Education is the key to financial freedom, says Bitcoin attorney Najah Roberts
Can Bitcoin help black Americans build wealth in a country that has historically and intentionally prevented them from doing so? The agenda podcast recently sat down with Najah Roberts, a Bitcoin educator and entrepreneur, to explore the question.
In Part 1 of the conversation, released on February 1, Roberts told hosts Jonathan DeYoung and Ray Salmond that Bitcoin (BTC) could be the biggest opportunity black Americans have had to close the nation’s wealth gap. She emphasized the importance of local communities having economic sovereignty and control over their own money, which can help lift entire generations.
In Part 2 of their conversation, released February 15, DeYoung and Salmond chat with Roberts about building financial literacy, the struggles of running a community-focused crypto exchange, and how to work with children and youth to prepare them for the blockchain and technology revolution that is already underway.
Self-sufficiency and self-care
While Bitcoin may offer a path to self-sufficiency, Roberts strongly believes that investment moves must be made in parallel with financial literacy best practices: “Never invest more than you can afford to lose. That’s a rule of thumb.” She emphasized that Bitcoin is not a “get-rich-quick” scheme – adding “be very careful what you invest in because all coins are not created equal and most of these coins are designed to extract money from your bank account.”
Roberts pointed out that financial literacy is rarely a topic taught in schools, and she believes it is by design:
“If they have people who don’t know better, they won’t do better. And they continue to have people who want to work in this country and don’t really understand that they’re working for money instead of letting money work for them. And so the select few who get that memo, they do well. And so, as we continue to enter this new digital space, education must be fundamental for both children and adults.”
Roberts pushes the importance of education with his physical Bitcoin exchange, which has two elements: Bitcoin Banq is the for-profit exchange, while Crypto Blockchain Plug is an affiliated nonprofit education center that teaches people the ABCs of BTC. However, the entities’ focus on self-sharing and not holding customer funds has caused some challenges for Roberts, who explained that finding a banking partner was difficult:
“They told me I had to have a minimum of $1 million a day. I don’t have $1 million a day. I don’t do any of the things that some of these other exchanges do to make sure they line their pockets because we immediately take the money from individuals and we immediately give them their Bitcoin. We do not hold your Bitcoin. We teach them from day one to be self-sufficient.”
Crypto is for the kids
While many adults remain skeptical of crypto — or simply don’t understand it — Roberts said children and youth often have an instinctive understanding of blockchain’s potential. She runs Crypto Kids Camp, an educational program for children and young adults in inner-city and rural areas, teaching participants about cutting-edge technologies such as non-fungible tokens (NFTs), virtual reality, drones and more.
Roberts observes, “Digital currency for them is like second nature,” as they “already use it in video games. They buy things with Robux, and they do all these other things already.”
At the end of the day, what Roberts wants to convey to both kids and their parents is that learning new technologies opens up new opportunities for growth and success. “All of these things we bring to kids’ minds early,” Roberts said, adding:
“Our kids need to be made aware of these technologies so that as they grow and their parents watch them, they can actually maneuver them into the space that’s most important to them and not what we want as parents or what we want. as teachers, because it is not going well. […] What we want to do is expose children to all aspects of technology so they can pick and choose what works or what they like best. And then that parent can actually take it and have something to build on.”
To hear more from Roberts, listen to the full episode of The agenda on Cointelegraph’s new podcast site, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or TuneIn – and be sure to check out Cointelegraph’s other new shows as well.
The views, thoughts and opinions expressed herein are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.
