EDU Chain’s Vision
A lot has happened since Animoca Brands and TinyTap launched Open Campus and $EDU on Binance Launchpad in April 2023.
However, the core mission has remained the same: to build an on-chain education network.
Why? We believe that we can improve the education system for teachers, learners, and institutions with a technological and financial update powered by blockchain technology.
Here’s how Open Campus has evolved into much more than the #1 education token:
The big question is, what’s next?
The main focus for Open Campus is to bring the $5 trillion education industry on-chain by solving real problems for the education system.
If you look at education today, there are three main problems:
- Access to quality education and lifelong learning opportunities is hard to come by, particularly in developing countries.
- Funding for Edtech startups is at an all-time low.
- Employers are increasingly valuing specific skills and competencies over traditional degree qualifications.
An on-chain education network can solve all of these problems by creating better access, better funding, and better recognition for learning taking place outside of first-world schools and universities.
That’s why we are launching EDU Chain, the home for education on-chain.
EDU Chain is Layer 3 on Arbitrum Orbit, designed for consumer-facing education apps and for on-chain education finance (EduFi), powered by the $EDU token.
Phase 1 — Tools and TVL
This phase is focused on building the DeFi and infrastructure layer for EDU Chain so that developers have all the tools and liquidity they need to build incredible consumer-facing apps.
High TVL will signal trust and position EDU Chain as an attractive place to come and build.
Phase 2 — Learn and Own
This phase is focused on building consumer-facing learning DApps on EDU Chain which will be the catalyst for mainstream growth.
All learning DApps will be integrated with Open Campus ID, enabling learners to store and own on-chain learning credentials for every education achievement completed on these DApps.
Phase 2 will accelerate adoption from the 20 million learners within our on-chain education network and fuel transaction volume with on-chain micro-credentials for learning achievements.
Phase 3 — Earn and EduFi
The final phase of the EDU Chain launch is focused on building DApps to help learners and educators earn from their learned skills and reputation that they have picked up on EDU Chain.
Similarly, this will be when the focus shifts to building Education Finance (EduFi) solutions to provide on-chain alternatives to student loans and scholarships, as well as education grants and funding.
Who are we building for?
Education is a $5 trillion industry. That is a 20x bigger market opportunity than gaming (a $250 billion industry).
And it’s hard to find a bigger audience than learners. Right now, the total addressable market for education on-chain is 1.3 billion learners. That’s made up of 750 million students globally and 550 million education app users.
An on-chain education network doesn’t just solve educational challenges; it also addresses a major issue for Web3: attracting new users and liquidity.
By solving problems for learners, educators, EdTech founders, and education institutions with blockchain technology, we can bring this market and its people on-chain.
Here’s how we plan to do it
1. Developer incentives
The Open Campus DAO voted yes for a $20 million ecosystem fund which will provide developer and liquidity incentives to builders on EDU Chain.
From this, a $1 million hackathon series was established to attract and nurture global developer talent on EDU Chain. 3 events will run over the next 12 months to build new DApps for EDU Chain.
The first hackathon event saw 4500+ developers compete to build the best dApps for EDU Chain.
2. Integrate our tech with existing education platforms
The Open Campus Accelerator (OCX) has a robust pipeline of 100 Web2 EdTech companies and more than 100,000 developers ready to transition to Web3, accelerating EDU Chain’s ecosystem growth.
The Open Campus ID Software Developer Kit (SDK), with its solution for on-chain learning credentials, will provide an easy way for these revenue-generating, consumer-facing education companies to come on-chain.
Already we have 80+ companies with 20 million addressable learners and 4500 developers building with EDU Chain to help us bring education on-chain.
If you want to join the on-chain education network, build DApps on EDU Chain, or sign up for an Open Campus ID.
