Educational Initiatives, Payment Partnerships Announced at Binance’s Third Community Meetup in Georgia

2023-03-21

On March 6, Binance, the world’s leading blockchain infrastructure provider, hosted its third Community Meetup in Tbilisi, Georgia. With more than 500 people in attendance, Binance used the occasion to announce a number of strategic initiatives and collaborations: a partnership with cryptocurrency payment gateway CityPay, a roadmap for cooperation with the Georgian Agency for Innovation and Technology (GITA), the launch of Binance Charity’s initiative to support women-focused Web3 education, and an upcoming BNB Chain hackathon. 

Specifically, the partnership with GITA will be instrumental to Binance delivering large-scale educational and community initiatives in the blockchain space and contributing to the development of Georgia’s Web3 industry. Meetup attendees were also the first to learn about Binance Charity and GITA’s brand-new initiative: to celebrate International Women’s Day, Binance Charity donated $100,000 to the Agency to support blockchain education and training for women.

Binance Academy will supply educational materials for GITA’s Web3 courses, which will cover topics like cryptocurrency and blockchain fundamentals as well as blockchain developer skills. More than half of the available scholarships will be allocated to women.

Helen Hai, Head of Binance Charity, said: “We’re proud of our new partnership with GITA, which aims to make the Web3 industry more diverse by developing new educational courses and removing financial barriers to learning about blockchain technology. We’re allocating 100 out of the 180 available scholarships to women. Georgia is very advanced in terms of the adoption of new technologies, and there’s already a strong pool of talented women who are interested in innovation, including Web3. We hope our scholarships will enable these women to pursue their passions and further strengthen Georgia as a hub for women in tech.”

This project is part of the Binance Charity’s wider Scholar Program, which is designed to enable the next generation of Web3 leaders to develop their skills, knowledge, and experience. The number of applications to this program has surpassed 80,000 globally since June 2022. 

GITA has also signed a memorandum of understanding with Binance Academy to provide introductory-level blockchain courses to students in Georgian universities.

Salome Napetvaridze, Head of Strategic Projects at the Georgian Innovation and Technology Agency, commended the partnership between GITA and Binance Academy as a great example of state-private sector collaboration. She said: “We facilitated the meeting between Binance and Georgian universities to discuss synergetic projects and new educational programs focused on blockchain technology. We look forward to the many successes that will undoubtedly arise from this partnership.”

The meetup also saw Yurii Galitchenko, Binance Pay & Card’s business development manager, and Eralp Hatipoglu, CEO and co-founder of CityPay.io, speak in detail about the partnership between the two organizations. The joint effort is already expanding the ability of Georgia-based users to make everyday purchases with crypto, thus advancing Binance’s goal to further the freedom of money and digital assets’ adoption globally.

Furthermore, BNB Chain, the world’s largest smart contract blockchain in terms of daily active users, announced a 3-day Web3 hackathon that was to take place in Georgia. The event attracted a large number of developers looking for an opportunity to engage with the BNB Chain builder community and test their Web3 skills in a hands-on setting. 

The hackathon kicked off on March 17 and culminated in a winner announcement and developer networking event on March 19, where participants had a chance to connect with industry experts and potential partners to take their projects to the next level.

Binance’s regional director Vladimir Smerkis, summing up the event, said: “Georgia is very progressive in terms of the development of blockchain and cryptocurrencies, which is illustrated by the high level of adoption of digital assets in the country. We are glad that we have the opportunity to contribute to the further development of the industry in Georgia. Users can pay for goods and services in cryptocurrency, and major initiatives are being launched by Binance Charity, Binance Academy, and BNB Chain together with GITA.”

While the progress along this path is already significant, Smerkis concluded, this is only the beginning for Georgia and Binance.