get-rich-quick programs.
What can the community do?
However, Abdullah notes that these activities, in whatever form they appear, have a direct effect on the entire ecosystem, and therefore calls on every genuine industry leader to play a significant part in creating a proper brand for the technology.
Abdullah says:
“It is up to every leader involved within the crypto world to know that any step taken tends to affect all of us, whether positive or negative. We have seen governments and institutions trying to control this technology, but thanks to decentralization, such has not been possible. Therefore, we have the responsibility to uphold the genuineness of what we have.”
Abdullah explains that at eBitcoinics.com their priority remains passing on the proper education to everyone within the community, getting them well equipped for the world out there where all sorts of information will definitely be thrown at them.
The post-truth attitude
Another danger posed by this trend of having the wrong education propagated is the fact that if not curbed at its early stage, there may come a time when the truth may sound like a lie and vice versa. Therefore, the people need to be taught how to identify what is real and what is not in this fast-moving era of innovations.
“Today we have lots of educational forums, groups on social networks and different bodies creating serious awareness and all these could be places the lots can make use of,” says Abdullah. “In Africa, we have seen what CDIN is doing wholeheartedly to make the world of cryptocurrencies a better place and that’s what encourages us at eBitcoinics.com to fully pledge our support to such good movements, to help make cryptocurrencies a better topic to be discussed in Africa.”
It all goes down to personal responsibility
Abdullah continues by advising every newbie in the industry to take advantage of the endless availability of information on the Internet. According to him, personal research is the responsibility of anyone who hopes to make the most of the disruptive technology.
“It is by inquisitive research that anyone can discover genuinely available resources for proper education,” says Abdullah. He concludes by telling Cointelegrah that at eBitcoinics.com their mission is to reach every household in Ghana, Nigeria and Africa as a whole with the proper information about Bitcoin and cryptocurrency.
To achieve this, platforms such as WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook and their own website have been employed in addition to regular meetups at physical locations.
Also, mechanisms are in place to launch their strictly educational portal, where anyone who wants to learn about money and its role in the world economy and why cryptocurrency is the immediate future can find every necessary resource.