Every MIT Undergrad Will Get $100 in Bitcoin This Fall

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By Karissa Bell2014-04-30 08:15:02 UTC

MIT's Bitcoin club is launching a new project that will give each undergrad $100 in Bitcoin, beginning in the Fall semester.

The club has already raised $500,000 in Bitcoin to fund the project and hopes it will help encourage students and local businesses to not only adopt the currency but use it in new and innovative ways.

See also: A Complete, Interactive History of Bitcoin

The two students who have spearheaded the project, Jeremy Rubin and Dan Elitzer, liken it to giving students Internet access 20 years ago.

"It's easy for people who haven't actually looked at the technology and started to understand it — they can grasp he scary things like Mt. Gox disappearing but really understanding the powers to do good is a lot harder," Dan Elitzer, the club's founder and president told Mashable.

"This is not a completely risk-free endeavor but there's so much potential."

"This is not a completely risk-free endeavor but there's so much potential, it enables them to experience a new technology for themselves and tinker and create and we're really excited to see what they come up with."

Outside of MIT, others involved in the Bitcoin community are also excited about the project's potential— it took about six weeks for the two students to raise $500,000 in Bitcoin from about 2,000 donors, including MIT alumni and members of the larger Bitcoin community.

Elitzer said they believe MIT's students, many of whom have deep technical backgrounds, are in a unique position to come up with new and innovative ways to use Bitcoin and that academic studies are already being considered.

The club is also hosting a Bitcoin Expo that will include panels to help educate students on the basics of Bitcoin and technical workshops that will provide a deeper dive into how to build tools for leveraging the currency.

"We want to educate students about Bitcoin as a concept but also about the tools to begin to work with it and create with it."

Elitzer said that currently there are few places near MIT's campus that accept Bitcoin but is quick to point out that thousands of undergrads with about a half million dollars in Bitcoin will likely grab the attention of local merchants.

The club's members will also be reaching out to local businesses to educate them about Bitcoin and how they can take advantage of it.

BONUS: Everything You Need to Know About Bitcoin in 2 Minutes

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Topics: Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, dev and design, Dev & Design, MIT, Tech