Source: The Cryptonomist

In late November 2023, the entire crypto industry was shocked by the fraud allegations made by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) against the former founder and CEO of the biggest centralized exchange, Binance, Changpeng Zhao, popularly known to the crypto community as CZ. This news tore the crypto community into two different sets of people with differing thoughts. Some were disappointed with the news because CZ was a well-respected crypto thought leader (and still is), and others drummed support for the DOJ’s actions while FUD’ing the exchange.

A consequence of these allegations was CZ stepping down as the CEO of Binance in addition to the $4 billion fine settlement. Even with that, the case was not yet settled as he was set to face criminal sentencing by February 2024 which was postponed.

After the news broke, CZ, via Twitter (now X), shared his plans for the next phase which included passive investing, becoming a shareholder or token holder in areas relating to blockchain, AI, DeFi, biotech, and AI. So to say, many crypto enthusiasts were anticipating his next move. Bet they got their wish when, on the 18th of March, CZ tweeted “Launching a new project. No, no new tokens. Education project. More details soon….” The people’s favorite CEO wants to focus on the education sector, even if he mentioned back in 2023 that he doesn’t see himself being a CEO driving a startup again (I guess once a builder, always a builder?)

Then on the 19th of March, he shared more details about his plans in a tweet that reads:

“My next project. @GiggleAcademy (No logo yet)

Free basic (grade 1-12 ish) education, for all.

No revenue.

Gamefied.

Adaptive.

Read the Concept Paper at giggleacademy.com

We are HIRING. Small team, work directly with CZ.”

Underneath this, he added “We are looking for teacher(s) who can create digital content."

The tweet garnered a lot of attention and people showed support to volunteer and their intention to join CZ’s new team but that’s not the most interesting part of it all.

Even if CZ’s post or the Giggle Academy website made no mention of this project being crypto-related, the announcement caused a spike in the $EDU token, a token developed by Open Campus. Open Campus is a community-led educational platform dedicated to building a decentralized campus that allows everyone to create and manage content they wish to share with the world, enabling educators to earn money and receive recognition for their contributions.

This spike in the price of the $EDU token is presumably one caused by speculation. It’s no news that prices of cryptocurrencies are mostly driven by speculation and a large part of speculation is caused by news (positive or negative). Just like the $WLD token, an AI token that dropped to about $2 when Sam Altman, founder of OpenAI and subsequently, Worldcoin was outed from the OpenAI company back in November 2023. The same $WLD token soared to over $10 this month when the World Wallet App was launched.