Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
Tether Operations Limited (Tether), the technology company supporting the blockchain-enabled platform that powers the largest stablecoin by market capitalization (USD₮), and the Swiss City of Lugano have announced the second inaugural Plan ₿ Summer School programme to drive Bitcoin education.
The Plan ₿ Summer School was founded to make blockchain education accessible and to shape a new generation of business owners, students, researchers, and more. It is co-organized with Franklin University Switzerland (FUS), Università della Svizzera Italiana (USI), and the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland (SUPSI).
Last year, Tether contributed its expertise and knowledge to this initiative by focusing on educating a new generation of students. The previous program gathered 86 students from 29 different countries, including Italy, Switzerland, Taiwan, Canada, Brazil, and Colombia, all of who brought with them a passion for learning about the future of the blockchain ecosystem and exploring new environments.
“A strong focus on education is a vital next step to mainstream adoption of blockchain and the long-term implication of blockchain technology,” said Mr Paolo Ardoino, Tether’s CTO.
“The Plan ₿ Summer School will allow participants to work with leading industry minds on developing peer-to-peer prototypes and deepening their understanding of the technology helping shape the next generation of founders, developers and creators.”
The focus of this year’s two-week Summer School program will be Bitcoin and Peer-to-Peer technologies and how they will unleash financial freedom and promote the freedom of speech. Course topics will focus on Bitcoin, the Lightning Network, stablecoins, peer-to-peer technologies, mining, blockchain analysis, regulation, self-custody, and more.
Students will be given the opportunity to choose one of the two-course tracks. The Satoshi track is designed for beginners with little to no experience in coding but with a general interest in the fundamentals of blockchain, and the Pear track is for intermediate to advanced students who are passionate about coding and interested in learning how to build on Peer-to-Peer technologies.
“We are thrilled to welcome the Plan ₿ Summer School once again, and we hope for the same turnout and attendance as the past year. Lugano will keep making its mark as a crypto and educational hub,” said Michele Foletti, Mayor of the City of Lugano. “We hope to educate a new generation of potential employers alongside local academic universities in order to make Lugano a hub for the future.”
Prominent industry leaders giving their time to guest lecture at the Plan ₿ Summer School include Paolo Ardoino, CTO of Tether, Adam Back, the CEO of Blockstream, Giacomo Zucco, the CEO of Zuckbucks, Sanja Kon, the CEO of UTrust, Riccardo Masutti Cybersecurity and Privacy Consultant focused in Bitcoin and more.
Luca Maria Gambardella, Pro-Rector for Innovation and Corporate Relations at the Università della Svizzera Italiana (USI) stated that he wishes to “promote the Summer School with enthusiasm and commitment, which reinforces the collaboration on education initiated between the partners with the ‘B4B – Blockchain for Business’ course, and which attracts experts, students and professionals from all over the world to Lugano, strengthening the Lugano Città Universitaria project as a place of study, meeting and comparison”.
Emanuele Carpanzano, SUPSI’s Director of Research, Development and Knowledge Transfer, agreed, speaking on behalf of the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland, saying: “We are delighted to contribute to the realisation of this Summer School in Lugano, an educational proposal in line with the mission we share with our partners: to transmit knowledge and skills, as well as to network students and professionals with each other”.
Kim Hildebrant and Dr. Branko Sain, respectively, President and Dean of Franklin University’s Taylor Institute, also declared, “Lugano’s Plan ₿ is an ambitious project for an ambitious city. We immediately found a common understanding with the Mayor of Lugano and his team around the opportunity to run the first edition of the Summer School last year and the privilege of hosting it again next summer. At Franklin University Switzerland, we believe that any kind of progress, be it social, environmental, economic or technological, requires positive change. And change is fostered by education and by selfless and courageous leadership like that of our City and the three local universities”.
