Binance's Support for Blockchain Gaming and Education in the Philippines

In this episode of YGG TV, YGG Pilipinas Country Manager Luis Buenaventura and Binance General Manager for the Philippines Kenneth Stern talk about how Binance Academy has evolved over the past year.

YGG TV, dubbed “the ESPN of web3 gaming,” is the latest online show produced by Yield Guild Games (YGG) where community members can tune in to learn more about blockchain gaming, discover the latest games, and stay up to date on activities in the web3 space. John Sedano, YGG’s Community Marketing Manager, spearheads the production of YGG TV episodes, which are released every Thursday at 9 p.m. SGT.

In this episode, YGG Pilipinas Country Manager Luis Buenaventura and Binance General Manager for the Philippines Kenneth Stern discuss the potential for huge crypto adoption in the Philippines, how they are supporting blockchain gaming as an avenue for crypto adoption, and how they are working with Philippine universities to facilitate crypto and web3 education. They also talk about Binance's perspective on the recent challenges in the crypto space and the banking sector.

The following is an excerpt from the YGG TV episode. Watch the full recording on YouTube.

Banks or Binance? Market insights and plans for 2023! Their position in blockchain gaming!

Luis (7:16): At Yield Guild, we care very deeply about games. I mean, it's in our name. What's Binance’s position on blockchain gaming? I know that you guys have supported some game projects in the past.

Kenneth (7:27): I would say that I am not an expert in the gaming space, but I do see gaming as an entry point for a lot of people into cryptocurrency and digital assets. It depends on which market you're targeting and what user base is existing there. 

So in the Philippines, specifically, there's a huge opportunity for games, and I do support it. I know, as a company, we support innovation, building and creating use cases for crypto. If there are projects out there that do want to get in touch with us, we're more than happy to support them and understand what their products are about. 

Because I believe that the more use cases there are, the more products that will be out there. The better the understanding of crypto is within a country, the more beneficial it will be for the regulatory environment.

Luis (8:11): I know that Binance, other than your support of games, you also have a big investment in education. Maybe you could tell us a little bit about Binance Academy.

Kenneth (8:23): Binance Academy has evolved in the last year, ever since I joined. So Binance Academy used to just be a depository of data for people to access. It used to be an app where people can go on to different articles — there were roughly 400 at the time in about 20 different languages. And you just read about what's happening around the world, new projects, and understanding a bit more about web3. The Academy has now evolved into actual curriculum, actual coursework, actual mentorship, and training students in different markets.

We're fortunate to have a Binance Academy team in the APAC region that's concentrating on assisting university and college students in entering web3 as early as college courses. This provides a stronger entry point into the web3 industry if that's what students decide to pursue after graduation.

Luis (9:08): For Filipinos specifically, what's the first way that they're going to see Binance Academy in action for them on the ground?

Kenneth (9:15): So we're going to be doing roadshows throughout the year. A number of different universities will be benefiting from this. So we'll actually go to universities and do a Blockchain 101 or NFT 101, or something along those lines. And from there, we'll create breakout sessions into smaller, more specific topics. We'll build a curriculum with the universities to implement this over time. And that's our long-term vision. This is not just a fad — this is going to be a long-term industry that needs experts in this field. 

For example, Solidity is a base building tool that developers will need, and the basic salary for that is roughly $100,000 in the US. We can give that access to Filipinos, and they can be earning US dollars in the Philippines working for companies around the world in the web3 space. And that has really never been available until now.

You can watch the full episode on the Yield Guild Games YouTube channel.

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