Dash Embassy D-A-CH is currently supporting an educational initiative in Germany called The Initiative Dezentrale Bildung (IDEN), according to a press release given to Dash Force News.

The goal is to make “it easier for schools and teachers to access topics such as decentralization, blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies” and be “a catalyst between the education sector and the upcoming cryptoeconomy”. Benjamin Burde, the initiator and spokesperson of the initiative talked about how the initiative will expand cryptocurrencies.

“It is our goal to create a platform for the dialogue between schools and companies in the blockchain industry and to therefore make the concept of decentralization accessible to a larger audience”.

However, they also recognize the importance of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) because they “could have a significant impact on the organisational structures of companies and societies and are practically unknown”. Burde added that they “see this as a room for projects, working groups and lessons in schools”.

The initiative plans to hold informational events at and for schools, provide teaching and learning materials, have crypto-related contests, and create cryptocurrency and blockchain curriculum content.

Creating communities drives adoption

Cryptocurrencies are a relatively new technology; Bitcoin was only created in 2009 so many individuals are either unaware of cryptocurrencies or lack basic understanding of cryptocurrencies. However, they have been around for a significant amount of time to demonstrate that passively putting information about cryptocurrencies on the internet, which is plentiful, is not enough to drive further adoption. Instead, proactive education through engaging communities helps to better inform consumers about the new technology and drive adoption.

For a consumer, learning a new platform is costly in terms of research required and the opportunity cost of the time and effort required. The economic term for this is switching costs or menu costs, an allusion to restaurants having to weigh the costs of updating their menus to offer new items vs. the additional revenue those new items will generate. Individuals that do not know much about cryptocurrencies are not only weary of dedicating time to learning about the technology, but are also unaware of the true rewards and benefits that cryptocurrencies and blockchains offer. This lack of information impedes adoption as many consumers do not perceive cryptocurrency adoption as a worthwhile pursuit.

A good analogy would be to the early days of the internet where mass adoption was struggling due to a lack of easily understandable instructions and value offerings. As services were built out, this began to change as more individuals understood how to use the internet, computers, and the added value it provided in their lives. Educational initiatives like the one being pursued by the Initiative Dezentrale Bildung and Dash Embassy D-A-CH aims to recreate this strategy by educating the public about how cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology works and how it can improve their lives.

Dash is structured to be a productive community

Dash has been able to support its community through its DAO structure, which enables proposals to be funded from the Treasury’s 10% allocation of mining rewards each month. This has allowed Dash to fund numerous community outreach programs to educate the public about Dash, including Dash Embassy D-A-CH, Dash Colombia, Dash Youth, and Dash Venezuela, which has presided over an extremely rapid growth of Dash. Dash Venezuela was able to host conferences to educate the public about how to use Dash, give out some free Dash, and allow individuals to spend Dash at Dash City to experience Dash’s value proposition first hand. Then there was the creation of Dash Help to assist any individuals that had any questions about using or integrating Dash. These educational outreach programs have led to Dash being accepted at over 1,500 merchants in Venezuela and over 3,000 merchants globally.

As others are already realizing, this “creates a powerful positive feedback loop that allow[s] Dash to expand the services available on the network and attract a loyal user base”. This further builds Dash’s community, whom not only pursue their own various projects to help advance Dash, but also other funding mechanism such as DashBoost, DashDonates, Dash Ventures, and Mega Dash Raffle to be supplemental sources of funding when the DAO Treasury is stressed. Dash’s system of aligned incentives ensures that individuals can promote the best interests of Dash, while pursuing their own interests. This has allowed Dash to continuously and rapidly grow over the past couple years as more consumers are able to better understand how Dash works and how it can improve their lives.