Informing and raising students’ awareness about cryptocurrencies was the focus of the social project carried out by the ABC Tirana Club student group in collaboration with the Faculty of Economics in Tirana, with the financial support of B4Students. The idea for the project was presented at the call for Social Clubs, organized by B4Students, in support of social initiatives with a positive impact on the community. The project was carried out in several stages, over 5 months, with the participation of stakeholders’ representatives.

In order to assess young people’s perception of cryptocurrencies and address their main concerns, ABC Tirana Club organized a survey with 300 students from public and private universities in the country. The average age of the interviewees was 21.7 years old, 47% of them are pursuing bachelor’s studies and 46% are female. With the data from the survey, 5 informative videos were prepared and promoted online.

Under the auspices of the ABC Tirana Club team, representatives of interest groups from public and private institutions, non-profit organizations, as well as academics and students of economics and finance, were part of the discussion forum, organized in order to analyze the findings of the survey, highlighting key challenges and providing suggestions, to inform the use of cryptocurrencies.

The forum was greeted by the Dean of FEUT, Prof. Dr. Dhori Kule, who emphasized public trust. “New phenomena in the economic field require responsibility in management and interpretation, otherwise chaos is stimulated in people, in their thoughts and decision-making. The survey data and the conclusions of this forum directly contribute to the increase of this trust,” were his words.

For the lecturer Prof. Assoc. Dr. Edlira Mërtiri, investing in cryptocurrencies should not be done without proper expertise and information. In her speech she quoted that “it turns out that about 1% of the Albanian population is involved in the cryptocurrency market. The value of the portfolios, according to SCAN TV, is about 6.2 billion dollars. Although the law has been created, it is not complete in some aspects, and the market is still unexplored enough, so the care for quality information should be high“.

The survey data and the conclusions of the forum are part of the summarized material published by ABC Tirana Club in the framework of the financial and economic education of the public. This is the second social project carried out by students with the support of B4Students, while two other social projects, from student clubs of Fan S. Noli University, Korçë and Luigj Gurakuqi University, Shkodër, have been evaluated for support and yes are advised for their implementation in the following months.

The realization of social projects for topics of interest to students and the community is the continuation of social responsibility activities with a focus on education, a priority of BALFIN Group, under the special care of President Samir Mane.