CoinMarketCap launches crypto education portal 'CMC Alexandria'

Veteran crypto markets data aggregator CoinMarketCap (CMC) is venturing into new territory — cryptocurrency education.

CMC first made its name as a price-tracking website for cryptocurrencies back in 2013 and has remained at the center of ongoing efforts to establish reliable data sources for investors in the industry. 

Now the site is looking beyond market data and aiming to provide more holistic educational content that can help orient newcomers to crypto.

“Cryptocurrency is no longer the niche interest that it once was, but neither is it completely mainstream — it’s somewhere in the middle,” a CoinMarketCap representative told Cointelegraph. 

The site is therefore looking to leverage the user traffic it already has to support “the cryptocurrency revolution” by “educating everyone that ends up on CMC about these emerging technologies.” The representative said: 

“We are first trying to provide the educational building blocks that will help those new to the crypto space become more familiar with key concepts that many crypto enthusiasts already take for granted, ranging from the nitty gritty of how Bitcoin transactions work, to more important considerations like how to keep your crypto safe.”

The new platform is called CMC Alexandria, in reference to the ancient Library of Alexandria of the second century B.C. — an emblem of early aspirations to gather the world’s knowledge in one place, as part of a "universal library."

CMC’s crypto library includes a glossary, articles on cryptocurrency basics, tech deep-dives, and a section devoted to decentralized finance (DeFi).

Commenting on why DeFi was featuring so prominently in its library, the representative explained that while CoinMarketCap is taking an encyclopedic approach to cryptocurrency education, it also aims to reflect the most relevant developments of the moment. 

“Right now, that happens to be decentralized finance,” the representative said, adding that the “uninitiated” still need access to more comprehensive information in order to make sense of new and arguably still obscure topics in the DeFi space.

As reported, CMC was acquired by Binance in April of this year and has seen changes to its team in the past weeks.