In the crypto world, there is a generational divide. According to a Mastercard survey from May, millennials are more interested in learning about digital assets than any other age group.
BitDAO, a decentralized asset manager with $2.5 billion in assets under management (AUM), and token investor Mirana Ventures have created EduDAO, a new decentralized autonomous organization that caters to college students.
The DAO is made up of various student and campus research organizations in the U.S., U.K, and China, including Berkeley Center for Responsible, Decentralized Intelligence; Blockchain at Berkeley; Blockchain at Michigan; Blockchain@USC; Harvard Blockchain Club; MIT Sloan Blockchain Club; Oxford Blockchain Society; Penn Blockchain; and Tsinghua University Students Blockchain Association.
DAOs have become a popular tool to generate funds fast for a variety of purchases and causes. They are online communities in which members vote and make management choices using a token. BitDAO, which made its billions through digital asset management, intends to provide EduDAO $11 million each year to undertake research and develop blockchain ideas.
Jonathan Allen, Managing Partner of Mirana Ventures, came up with the idea for EduDAO. “The aim is to create autonomous entities like EduDAO, in which BitDAO assists in identifying motivated specialists in a certain topic,” Allen explained. “Give this autonomous entity a mandate and structure, capitalize it, and let it do what it believes is best.”
To mitigate risk, monies will be disbursed in six-month periods, according to Allen; BitDAO holders can vote to stop financing if they no longer believe the DAO is meeting expectations.
EduDAO members will participate in BitDAO governance elections to determine the protocol’s development in exchange for financing, according to BitDAO. They will also contribute to BitDAO by developing governance and treasury tools, as well as contributing to other BitDAO initiatives that are getting funds.
Whereas most DAOs require a token to function, Allen suggested that EduDAO might instead use a multisig wallet, which would require multiple member groups to sign off on expenditures using their crypto private keys.
The goal, according to EduDAO, is to provide academic groups a wider reach, allowing them to support blockchain research while also improving collaboration and information. The BitDAO protocol will be used to share EduDAO’s research with other universities and the general public.
While the short-term goal is to support university innovation, Allen said the long-term goal is to democratize education so that it doesn’t matter which university a student attends or where they live; all they need is a basic internet connection and a desire to learn.
Said Allen: “We hope to provide resources and structure to help anyone and everyone go from 0 to 1 and be able to engage with blockchain and Web3 in a meaningful way.”