Statement
Today, Bitcoin teaching and research are largely absent from higher education. This lack of formal curriculum leads the next generations of students to only know what they find online, which leads to a great misperception of Bitcoin. Academic researchers are agnostic or ignorant about Bitcoin despite its deep technical and philosophical foundations. Existing curriculum and research programs ossify long-standing conventional ideas about money, finance, and technology that Bitcoin itself is disrupting.

Opportunity
Today’s students need to understand Bitcoin – what it is, how it works, why it has value. Bitcoin deserves a place on the podium of human knowledge alongside the core academic and scientific disciplines, and this must happen on the university campus.

Solution
The Bitcoin Education Institute (BEI) will promote both teaching and research. For teaching, the BEI will fund new curriculum development, sponsor faculty Bitcoin course releases, identify future content creators for Bitcoin education on college campuses, partner with textbook publishers to integrate Bitcoin content, incentivize faculty to include Bitcoin content in existing classes, and collaborate with Bitcoin student clubs. For research, the BEI will fund new Bitcoin researchers (especially graduate students), convene Bitcoin researchers with Bitcoin developers, and develop a pipeline of talent for the Bitcoin industry.

Mission
The mission of the BEI is to promote Bitcoin teaching and research in higher education.

Structure
The BEI is as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit entity funded through philanthropic donations held in bitcoin. Its nonprofit structure ensures its neutral, objective position.

Location
The BEI operates independently alongside universities rather than within them to avoid bureaucratic capture, accelerate impact, and expand to multiple campuses.

About Us

Korok Ray

Korok is the Founder and Executive Director of BEI, Associate Professor at Texas A&M’s Mays Business School, and President of the Southwest Innovation Research Lab, a non-profit organization. An applied game theorist, his research explores the intersection of economics, computation, and Bitcoin, focusing on distributed systems, networking, and cybersecurity. He also cofounded the Blockchain and Energy Research Consortium to study Bitcoin mining in Texas.

At Texas A&M, Korok teaches two pioneering Bitcoin-only courses: The Bitcoin Protocol, covering its technical foundations, and Bitcoin: Accounting for Digital Transactions, focusing on business and policy aspects.

He authors the Principles of Bitcoin newsletter and speaks at major conferences, including a keynote on Bitcoin and AI at MicroStrategy World 2024.

John Cannavo

In John’s role as COO for BEI, he oversees BEI’s day-to-day operations and works to execute the long-term vision of the Institute. He manages the staff and organizes BEI’s events.

Prior to joining BEI, John managed the Mays Innovation Research Center at Texas A&M University. He holds a BA in American Studies from The George Washington University.

Programs

Course Development-A program to jumpstart Bitcoin education into university curriculum at both undergraduate and graduate levels. This can include grants for faculty to develop new Bitcoin courses or add Bitcoin content to existing courses. This would involve building alliances with academic administrators, textbook publishers, and students.
Research Grants to faculty, graduate students, and other researchers on specific proposals relevant to Bitcoin. An annual research conference with research prize that will convene Bitcoin researchers and developers with priority on young researchers.
Partnerships with existing research and teaching centers on campus to integrate Bitcoin into extracurricular programs like conferences, workshops, and speaker series.
Bitcoin Student Clubs- Provide content or educational materials to facilitate Bitcoin outreach, workshops, and social activities.

Coordinating Student Clubs

The BEI can provide both intellectual and financial infrastructure for Bitcoin Student Clubs, which already exist on many campuses. Today, these clubs are decentralized but could benefit from support such as educational materials, operational playbooks, and shared resources for speakers and events. The BEI could partner with the Bitcoin Student Network to deploy this infrastructure, while also gathering information from students on the ground across hundreds of campuses. There is strong precedent for this: nonprofits such as Young Americans for Liberty coordinate hundreds of student clubs nationwide to promote libertarian philosophy.

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