Jay-Z’s Selling Bitcoin in the Projects. Not Everyone’s Buying.
It was an eyebrow-raising venture from the outset: two billionaire crypto evangelists funding a 12-week “Bitcoin Academy” for residents of a public housing complex in Brooklyn, with classes ranging from “Careers in Crypto” to a seminar on “Why Decentralization Matters.” Three months later, class has been dismissed, and tenants at the Marcy Houses have very different opinions about the whole affair—backed by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey and rapper Jay-Z, who reportedly grew up in Building 524.
Some residents are still ardent skeptics: “How are you helping us if you’re asking us to put in five dollars, 10 dollars, and we’re all on fixed income?” questioned Lydia Bryant, 57, adding that people’s money would likely be safer in “a real stock” instead of crypto.
Some didn’t pick up much: “I took the class but I really didn't comprehend a lot,” said a retiree who used to work as a school bus matron in Queens.