All I want for Christmas… is more blockchain education

A survey conducted by trading website eToro has suggested that 44% of investors are hesitant to invest and trade with crypto because they don’t know enough about it, a report by Forbes has revealed.

eToro are a trading platform that dub themselves as “a social trading revolution.” They claim to offer services that most exchanges do not, such as “near immediate execution of market orders.” eToro have been a global fintech leader since 2007, with users spanning across 140+ countries.

eToro commissioned Provoke Insights, a market research and strategy firm, to oversee the survey, which was distributed across 1,000 investors. The age range for the survey was between 20 and 65. The key figure that stood out was that 44% of people believed a lack of knowledge and educational resources was a boundary that stopped them from trading.

The Forbes article goes on to reveal that even amongst millenials, a lack of education was a major factor in stopping them from investing in crypto. However, despite these high figures, interest in trading and investment has not dropped, with 97% reporting that they are keen to learn more.

This sentiment is shared elsewhere, with Marion Vogel, director of æternity, recently announcing the launch of two charity foundations in Bulgaria and Liechtenstein to advance research and development of blockchain technology and projects.

æternity believe themselves to be one of the most innovative answers to the current issues facing blockchain technology. They feature Turing-complete smart contracts that allow for the execution of credible transactions without the need for a middleman. Consensus is achieved through a hybrid blend of Proof-of-Work (PoW) and Proof-of-Stake (PoS), two commonly used algorithms in blockchain.

æternity have also partnered with Dacade to release free introductory courses on blockchain. Dacade are a peer-to-peer online learning platform. Their aim is to provide adequate education on blockchain whilst allowing their users to earn cryptocurrency at the same time. This partnership with æternity should help Marion Vogel’s vision progress in a timely fashion.

With 2019 fast approaching and the general populace seemingly feeling as though education is lacking in the field of blockchain, we could see a surge in educational resources being made available next year.