LONDON (TIP): A university in the UK has become the first public varsity in the world to allow students to pay their tuition fees with the digital currency bitcoin.

Students at Cumbria University attending two courses examining the role of complementary currencies will be allowed to use the units. Last year the University of Nicosia, a private university in Cyprus, announced it would accept bitcoin, but the University of Cumbria is the first public university to do so, and for courses that are already accepting students.

Cumbria’s system for accepting payments, via the bitpay system, is already operational, the university said. “We believe in learning by doing, and so to help inform our courses on complementary currencies, we are trialling the acceptance of them,” said professor Jem Bendell, the founder and director of the Institute for Leadership and Sustainability, which will run the two courses.

“Some support bitcoin due to its speed and cost, others due the new era of financial freedom it could enable. Others are concerned about it and how it will affect economies and society. Others think that what comes next will be even more important. We think it is essential to become better informed, and analyse it from many different perspectives,” he said. agencies