Simply put; BitDegree is a project that's, in BitDegree's own words, trying to "revolutionize education with blockchain". The BitDegree project consists of an educational platform where anyone can participate in incentivized-courses hosted by anyone, effectively.
The main purpose of the BitDegree platform is to let students acquire skills that are currently required by the labour market, as well as allowing the hosting of incentivized-courses for a multitude of different reasons, all decided by the host of the course themselves. When utilizing the BitDegree platform, businesses are not asked what skills they need in the far future (3-5 years), but rather explicitly what skilled labor is currently in demand. This allows businesses to specify and narrow the demographic to a point where all applicants are viable potential hirees. The BitDegree platform directly aligns the incentives of students and any course hoster, making the BitDegree platform an especially powerful tool for businesses to recruit newfound talent, shaped towards it's specific needs utilizing smart-incentives. Companies/et al. in need of talent will be able to provide financial incentives to students willing to participate in courses designed to develop their skills, on the BitDegree platform. Other projects, businesses, companies and product offerers, are also able to get people familiar with newly introduced technology, products or services, by creating incentivized-courses learning, informing and perhaps even testing the product/service/technology at hand. There are effectively multiple different usecases and deployment-instances wherein BitDegree courses can be used and profited from (not necessarily just in monetary ways). Course hosters can also inform course-takers about which knowledge and skills is needed to test newly introduced technology/products/services, or to complete a whole educative course based around a vacant job opportunity looking to get filled. People looking for new opportunities will learn new technologies, develop practical skills in demand, and get familiar with existing technological solutions provided by solution providers. Job seekers will be able to enroll in subsidized courses hosted by companies, both to get more knowledge and to develop skills within their respective topic, with a potential opportunity of landing a job.
The BitDegree approach is widely different from other online educational platforms due to the BitDegree platform's ability to facilitate a paradigm shift within the demand and supply of education and knowledge; catering specific supply of needed skills, product/service-familiarity and knowledge towards students, wanted marketing-demographics and job seekers in a rapid and ever-changing market. Easily explained; this means that BitDegree will directly facilitate the general pairing of skilled labourers and learners, with businesses/sponsors and instructors, all whilst incentivizing the supply of knowledge and the learning of said knowledge, for all parties involved.
BitDegree is currently hosting an ICO for their BDG tokens. The BitDegree token is an ERC20 utility token built on top of the Ethereum blockchain, specifically for use with the BitDegree platform. BitDegree token as a means of exchange can be used among users of the platform: Students, Sponsors, and third-party Digital Service Providers. The token can be used to create smart-incentives for educational accomplishments, to purchase advertising and recruitment services, and various other digital services offered by third parties, all on the BitDegree platform. When contributing to the BitDegree ICO, there is one thing that's important to establish: You shouldn’t view BDG token purchase(s) as an investment, but rather as a purchase of fully functional utility tokens for use with the BitDegree platform or any of their partner services. You can think of each token as a mini voucher that can be exchanged to services on many digital service providers. Hostinger is the first one that accepts BitDegree token in exchange for services, (fixed at ICO price for 1 year after conclusion, offering downside protection).
The BitDegree ICO has, as of writing this, raised $7,445,540. BitDegree ICO has reached it's softcap, meaning that the ICO will be completed as of the 29th of December. During the ICO, BitDegree has offered different levels of bonuses, available to all, in line with when the tokens were purchased. First, a 10% bonus was offered, now a 5% bonus is present (only for 2 more days). After this current bonus, there will be no more bonuses offered.
I believe BitDegree to be a fantastic project with good utility, and a bright future, however I am no financial advisor, so please do not act without doing your own research. All links above the following one are non-referral links. If you wish to contribute to the ICO, at the same time as supporting me, then please utilize this link.
Sources:
https://www.bitdegree.org/
https://blog.bitdegree.org/
