The Wharton School, one of the world’s most renowned business schools, will accept Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and USDC as a means of tuition payment. The prestigious American university will use the payment solution provided by the exchange Coinbase.
Wharton business school accepts cryptocurrency as a means of paying school fees
This Thursday, October 28, 2021, the Wharton School announced that it will now accept tuition payments in three cryptocurrencies: the Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and stablecoin USDC. The business school is part of the University of Pennsylvania, a member institution of the Ivy League, a coalition of eight elite universities on the East Coast of the United States. The Wharton School is considered one of the most prestigious business schools in the world.
Initially, cryptocurrency payments will be reserved for students who enroll in the six-week “Economics of Blockchain and Digital Assets” curriculum, reports a Bloomberg article. The online-only course is designed for “business and technology professionals looking to learn more about blockchain and digital assets.” It is priced at $3800 and will start in January 2022.
Prestigious university uses Coinbase’s payment solution
To implement the payment system, The Wharton School has partnered with Coinbase, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchange platforms. The school will use Coinbase Commerce, the payment solution that helps businesses accept cryptocurrency payments, as part of its project.
Eventually, other branches of the University of Pennsylvania are expected to accept cryptocurrency payments. The institution already showed its interest in the digital currency sector last May. The prestigious university had accepted a $5 million donation in cryptocurrencies from an anonymous benefactor.
“This investment marks a new era and a new way to provide the University and students with the opportunity to become the financial leaders of tomorrow,” Wharton Dean Erika James had said in a press release.
This isn’t the first school to accept cryptocurrencies as a way to pay for tuition. Since 2014, The King’s College in New York has allowed students to pay fees in Bitcoin. This has also been the case at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences in Switzerland and FPT University in Vietnam since 2017. More recently, the American University of Paraguay and Nigeria’s New Oxford Science Academy have followed suit with similar announcements.
