On December 19, Minister of Digital Development and Aerospace Industry of Kazakhstan Bagdat Mussin, Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan Sayasat Nurbek, and Chairman of the Board JSC «Center for Development of Payment and Financial Technologies of the National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan» Binur Zhalenov, signed a memorandum of academic cooperation with Binance Kazakhstan represented by Zhaslan Madiev.

Kazakhstan will become the first country in the world to introduce an educational program in organizations of higher and (or) postgraduate education (HPE) nationally. In the pilot version, 22 higher education institutions in the country will prepare more than 40,000 students. The resulting community of professionals with knowledge and skills in blockchain technology will be a significant resource for the global blockchain industry association. It is currently the largest unparalleled global educational initiative in the blockchain industry.

"Being interested in training competitive specialists for our economy, we cooperate with representatives from the IT sector to provide a solid foundation for the further development of educational programs in this area. I am confident that through our fruitful cooperation, Kazakhstan's higher education system will become a supplier of blockchain industry professionals not only for the needs of Kazakhstan's economy but also for the global labor market", - said Sayasat Nurbek, Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

"The signing of the memorandum with Binance Academy is a logical continuation of our cooperation with Binance, established during the visit of CEO Changpeng Zhao in May of this year. Personnel training as part of this agreement will increase the proportion of Kazakh technology used in the global crypto industry, allowing Kazakhstan to achieve its goal of becoming a regional crypto hub", - said Bagdat Mussin, Minister of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry.

"We support Kazakhstan's goal of becoming a leading player in digital technology, which would be impossible without higher education and blockchain implementation across the country. Binance values education and Binance Academy is one of the largest training centers in the blockchain industry. Our partnership with Kazakhstan's government organizations is another step toward accessible and standardized blockchain and crypto-education for all", - said Gleb Kostarev, director of Binance Asia.

The meeting was attended by Stephen McAllister, Binance Academy Partnerships Team Lead, Aidana Kaskyrbek, Head of Blockchain Center, and representatives of specialized universities where the educational programs will be implemented.

"Binance is a global leader in blockchain technology, and Kazakhstan, which is actively developing and implementing digital technologies, aims to train its personnel in this area. This agreement gives Kazakhstan the priority right to introduce educational programs based on Binance knowledge in the Central Asian region, which is a huge plus for Astana Hub participants. Since the training will take place based on the Blockchain Center, located at the Astana Hub, it will provide an additional opportunity for students to implement and consolidate the acquired knowledge in practice quickly", - noted Magzhan Madiev, general director of the Astana Hub.

Binance is working with Binance Academy's education division to provide materials on blockchain engineering and compliance of the Blockchain Center and plans to facilitate teacher education and training.

The program will be implemented in four stages. The first phase will develop training programs for university teachers on academic programs based on educational materials from Binance Academy; the second – the education and training of university teachers on academic programs together with the Binance Academy team (joint webinars and lectures); the third - development of an educational program in conjunction with trained faculty members and university administrators. The program is a specialization of 4-5 disciplines (courses); The fourth stage will involve launching a university-based profession for students.

Training and education for university faculty will begin in February and continue through May 2023. Student training will commence in September 2023.

As a reminder, in May this year, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev hosted the founder and CEO of Binance, Changpen Zhao. During the meeting, the prospects for long-term cooperation between the relevant structures of Kazakhstan and Binance in the field of educational programs of blockchain technologies were discussed.

To successfully implement this project, in June 2022, the PFTDC NB RK and Astana Hub formed the Blockchain Center Project Office, which aimed to support the blockchain industry in the region by developing human capital in the sector and digital projects based on distributed registry technology. The Center has built an implementation strategy for educational programs in the HPE.