The Bitcoin Students Network Launch Layer Zero To Empower Global Youth

Today, the Bitcoin Students Network launches its “Layer Zero” program, which aims to empower youths globally to collaboratively and creatively build and strengthen Bitcoin’s ‘social layer’ and contribute to actualizing its potential as a financial freedom tool and revolutionary technology through a cultivated strong shared sense of community.

The Bitcoin Students Network

The Bitcoin Students Network (BSN) aims to coordinate and advance Bitcoin education efforts globally to youth by supporting student-led clubs and providing resources and assistance to help grow the clubs. The intention is to ensure students worldwide interested in Bitcoin get the relevant resources and opportunities to contribute to the Bitcoin space.

Since the Bitcoin Students Network announcement by Co-founders Ella Hough and Arsh Molu early last year at the Bitcoin Atlantis conference, their network now has over 70 universities and groups across 25 countries in 6 continents.

Bitcoin’s Layer Zero

Bitcoin ushered in a novel system to communicate monetary value and information in a trustless way without relying on intermediaries, and protecting and propagating the existence of this tool largely falls on its social layer. To ensure the health and prosperity of Bitcoin, empowering this Layer Zero is critical to maintaining its core values of freedom, privacy, and community.

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As BSN Co-founder, Ella Hough, concluded, “It was a network that brought us Bitcoin, and it’s a network who are and will continue the mission to protect freedom, human flourishing, property rights, privacy, energy, agency, critical thinking, community, and much more. Layer Zero exists to strengthen that network, to empower those who believe in its potential, and to ensure that the principles Bitcoin was built on continue to guide its future.”

The Bitcoin Students Network’s Layer Zero Program

The Layer Zero program focuses on “turning belief into action” by ensuring students learn through action on the ground and fostering a global movement that prioritizes collaboration, peer learning, and innovation.

Unlike more traditional programs, Layer Zero will offer students hands-on experience by pairing them with entrepreneurs and builders in global communities to work hand-in-hand to practically contribute to shaping the future of Bitcoin and help accelerate financial inclusion and economic empowerment.

During the all-expenses-paid 2.5-month program, students will gain hands-on experience through specialized training, combining technical skills and community engagement, as they actively put their skills to the test and learn to speak “Bitcoin”—the language of the future. Through this immersive learning experience, they have the opportunity to meaningfully progress Bitcoin adoption and support innovation in areas with infrastructure challenges.

Applications are now open to join the Layer Zero program. You can apply here before it closes on Feb 15. Applicants will get a response on Mar 1 on whether the BSN has selected them to join Layer Zero, and the trip will begin at the beginning of June and end in mid-August. For more information on the program, visit the site.

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Their website states, “The program is open to all undergraduate-aged students with a passion for Bitcoin. Applicants must be 18 or older, motivated to learn, and committed to the program’s mission.”

The BSN chose to launch Layer Zero today, Jan 9, in honor of the day the Bitcoin network started in 2009—when Bitcoin v0.1 (the first Bitcoin client) was released days after Satoshi Nakamoto mined the first block.

The Bitcoin Future of GenZ

While Layer Zero is not exclusively for GenZ, it is a large contingent of its audience. As such, it addresses an important aspect of Bitcoin education globally: how to effectively onboard the next generation of Bitcoiners.

They intend to do so not by focusing on forcing down Bitcoin cultural orthodoxy but instead concentrating on Bitcoin as a financial freedom tool for savings and combating inflation—all concerns top of mind for GenZ—including making a compelling case for why they should devote any attention to Bitcoin at all.

As Ella explained, “2023 studies by EY and Coinbase found that the majority of GenZ does not feel financially secure and wants to opt-out of ‘traditional paths’ and choose their own paths. Layer Zero is for those students who recognize the power of community, thinking for themselves, and taking control of their future, today.”

For the next generation, it is most relevant for them to understand that Bitcoin is a practical tool they can leverage today to help build a more hopeful and abundant future for themselves, their families, and the world.

Disclosure: I am one of the advisory board members for the Bitcoin Students Network (BSN).