01Flagship initiative
MISSION:BUIDL
A student-builder pipeline connecting curious learners and early founders to workshops, hackathons, mentors, conference access, travel support, and the room where opportunity happens.
Explore the initiativeWest Virginia rooted. Builder focused.
Building the people behind West Virginia's next economy.
WVBF connects students, educators, public leaders, and industry around the technologies reshaping work, infrastructure, security, and opportunity.
WVSU CYBERSECURITY HACKATHON / APRIL 2026Teams → tools → shipped ideas
Education is the infrastructure.
9+campuses engaged
2025year founded
501(c)(3)nonprofit organization
What we are building
Emerging technology should create pathways, not spectators.
The West Virginia Blockchain Foundation is a nonprofit education, workforce development, policy, and ecosystem-building organization. We translate fast-moving technology into practical learning, credible public education, and opportunities people can actually enter.
Rooted in Appalachia's industrial legacy, our work helps communities move from extraction-era thinking to participation in the digital economy.
Student pathways + programs
Different entry points. One talent pipeline.
MISSION:BUIDL is the flagship student initiative, BBSN is its student engagement network, and Blockchain Attack Lab is a standalone Education + Training program.
02Signature program
Blockchain Attack Lab
A hands-on cybersecurity simulation where participants investigate how distributed systems fail, make decisions under pressure, and build an incident-response plan.
Host an Attack Lab03MISSION:BUIDL student network
BBSN
The Black Blockchain Student Network expands access, peer learning, and campus leadership within MISSION:BUIDL through Black student organizations and student leaders.
Explore the network
Livingstone College students / WVSU Cybersecurity Hackathon / April 2026MISSION:BUIDL
Access is not a side benefit. It is the program.
Students need more than a lecture about the future. MISSION:BUIDL helps them meet founders, ship projects, enter competitions, attend industry conferences, and see themselves as builders.
- 01 Student-founder roundtables
- 02 Hackathons + builder grants
- 03 Industry mentorship
- 04 Conference access + travel scholarships
- 05 Campus workshops + workforce development
Blockchain Attack Lab
Security education with a pulse.
A team-based tabletop simulation built around real categories of blockchain failure. Participants identify exploit surfaces, assess smart-contract and governance risk, coordinate an incident response, and defend their decisions.
60–120minute formats
Students + teamsadaptable audience
Tabletopno coding required
Documented activity
Student impact, already in motion.
Programs shown here reflect events, sponsorships, workshops, and student support. Campus engagement does not imply a formal institutional partnership.
WVBF IN ACTION · OCTOBER 2026
Recent campus engagement
Two distinct programs. Two university settings. Documented educational delivery by WVBF.
Blockchain Attack Lab · Secure the VoteOctober 3, 2026
University of Charleston · West Virginia
Secure the Vote at Charleston Zero Day
Inspired by West Virginia's 2018 blockchain-based mobile voting pilot, this hands-on cybersecurity simulation challenged participants to investigate a fictional voting system incident, identify vulnerabilities, and develop an incident response plan.
Explore Blockchain Attack Lab
MISSION:BUIDL · Blockchain Careers WorkshopOctober 26, 2026
West Virginia University · Morgantown
Blockchain Careers with CyberWVU
Students explored blockchain career pathways, emerging workforce opportunities, and professional development through a virtual conversation with Connor Holliman, Senior Technical Recruiter at Ava Labs.
Explore MISSION:BUIDL
BUILDER PIPELINE
From first exposure to a shipped project.
WVBF has supported classroom learning, student-founder conversations, hackathon participation, sponsored prizes, and industry access.
WVSU / APRIL 2026
Sponsored the winning cash prize at the WVSU Cybersecurity Innovation Center Hackathon.
Consensus / MAY 2026
Through BBSN, organized the TRAC3R team, including students from the University of Colorado Boulder and the University of Minnesota, at Consensus 2026 in Miami.
Rare Evo / JULY 2026
Selected the CyberWVU club president to represent West Virginia University at Rare Evo's College Row exhibit in Las Vegas, Nevada.
PHILADELPHIA / APRIL 2026
Convened the MISSION:BUIDL Student Roundtable as a private dinner during the Penn Blockchain Conference.
Campuses engaged
West Virginia UniversityWest Virginia State UniversityMarshall UniversityBethany CollegeUniversity of CharlestonWashington & Jefferson CollegeUniversity of Colorado BoulderUniversity of Colorado DenverDrexel UniversityLivingstone CollegeUniversity of Minnesota
Workshops, events, student programs, or documented engagement. Not a claim of formal institutional partnership.Work with WVBF
Turn emerging technology into a program people can use.
Paid engagements fund high-quality education and expand nonprofit student access.
Universities
Bring a workshop, custom module, builder program, or semester-ready curriculum to your students.
Bring WVBF to your campusCompanies + foundations
Sponsor student access, underwrite a program, or build a workforce initiative around measurable outcomes.
Sponsor MISSION:BUIDLPublic leaders
Commission a plain-language briefing on blockchain, AI, cybersecurity, digital assets, or infrastructure.
Request a briefingUniversity workshopsExecutive educationCustom curriculumSpeakingWorkforce programsSponsored student programs
Founder + Executive Director
Shekinah Apedo, Esq.
Attorney · Emerging Technology Educator · Ecosystem Builder
Shekinah Apedo is an attorney and emerging technology educator working across blockchain, AI, cybersecurity, policy, and workforce development.
As Founder and Executive Director of WVBF, she builds programs connecting students, universities, public leaders, and communities to the emerging technology economy.
Marshall University · Fall 2026Beginning Fall 2026, Shekinah will serve as an Adjunct Professor in Marshall University's Lewis College of Business, teaching Introduction to Blockchain through the One Credit Wonders program.
Start a conversation
Bring the future closer to home.
Tell us who you serve and what you want participants to understand, build, or become.
Partner with us