A new era of intellectual sovereignty

UATX, Austin University, Texas, is rediscovering and redefineing academic pursuits. Founded in 2021, the startup university has instead focused on entrepreneurship, in a protest against the recent intellectual doctrine and the radicalisation of “awakening” at major universities, providing students with a technically and culturally complex future.

These old values, rekindled by the chaos of modernity, led UATX to Bitcoin. Bitcoin magazine.

UATX has been making waves in recent weeks and months with various Bitcoin-related announcements. Among them is the publication of “Satoshi Paper,” which constitutes a collection of political, social and economic essays that discuss the influence and nature of Bitcoin, repeating federalist papers (prevailed during the establishment of the United States). They also announced the country’s first Bitcoin Fund Fund and boast a Bitcoin and cryptocurrency curriculum led by Dr. Thomas L. Hogan. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong recently tweeted, “We’re hiring new university graduates from UATX,” adding, “It’s in line with our apolitical culture. We hope that more non-political universities will emerge over time.”

Protest against cancelling culture and intellectual rigidity in academia

“Many of our faculty and staff came to UATX because they were tired of having intellectual rigidity and cancelling culture at previous institutions,” Maggie Kelly, UATX’s Chief Promotion Officer, told Bitcoin Magazine. She said, “We are really trying to create a place where people can come and think freely and explore ideas without fear of cancellation or silence. This is a big problem in academia today.”

UATX was founded by journalist Bari Weiss, then president of St. John’s College, historian Neil Ferguson, venture capitalist Joe Lonsdale, and Pano Canelos, who criticised the nature of the “abuse” of modern traditional universities.

Kanelos, founder and now the university’s prime minister, stated his best article in his 2021 Free Press article.

It cites a report by the Center for Partisanship and Ideology Research. Karenos noted that “more than a third of conservative scholars and doctoral students are threatened with disciplinary action against their opinions, and four of the five American doctoral students said they are willing to discriminate against the right academics.”

Despite being a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, forced to think differently and take on the startup thinking, UATX focuses on entrepreneurship, history, economics and classic Western philosophical thinking.

UATX Bitcoin Curriculum

The Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency curriculum at Austin University is led by an associate professor of economics with deep experience in economics and academia. He previously was the Chief Economist of the US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, and worked for the American Institute of Economics (AIER), CATO Institute, the World Bank, and Merrill Lynch’s Commodity Trading Group.

“Our referral courses are a combination of knowledge acquisition and practical skills. Students are studying the origins of Bitcoin, how networks work, and how Bitcoin can help protect human rights.

Unlike other online resources and educational materials, UATX leans into a close connection with the Texas Bitcoin industry, unleashing personal and practical experiences of technology. Jack Platts from Hypersphere Ventures donated bitcoin to students, while Cholla Inc, Gideon Powell and Brad Cuddy donated Antminer S9 miners that students had set up in their dorms (previously attended the mining pool). Pierre Rochard gave guest lectures and led students through Lightning Network Transactions. This class also included a field trip to Riot’s mining facility in Rockdale, Texas. There, Riot is turning it into Bitcoin Mine. Students received books such as “Gradually and Suddenly”, “Satoshi Paper”, “Resistance Money”, and “Genesis Block”.

Although the Bitcoin curriculum is not much promoted, Rosario revealed that “it is the second most popular course to bid on using a free market bidding system where students use points to select courses.

“Beyond Bitcoin, students will learn about other tokens and unique aspects of blockchain. We will explore how to program and deploy basic smart contracts and use these tools to build systems of decentralized finance (DEFI) and decentralized physical infrastructure (dep),” added Dr. Hogan.

When asked about novel risks such as crypto fraud and Ponzi schemes, memecoin, and ragpur, Rosario said, “We addressed the best way to teach students about not only digital assets, but also the atmosphere of fraud, by teaching students about the atmosphere of fraud, not just digital assets, but also the intellectual foundations of Western traditions, even modern philosophers and economists.”

Dr. Hogan highlighted the transparency and reliability of blockchain compared to traditional financial networks. “Unlike opaque financial companies, smart contract funds can be easily verified on blockchain. Unlike when it takes several days to clear bank transfers or stock transactions, blockchain transactions can be verified within minutes,” he explained, adding, “In contrast, failing companies like FTX and Celsius Network have been built with old-fashioned companies. Moving to a blockchain-based system will help prevent such a collapse in the future.”

Dr. Hogan shared the original schedules of the classes and guest lecturers on Bitcoin Magazine, as shown below.

Part 1: Bitcoin

Week 1: Bitcoin and Blockchain Intro

Week 2: Bitcoin and Lightning Network (Pierre Rochard)

Week 3: Bitcoin and Human Rights (Craig Walke)

Week 4: Bitcoin mining and energy economics

Week 5: The Future of Bitcoin (Wilcole and Parker Lewis)

Part 2: Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Technology

Week 6: Cryptocurrency and smart contracts

Week 7: Decentralized Finance (DEFI)

Week 8: Webpage and Blockchain Interaction (Phil Greenwald)

Week 9: Utility tokens and decentralized physical infrastructure (Kyle Samani)

Week 10: The Future of Cryptocurrency and Blockchain

Bitcoin in Academic Discourse: Sato’s Discourse

In addition to teaching students about Bitcoin, UATX leads conversations about the social meaning and impact of Bitcoin in academic circles. In February 2025, the university held Satoshi Papers Symposium, a day of academic lectures celebrating the release of the book by the Texas Bitcoin Foundation (TBF).

The atatoshi paper, published by the Bitcoin Policy Institute (BPI) and edited by TBF Executive Director and BPI Fellow Natalie Smolensky, “takes inspiration from 18th-century American debate about the role of government in maintaining freedom of individuals and communities.”

The book features a series of essays from a variety of scholars, including economists, historians, anthropologists and other social scientists, discussing the relationship between money and nation in the post-Bitcoin world.

Bitcoin donation in self-detention

Due to its educational and academic contributions to Bitcoin, UATX also holds assets in custom designed Bitcoin funds, and unlike many other universities that are exposed to Bitcoin via ETFs, the university has a strong belief in self-custody, and has secured funding for Multisignature Wallets, the Unchained Partner, the Unchained Partner, the Unchained Partner, who is participating in Bitcoin.

Joe Kelly, CEO and co-founder of Unchained, donated two bitcoins to kickstart. The university is actively raising $5 million in Bitcoin and has committed to keeping the refrigerated for at least five years.

During the announcement in June 2024, Kelly said: “UATX and the Bitcoin community are building unwavering innovative institutions as partners. The university is signaling the evaluation of Bitcoin’s capabilities as a free-based technology.