Bybit, Tether Roll Out $3,000 CSR Scholarship to Support Education in South Africa

TL;DR

• Bybit and Tether’s South African crypto scholarships run Oct 2–Nov 7, offering a $3,000 top prize and 50 total awards.
• Applicants submit a short video, share it on social, and compete for weekly picks, making the program accessible while spreading blockchain literacy.
• Through initiatives like the Bybit Rising Fund and Tether Edu, both are investing heavily in African education, having already committed over $100,000 to platforms like AltSchool Africa and partnered with five universities in Ivory Coast.

Africa’s Web3 education has received yet another investor with BYBIT, the world’s second-largest crypto exchange, and Tether, the largest stablecoin issuer, launching a corporate social responsibility scholarship program for university students in South Africa.

The crypto scholarship program will run from October 2 to November 7, 2024, offering substantial awards of up $3000. While its main efforts are to lower the barrier to higher education, the programs still seek to extend blockchain literacy throughout South Africa. In 2025 alone, the demand for developers, startups and blockchain experts within Africa has grown with the demand for local solutions.

Detailing the South African Crypto Scholarships Program

International ecosystems like Lisk, Base, Ethereum, and Solana have each launched,d hackathons, events and incubation hubs to support upcoming innovators, startups, effectively supporting the next generation of African developers.

While the specific prize pool of the crypto scholarship is not disclosed, its structure is designed to be both accessible and engaging. Rather than relying solely on traditional academic metrics, applicants have been given a chance to prove themselves uniquely.

How to Apply

In the video, they must introduce themselves, discuss their field of study and articulate how the crypto scholarship would help achieve their personal, academic and career goals. The videos must be posted on social media platforms and officially submitted through designated entry portals.

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This approach is typically a marketing strategy as well as spreading awareness of the programs while simultaneously advertising each platform across African community spaces. While the scholarship doesn’t directly tie to web3 education, it highlights how such programs focus on educating individuals on the vast opportunities such ecosystems offer.

Prize Structure and Payout

The program features a tiered prize pool designed to reward a wide range of talented participants. The financial awards are structured as follows:

• First Place: $3,000
• Second Place: $2,000
• Third Place: $1,000
• Fourth to Fiftieth Place: $100 each

Bybit has had a profound track record in Africa’s web3 space; hence will be announcing the weekly winner on its Africa social media channels. The grand prize will be revealed in the program’s final week.

Why Blockchain Grants Are a Game-Changer for African Youth

The South African crypto scholarships are one among many “blockchain grants” the continent has received. Bybit and Tether have long investment tracks, both in startups and web3 ecosystems across Africa.

For instant, Bybits once partnered with AltSchool Africa, a Nigerian-based edtech platform. The platform sponsored over 1,000 young Africans through a $100,000 commitment. The program mainly focused on educating young Nigerians in software engineering, data analytics, and product management. According to recent data, Bybit has committed over $4,000 university sponsorship program in Kenya and Ethiopia. The program is still ongoing (until October 17), following similar criteria of participation to its latest program.

The Bybit Rising Fund, launched in August 2025, is the parent program funding all these initiatives. As per its release date, the program is part of Bybit’s World Series of Trading (WSOT) 2025 under the “Rewrite & Reshape” theme. The program focuses on four continents, from Bolivia and South Africa to the Nordic capitals, providing charitable donations with a keen focus on education. Its main focus is providing entry-level crypto and blockchain bootcamps, hackathons, educational courses and crypto scholarships to back underserved communities.

RELATED: Twelve African Blockchain Startups Secure Millions in Venture Funding

Tether education initiatives are also quite popular in Africa. The company recently partnered with the Zanzibar eGovernment Authority in June 2025 to promote web3 education while accelerating the use and adoption of USDT. In March 2025, Tether partnered with Quidax to encourage similar initiatives for over 15,000 individuals across Nigeria and Ghana.

This initiative sought to embed blockchain technology into the existing curriculum while potentially providing more use cases for its USDT. Its partnership with Zanzibar showcases these wants via its ZanMalipo partnership, potentially adding Tether into a local government payments gateway. It’s Tether Edu, launched in February 2024, targeted emerging markets like Africa, Latin America and the Middle East.

According to Tether Edu’s official site, its curriculum is focused on tailored content to address currency volatility, limited banking challenges and even language localization. Educational material talks more about the important, designs and utility of stablecoins. In 2024, the platform partnered with five universities in the Ivory Coast:

• Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny
• Institut National Polytechnique Félix Houphouët-Boigny
• Pigier Business School
• Université Alassane Ouattara
• Université d’Abobo-Adjamé

Why Corporate Social Responsibility Matters in Crypto

The joint crypto scholarships are an attempt at tackling the shared criticisms commonly associated with digital assets. Africa’s markets are growing, with the ecosystem shifting from users to builders. Only a small population, mainly developers and tech gurus, cares about what blockchain is. For the most part, local markets often care about what utility it offers. Investing in education is a rather way of providing more channels of value.

Teaching young developers that Tech can offer more opportunities leads to the creation of new startups and innovations. Additionally, it creates a pool for developers, community managers, and marketers for Tether and Bybit. Currently, Nigeria is Africa’s leading developer community, and spreading out to South Africa and Kenya provides a broader opportunity to the community.

It’s a win-win on both sides, African students gain the financial aid they require without accruing debt, and companies gain a pool of new workers who can build solutions tailored to the local context.