Why crypto’s next breakthrough could start in the classroom — Animoca’s Yat Siu
Ripple’s $25 million donation to a crypto education fund has reignited conversations about how blockchain projects are building influence through academia—but in the latest episode of Byte-Sized Insight, Animoca Brands’ co-founder Yat Siu says that money alone isn’t enough.
Instead, real-world use cases like student loans backed by DeFi may be crypto’s most convincing value proposition to date.
DeFi student loans
On April 30th, Pencil Finance, a project supported by Animoca Brands and its education arm Open Campus, announced a $10 million student loan financing initiative aimed at providing cheaper, blockchain-backed loans. Siu believes this type of infrastructure investment goes further than symbolic funding.
“What our industry needs a lot more is these kinds of positive-sum use cases that everyone else understands,” Siu said in the interview. “If students can receive better, cheaper and more effective opportunities and interest rates through crypto student loans, what happens? They’re going to be more pro-crypto.”
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Unlike a one-time donation, the Pencil Finance model integrates crypto directly into the financing mechanism—leveraging blockchain rails to make lending more transparent, efficient, and accessible.
“While money has influence, it doesn’t necessarily change the system for the better per se. The technology… actually provides a way we can onboard people into that.”
Crypto in the classroom
Siu said the crypto industry still suffers from a perception problem, especially among those unfamiliar with financial tools or blockchain-native culture. That’s why educational use cases need to move beyond highbrow NFT art or meme coins and offer something universally relatable.
“When you’re sitting at the table and someone’s saying, ‘What is crypto really good for?’—what do we say?” he asked. “Memecoins? Or do we say student loans? That’s something everyone understands.”
Siu also emphasized the long-term impact of onboarding students early—both for growing crypto literacy and building a foundation for adoption. “You want to onboard them at the earliest levels and let them understand what’s going on,” he said. “That’s what Apple did with education discounts. It wasn’t about profit at first—it was about future influence.”
Ripple’s donation may be a step forward for awareness and much-needed funding support in the education sector, but Animoca’s approach aims to make crypto indispensable, not just visible, in education systems around the world.
“We have to show what [crypto] is good for. We’ve got to start from the grassroots.”
Listen to the full episode of Byte-Sized Insight for the complete interview on Cointelegraph’s Podcasts page, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And don’t forget to check out Cointelegraph’s full lineup of other shows!