6th October, 2021
Recently, Forbes published a story about Kyle Winstanley, a former student at the University of Michigan who transformed his apartment into a cryptocurrency trading center.
Kyle, an engineering major student, joined a crypto discussion on Facebook and networked with other students.
His research and interest in crypto compelled him to invest in cryptocurrencies and convince others to join this venture.
Essentially, the current generation has lost trust in the conventional financial systems. Therefore, cryptocurrency disruption is an alternative for such people.
It’s not a surprise that a significant percentage of young investors would instead invest in Bitcoin than stocks.
Additionally, most millennials are tech-savvy, and cryptocurrencies present a relatively new technology. Today, some groups of students investing in cryptocurrencies are cropping up all over the world.
Some students are pooling the resources to invest in Bitcoin by forming clubs. Others are creating investing hubs that monitor the crypto markets to enable students to respond to every investment opportunity quickly.
Bitcoin and the Education Sector
Currently, some learning institutions allow students to pay their tuition using Bitcoin.
For instance, the Cyprus University of Nicosia, the New York City’s King’s College, and the United Kingdom University of Cumbria accept Bitcoin payments.
Perhaps, these institutions have realized that Bitcoin and other virtual currencies present an inevitable technological development.
Embracing these currencies will result in significant innovations in financial systems, online commerce, international remittances and payment, and worldwide economic growth.
These digital currencies will most likely enhance efficient service delivery and spread financial solutions to under-banked places. Therefore, these learning institutions accept Bitcoin payment to lead the way in this development.
Bitcoin for the Education Sector
While many students use crypto exchanges like bitcoinscircuit.com to purchase and sell Bitcoin, the education sector finds more innovative ways to use this cryptocurrency.
Apart from accepting Bitcoin payments, some universities offer programs or courses relating to digital currencies.
And student advocacy groups support digital currencies, with some learning institutions research them further.
● Student organizations: The rising Bitcoin’s popularity among university and college students has led to organizations devoted to this virtual currency.
These organizations focus on raising awareness about virtual money and helping other entities or businesses accept them as payment methods.
● Educational programs: As hinted, some academic organizations and universities accepting Bitcoin payments offer courses related to this virtual currency.
For instance, UNic has an interdisciplinary digital currency program and digital currency initiatives. Also, this institution offers a MOOC, known as Introduction to Digital Currencies.
This course introduces students to the legal, financial, and technical aspects of the Bitcoin network.
● Research: Some learning institutions are researching digital currencies and their impact on the world. For instance, the Stanford Bitcoin Group at Stanford University dedicates a lot of effort to Bitcoin-related research.
According to this group, Bitcoin is at an intersection of many academic study areas, including distributed computing, graph theory, and cryptography.
Some of the recent research projects by the group include Bitcoin regulatory compliance, anti-fraud, and on-boarding.
The Bottom Line
The educational sector can no longer ignore Bitcoin and other virtual currencies. However, only a few learning institutions embrace this virtual currency as a tuition payment method and a means for making alumni donations.
But the ongoing innovation in the Bitcoin network has prompted some learning institutions to develop programs around it.
Others are also researching and monitoring Bitcoin adoption trends all over the world.
Therefore, it’s interesting to see how the education sector will use and benefit from Bitcoin and other virtual currencies.
Nevertheless, the future of Bitcoin in the higher education sector seems bright as some institutions accept tuition payments in Bitcoin.