Is Bitcoin the Future of Money?

Imagine a world where you could leave your wallet at home, but still buy a pizza.

Or pay back the money you owe your friend without cash and without a bank account.

A world where you have complete control over your money and don’t need to request permission from anyone to use it. Fasten your seat belts, because that time is here!

In recent years, a new wave of digital currencies called cryptocurrencies has swept through our world with remarkable speed. The first and most popular cryptocurrency is Bitcoin. Without a doubt, it is the one that put cryptocurrencies on the map and proved that the technology has promise to succeed. Its wild price swings have caught the public’s attention as some people have looked toward Bitcoin with the hope of making a quick buck.

While the initial rush has slowed, there is little doubt that cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology will be an important part of our future. Teach students about Bitcoin and give them an understanding of Bitcoin—and the innovative blockchain technology that’s behind it—will be incredibly important in the coming years and decades.

In the Fundamentals of Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency course, we break down the complex (and confusing) topics of Bitcoin, cryptography, and blockchain technology into a way that’s easy to understand and explore—for HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS! By the end of this course, you’ll know the history behind Bitcoin, how it works, and will be able to form your own predictions for the future! As we’ve seen time and time again in history—anything is possible.

Fundamentals of Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Course Highlights

Here are the important highlights that students will learn:

• What is Bitcoin? What’s so special about Bitcoin that turned it into a global phenomenon? Also, who created it—and why?
• What is money? People rarely appreciate money for the incredible tool that it is. Without money, society as we know it would not be able to function.
• Basics of cryptography: Encryption, ciphers, protocols… this is where we start cracking the code and introducing the basic security aspects of computer science that support Bitcoin.
• How Public and Private Keys Work: Your private key is the most important piece of data for any Bitcoin user and the relationship between these two keys is crucial to understanding Bitcoin.
• Bitcoin Wallets: While they store your Bitcoins like a wallet, a Bitcoin wallet is pretty different from the wallets we’re used to.
• Bitcoin Mining: Bitcoin “mining” doesn’t involve any manual labor like gold mining, but our computers are sure working hard.
• Making transactions: Learn how to make a Bitcoin transaction and understand what’s really happening behind-the-scenes.
• Is Bitcoin secure? If Bitcoin wasn’t secure then no one would be talking about it, but you’ll come to see why it’s not a perfect system.
• Explore other cryptocurrencies: Although Bitcoin is the most popular, there are literally thousands of other cryptocurrencies in the world today!
• The future of Bitcoin and Money: Bitcoin burst into our society incredibly fast, but is it actually a good solution for our economy and the future of money?

These topics are just the tip of the iceberg! This course will allow high school students to dive into a fascinating new field of technology that’s on pace to seriously shake up the way we think about, transact, and store value.

Check out our College Readiness and Career Readiness blog to learn more about the best strategies to prepare your students for high school, college, and beyond.