Rujira Academy: The Litepaper

Welcome to the Rujira Renaissance!

This Litepaper outlines the transformation of Kujira Academy, covering our journey, achievements, and reasons for rebranding, before presenting the structure of the newly formed Rujira Academy and offering a glimpse into its role within the future of the Rujira Network and THORChain ecosystem.

If you’re already acquainted with our journey and accomplishments, click here to discover everything about Rujira Academy!

What Is Rujira Academy?

Rujira Academy is a Web3 platform specializing in education, marketing, and events, with a key focus on the following objectives:

Core Aims

To bridge the gap between universities and blockchain technologies.
To establish THORChain as a leading educational figure in the Nigerian Web3 landscape.
To play a key role in the development of Rujira’s educational platform.

Before delving into how they plan to achieve these objectives, let’s first take a step back to understand how Kujira Academy came to be.

Rujira Academy: Our Journey So Far

The Conception of Kujira Academy

Rujira Academy, originally launched as Kujira Academy, was established to address critical challenges within the Web3 ecosystem – most notably, the lack of accessible education and meaningful employment pathways for students.

Identifying the Problem

In traditional sectors like finance, companies invest heavily in lowering the barriers to entry, offering insight days, work placements, and internships. These programs not only equip students with the skills they need but also give them confidence in a defined career path with a clear mode of progression.

Web3, by comparison, offers no such structured system.

The absence of formalized education and career guidance within the industry has created a fragmented and opaque entry process for students, stifling the onboarding process, and leaving students unsure of how to navigate a decentralized and rapidly evolving industry.

Additionally, the scarcity of secure employment opportunities discourages students from pursuing Web3 as a career, as, in a world where stability is highly valued, a path marked by uncertainty and risk naturally deters potential talent.

As university students ourselves, we knew this needed to change.

This is why we built Kujira Academy.

Presenting the Solution

Kujira Academy set out not just to solve the problem of limited access to education and jobs, but to transform Web3 into a more accessible, inclusive, and sustainable industry for future generations.

At the core of our mission were three fundamental objectives:

Core Aims

To become the educational hub of the Kujira ecosystem.
To bridge the gap between universities and blockchain technology.
To improve accessibility to resources and opportunities for all users.

You can find the Kujira Academy Litepaper here.

By equipping students with the necessary tools and knowledge, we aimed to cultivate a more informed and skilled community, capable of actively contributing to the growth of the Kujira ecosystem.

Simultaneously, by offering clear employment pathways, we would encourage more students to consider Web3 a viable and exciting career option, strengthening the talent pipeline necessary for Kujira’s continued success.

Ultimately, this approach would empower individuals from all backgrounds to engage with and contribute to both Kujira and the wider blockchain space.

Now, what progress did we make toward these core objectives during our time as Kujira Academy?

Let’s take a look.

The Evolution of Kujira Academy

Education: Ambassador Programs

The first step we took towards solving the challenges we identified was the development of our ambassador programs.

We designed two six-week programs that featured online lectures, seminars, and skill-based workshops, which aimed to provide university students around the globe with a structured pathway into Web3.

Some of the key topics covered in these ambassador programs were:

Utilizing AI in Content Creation
Building a Web3 Brand
Hosting Web3 Events
SEO Optimization – Leveraging the X Algorithm

For an in-depth explanation of our first ambassador program, navigate here, and to find out how we improved on these efforts in our second ambassador program, navigate here.

Many of our graduates, who started with close to zero experience, have gone on to achieve success in Web3, either with Kujira Academy or through their own ventures, highlighting the effectiveness of our ambassador programs in providing practical skills and real-world opportunities within the Web3 space.

Education: Content Creation

In the past year, we have published over 70 articles on WinkHub, amassing 50,000 views across a variety of topics ranging from basic Web3/DeFi concepts to specialized pieces on Kujira and its native protocols.

Through this work, we successfully positioned ourselves as a trusted source of information, aligning with our core aim to become the educational hub of the Kujira ecosystem.

Marketing: Strategic Partnerships

We also made significant strides in Web3 marketing by partnering with protocols like CacaoSwap, AutoKujira, and Boon.

We developed, organized, and led strategic campaigns for each of these protocols, providing essential marketing and content in the lead-up to their token launches/seed rounds, which raised $410,000, $210,000, and $45,000 respectively.

You can find a full summary of our partnerships with CacaoSwap, Auto, and Boon here.

Through these partnerships, Kujira Academy cemented itself as the leading provider of marketing, content, and consultancy services within the Kujira ecosystem, offering an attractive option to protocols looking to enhance their visibility and make their mark in Web3.

Events

Events also played an instrumental role in Kujira Academy’s growth, enabling us to establish a global Web3 presence for Kujira, most notably in Lisbon and Nigeria.

Kujira Lisbon

Kujira Lisbon marked the start of this venture, where we held monthly events in an attempt to establish a Web3 community in the crypto hub of Europe.

In April of this year, we partnered with The Block Lisboa to host our first event for Team Kujira. In the months preceding, we hosted several more sponsored events that spotlighted up-and-coming protocols within the Kujira ecosystem.

You can find the full details of each event here.

After establishing a presence in Europe, we expanded into Nigeria, the global leader in blockchain adoption.

Kujira Africa

In February of this year, we partnered with PUMSA Uniport to deliver a one-day workshop that educated students on the capabilities of blockchain technology and the future of Decentralized Finance (DeFi). You can find a summary of this event here.

Following the success of this workshop, we collaborated with the University of Port Harcourt to host the first official event of our ‘Blockchain Futures’ event circuit, with this arguably our biggest achievement to date.

Over 125 students attended the event, resulting in more than 100 SONAR wallet downloads and 70 new members joining our Telegram community.

You can find a full summary of the event here, and the short movie here.

These initiatives in Nigeria marked a significant milestone in achieving our core objectives by bridging the gap between education and blockchain technology, successfully demonstrating Kujira Academy’s potential to drive blockchain adoption and strengthen Kujira’s presence in emerging markets.

University of Bristol

In April of this year, I had the privilege of returning to my alma mater to host a guest lecture at the University of Bristol, where I spoke to MSc students studying FinTech about ‘Opportunities in Web3‘.

After the completion of this lecture, I discussed the scope for future collaboration with the program director. We’re thrilled to announce that we have now officially partnered with the University of Bristol to help develop their MSc FinTech curriculum for the 24/25 academic year.

You can read an in-depth explanation of this lecture’s contents and our partnership with the UoB for this academic year here.

Kujira Academy: A Catalyst For Change

Through our ambassador programs, content creation, marketing campaigns, and global events, we successfully addressed the key challenges we initially identified in Web3.

Ultimately, these initiatives expanded access to resources, empowered communities around the globe, and positioned Web3 as a viable career path for students and professionals worldwide.

We were well and truly poised for success. Then, the unexpected happened.

The Kujira Drama Explained

In early August, a sudden market drop triggered a liquidation cascade for the Kujira team, who had been using $KUJI tokens as collateral on GHOST (Kujira’s money market) to bootstrap liquidity within the ecosystem.

As $KUJI’s price fell, their borrow position fell below the safe loan-to-value (LTV) threshold, resulting in mass liquidations. Bidders, who scooped up $KUJI through ORCA (Kujira’s liquidation engine) at a discount of 30%, then sold this discounted $KUJI for quick profits, deepening the price crash and leaving a significant amount of bad debt in the ecosystem.

This event exposed risks within decentralized systems, underscoring the need for a more flexible, resilient model and forcing us to rethink our approach. After much internal discussion, the team made the executive decision to pivot to Rujira Academy and broaden our scope beyond the Kujira ecosystem.

Now, what is Rujira Academy, and what is the direction we decided on?

Introducing Rujira Academy: A New Beginning

Rujira Academy: The Core Aims

As stated earlier, Rujira Academy’s core aims are:

To bridge the gap between universities and blockchain technologies.
To establish THORChain as a leading educational figure in the Nigerian Web3 landscape.
To play a key role in the development of Rujira’s educational platform.

Let’s now take a look at how we aim to achieve these objectives.

Core Aim 1: To Bridge the Gap between Universities and Blockchain Technologies

This will involve extending our efforts in Nigeria, completing our partnership with the University of Bristol, and expanding our reach to other UK universities. We will work closely with leading educational platforms such as THORChain University, aligning our efforts with these key figures to improve the provision of information to the Rujira and THORChain communities.

Through this, Rujira Academy will raise the overall standard of education, helping individuals make better, more informed investment decisions, and providing students with a defined path for career progression in this space.

Core Aim 2: To play a key role in the development of Rujira’s educational platform

In the Kujira ecosystem, Kujira Academy quickly became the de facto choice for any protocol looking to launch on PILOT or promote a new feature/product to their community. As Rujira establishes itself as the app layer of Web3, we will take on a renewed role.

This will involve strategic partnerships with many of Rujira’s up-and-coming protocols, helping them with all essential services related to launching a token, educating users, and galvanizing a community. This also extends to consultancy services, where we will look to bring the skills and experience gained through past partnerships with Kujira’s native protocols to the Rujira Network.

Through these efforts, Rujira Academy will solidify its position as a vital component of Rujira’s educational platform, laying the groundwork for partnerships with industry leaders and facilitating connections with established protocols and projects in the Web3 space.

Core Aim 3: To establish THORChain as a leading educational figure in the Nigerian Web3 landscape.

THORChain Africa, our most exciting venture yet, will complete this trifecta, curating a network of talented students, developers, and individuals from every corner of the globe.

Building on our successful events in Nigeria and Lisbon, we will continue to expand into these regions, offering real-world courses, initiatives, and programs that provide users with a prescriptive path into Web3.

In doing so, Rujira Academy will not only further establish THORChain within Europe and solidify its presence in emerging markets, but provide them with a continuous pipeline of talent that will fuel innovation within this ecosystem for years to come.

So, how will we achieve this? Let’s take a look at what lies ahead for Rujira Academy.

Rujira Academy: The Road Ahead

Rujira Academy has set out to achieve the following objectives in Q1 of 2025.

Officially partner with the University of Bristol for the 24/25 academic year.
Establish Rujira Academy’s role within Rujira’s educational platform.
Host the first event of our THORChain Africa campaign.

Whilst still in the early stages, the completion of these Q1 objectives will enable us to bridge the gap between blockchain technologies and universities, contribute to the education of the Rujira community, and establish THORChain as a leading force in emerging markets, laying the foundations for long-term success.

Following this, all will become clear, and we will be well on our way to achieving the core objectives stated above. While this won’t be without its challenges, we’re incredibly excited to see where this journey takes us!

To stay informed about our progress, follow us on social media, where we’ll share regular updates on these initiatives and the latest developments.

Closing Thoughts

Today I’ve taken you through the evolution of Kujira Academy and highlighted our achievements to date. I’ve explained the reasoning behind our rebrand, the services we now offer (education, marketing, and events), and what lies ahead in the near future.

With our core objectives clearly outlined and a 2025 roadmap demonstrating our commitment to achieving these goals, Rujira Academy is poised to play a pivotal role in the future of THORChain.

The future awaits, and we can’t wait to share it with you!