Binance have reported that their masterclass program for 2020 has reached over 70,000 people across all platforms on the African continent. Binance Africa set out to disrupt the trading education industry which traditionally has a high barrier to entry for Africans. The average cost of a trading course on either cryptocurrency or forex platforms is $200, and Binance Africa’s vision was to offer just effective courses for no charge whatsoever.
By December this year, the Binance Africa team has organised more than 400+ such free events in 2020, attracting attendees across 40+ countries (mostly African) online and offline as well.
The Binance Masterclass for Africa series in particular attracted over 30,000 confirmed attendees, and reached over 70,000 via registrations and YouTube views.
Stage One: Physical Binance Masterclass
On 24th January 2020, the first Binance Masterclass was initiated in Benin City, Nigeria. The six-hour intensive seminar included a comprehensive crash course into understanding everything about Bitcoin, blockchain, trading, etc., and was attended by 222 people.
On 4th February 2020, the Binance Africa team launched a Campus Ambassador program with 7 ambassadors in 7 universities across the continent. These ambassadors have hosted 30 campus webinars and 100+ AMAs monthly in what has been a bumper year.
On 22 February 2020, Binance Nigeria took the Binance Masterclass to Abuja, a major city in Nigeria, where the basics in cryptocurrencies and trading are discussed. It was at this point the COVID-19 health pandemic halted in-person events, and the Binance Africa team shifted their strategy.
Stage Two: Binance MasterClass Goes Online
On 10 and 11 April 2020, the first online Binance Masterclass series in Nigeria was held. The team received 500 RSVPs and an even larger number of actual attendees at an official count of 836.
On 30 May 2020, Binance held the first Masterclass featuring South African speakers including Global Crypto’s James Preston. The event was open to attendees from across Africa, and 1,231 people tuned in for the event.
On 21 June 2020, the Masterclass discussed crypto OTC trading, Binance P2P, and more specific crypto topics, with the help of Olaleye Awe of Alpha Training Lab. 631 people took part in this event.
Between July to October 2020, the team held monthly virtual 3-day Binance Masterclasses for all of Africa reaching over 4,000 attendees each month. By the October Masterclass, the company had a record-breaking 12,513 confirmed attendees (excluding YouTube streams).
Since that masterclass in October, Binance have reported an additional 17,721 views on YouTube. The company issued Binance Masterclass Certificates registered on the Binance Smart Chain to thousands of attendees who completed the three-day courses.
Meanwhile, with the Binance Campus Ambassador program in Nigeria and other educational events, the exchange have been able to reach an additional 10,000 Africans – many of which are still students. Beyond the Binance Masterclass and Binance Campus Ambassador programs, the company launched the #MyBinanceClass series in Q4 with over 1,000 tutor applications, birthing crypto enthusiasts keen to educate their communities.
Over the month of November, Binance Africa worked with 200+ of their over 600 approved tutors (who passed the application test), and held over 258 classes spanning over 20,000+ minutes for their family and friends across Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, Kenya, and more reaching a confirmed attendance of over 6,000 people.
Binance Africa’s vision of educating cryptocurrency traders and investors in a responsible way may have been slightly hindered by a worldwide health pandemic, but with the immediate connectivity of the internet, the reach has arguably been an exponentially larger one – helping the company educate perhaps even more than they originally intended.
With over 70,000 people reached in 2020 amidst such a pandemic, 2021 looks set to be a significant year for Binance Africa and their Masterclass Program.
