Executive Summary
Bitcoin educators have long had to juggle many separate tools, and students have often struggled to find a class near them. As part of the October release, My First Bitcoin is building one education app that brings classes, teaching resources and communities into a single place.
This article explains the problem the app solves, what educators and students can already do with it, and how independent communities gain visibility and support through it. It also covers the rollout, from a closed beta with a few communities to app store release, and why feedback from educators shapes every step.
The takeaway: this is infrastructure built with the network, so educators can spend less time on tools and more time teaching Bitcoin.
Too Many Tools, Too Little Teaching
Until now, teaching with My First Bitcoin resources meant moving between many platforms: a learning management system to run classes, a community hub with forums, chat and wikis, the website and a separate publication platform. Each one needed its own account, each worked differently, and information did not flow between them. For educators who are not especially technical, managing all of this cost time that should go into teaching.
Students felt the gap too. There was no single directory of Bitcoin classes, so people who wanted to learn sometimes never found out that a class was about to start in their own city.
The new My First Bitcoin education app answers both problems with one tool: a place where educators can prepare, schedule and teach their classes, and where anyone can find a class, read the guides and connect with Bitcoin communities around the world.
What Educators and Students Can Do in the App
Getting started is simple. There is no password. You enter your email address, confirm with a code sent to you, and answer a few questions about where you are in your Bitcoin journey: new to Bitcoin, learning more, already an educator, or a community leader. The app adapts to your answer. Your profile can stay private or be shared publicly, and that choice is always yours.
Finding and joining a class. Students can browse cohorts by language, by online or in-person format and by time zone. Each cohort page shows the schedule, five-star reviews from past students and quizzes to check understanding. Registered students get an automatic reminder one hour before each class.
Creating a cohort. Educators choose the program, language and format, and can set a maximum number of students. They can use their own video tool, such as a Zoom link, or let the app generate a Google Meet link, so no paid subscription is needed to teach. Presets build the full class schedule module by module, through to graduation, and every session can still be adjusted. A cohort can be duplicated for the next month in a few clicks. Once a class is marked as done, the related quiz unlocks for students, and educators can invite co-educators to teach alongside them.
Learning and teaching resources. The Learn section holds guides for students, educators and community leaders, including the Bitcoin Diploma. A built-in lexicon explains terms as you read, and a resource library collects videos and tools made by educators. Resources can be rated, bookmarked or reported if a link is broken.
An activity library. Learning Bitcoin is not only about reading. Educators can search and filter activities by duration, by program (Bitcoin for Juniors or the Bitcoin Diploma) and by format, from individual work to pairs and small groups. Popular activities such as the barter game come with step-by-step instructions and a printable PDF. This style of teaching gives students something to do, which can be a real relief for new educators who worry they must lecture for the whole class.
Visibility, Trust and Support for Independent Communities
The app also makes the wider movement visible. A map and a community leaderboard show Bitcoin communities around the world, with points earned for their work, such as people taught and merchants onboarded. Visitors can filter by country to find the communities closest to them, and an activity feed shows what is happening across the network, for example a new online Bitcoin Diploma cohort starting. Communities that use Nostr can show their latest posts directly in the app, an experimental feature for now.
This visibility matters for trust. In some places, people offering so-called Bitcoin education ask students for money to invest on their behalf and then disappear. A public record of proof of work helps students choose a class that is reliable.
Community leaders can now update their community information themselves instead of emailing the team. Supporters can donate to a community or to a specific cohort through Lightning, Geyser or the community’s fundraising page. For many students, sending a few sats to the community that taught them is a natural first step with their new Lightning wallet, and educators can just as easily send sats to students so they can practise.
The app supports collaboration between communities too. Newer communities can invite educators from other communities to help teach, and online cohorts already bring together educators from different continents in a single class.
The network can contribute directly: submitting resources (which earns leaderboard points for your community), suggesting lexicon terms, improving translations and, soon, sharing activities adapted to local cultures. A Contribute page gathers every way to help, from proofreading to volunteering.
Built with the Network, Step by Step
The app is being built in public, and what exists today is an early version between alpha and beta. Every screen has a feedback button, because positive and negative feedback from real classrooms is what will make it useful.
The rollout follows clear stages. First, a closed beta with a small group of communities from the Education Network, who test the app on real cohorts. Next, the whole Education Network. Then every educator and student who wants to teach or learn Bitcoin.
The first versions run as a web app in the browser, with app store release on Apple and Google planned for around April 2027. There are no fixed dates for the stages in between: each opens when the app is good enough.
Coming next: messaging between educators and students before the app store release, more social and communication features, and ready-made, branded visuals for sharing cohorts on social media.
Communities that want to join the beta can contact Arnold, who coordinates the Education Network, at [email protected].
