Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

MIT Bitcoin Project To Create Cryptocurrency Ecosystem, Give $100 Per Student

Posted by timothy on from the lighter-than-bills-for-the-bursar's-office-too dept.

rjmarvin (3001897) writes "Two MIT students have raised $500,000 to turn the campus into a cryptocurrency ecoystem, giving each MIT undergrad $100 in Bitcoin (or about 0.22 Bitcoins) starting next Fall. The MIT Bitcoin Project will make MIT the first physical location worldwide with widespread access to the digital currency. As of yet, there are no regulations governing how the students can use it."

21 of 107 comments (clear)

  1. Also in the budget: by i+kan+reed · · Score: 4, Funny

    Giving every student a fedora and trench-coat.

    Unfortunately there was no money left for the "enough razors to shave neck-beards" initiative

  2. This is MIT by kruach+aum · · Score: 5, Interesting

    More like they'll pool their money, buy components for and build a dedicated bitcoin harvester, invest their gains in more equipment, and virtuously circle their way to enough bitcoins to buy free weed for everyone, including the staff.

    1. Re:This is MIT by bobbied · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Yea, but they will run their mining operations in their dorm rooms and MIT lab computers which will increase the university's electric bill by thousands of dollars a month. In the end, the University will have paid for one HUGE pot party and the further decline of their student's potential. Then when they try to clamp down on the parasite electricity drain, it will be time to break out the riot gear.

      --
      "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
    2. Re:This is MIT by CreatureComfort · · Score: 2

      And the downside is?

      --
      "Unheard of means only it's undreamed of yet,
      Impossible means not yet done." ~~ Julia Ecklar
  3. Usage by rjstanford · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The issue with BitCoin isn't the acquisition, its the storage and spending. Giving each student easy access to a university-run "bank" with safe backed-up storage and good access would be a big step in the right direction. Having everywhere in MIT that accepts dollars also accept BitCoin would do far more.

    The reason that the dollar works - that all currency works, really - is that people need it to interact with the government. Make BitCoin the easiest way to interact with MIT (for daily use stuff even) and people will use it, which will force them to acquire it, which will entice more people to take it, etc.

    --
    You're special forces then? That's great! I just love your olympics!
    1. Re:Usage by jeffmflanagan · · Score: 4, Insightful

      >Having everywhere in MIT that accepts dollars also accept BitCoin would do far more.

      Sure, but why deal in bitcoin at all unless it's to buy prohibited items from black markets via the Internet or smuggle money across borders? For any other transaction, the local currency offers much more stability and much faster transactions.

    2. Re:Usage by BorisSkratchunkov · · Score: 2

      Many colleges have on-campus currencies- usually dollars are attached to a student ID card via Blackboard or a similar piece of software. I don't use campus currency from my alma mater in my present day-to-day life. How would this be any different?

    3. Re:Usage by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 2

      > The reason that the dollar works - that all currency works,
      > really - is that people need it to interact with the government.

      No, governement needs it to interact with people. People tell government to create a stable currency and keep its value. If these are no longer issues, well...

      --
      (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
    4. Re:Usage by Ralph+Wiggam · · Score: 2

      So your labor isn't stolen by a central bank (inflation), and so your completely legal transactions aren't censored (Wikileaks).

      In 2014, Inflation had decreased the value of the US dollar by about 0.5%. The value of bitcoin has dropped by more than 50%.

    5. Re:Usage by Electricity+Likes+Me · · Score: 2

      The issue with BitCoin isn't the acquisition, its the storage and spending. Giving each student easy access to a university-run "bank" with safe backed-up storage and good access would be a big step in the right direction.

      So you know, something functionally identical to the role currently played by regular US dollars?

      If Bitcoins advocates were a little more self-aware, the whole thing would have value as a giant educational exercise into why the modern financial system is structured the way it is. Unfortunately...

  4. Hmmm ... by gstoddart · · Score: 2

    giving each MIT undergrad $100 in Bitcoin (or about 0.22 Bitcoins) starting next Fall

    So, how does this work? Every time I see reference to fractional bitcoins I get confused.

    Is a bitcoin an atomic or a divisible unit? I'd thought it was an atomic unit, and there wouldn't be things like 0.22 Bitcoins. How do you spend a fraction of a bitcoin?

    Are there bitpennies? I don't think I understand this new fangled stuff well enough yet.

    --
    Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    1. Re:Hmmm ... by SuricouRaven · · Score: 2

      Mathemagic.

      The blockchain records the coin split. It can also record coin fractions being rejoined to conserve space. The bitcoin is just a fundamental unit, like the dollar. It can still be divided.

  5. Re:Yet another article about how MIT is wasting by kruach+aum · · Score: 2

    Once there was a gnarled and crooked tree in a forest of stoat oaks. The oaks made fun of him because he was completely useless and served no purpose.

    Now there stands a gnarled and crooked tree on a meadow where there once was a forest of stout oaks, free to all the carbon dioxide and nitrogen he could ever want, because being useless is immensely useful.

  6. Re:To the moon! by bobbied · · Score: 3, Insightful

    But you need to get out before the price goes down...

    The simple fact that you are comparing BitCoin to its price, indicates to me that it is a poor imitation of an investment. If BitCoin is a currency, who cares what it costs... The question is what can you GET for them... Right now? Not much. So it doesn't really matter how many of them there are.

    --
    "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
  7. Re:A Tax Professional's Dream by neilo_1701D · · Score: 2

    Everyone is going to claim the $100 of educational research they bought.

    There; fixed that for you :)

  8. Campus money... by niftymitch · · Score: 2

    Like casinos in Nevada that mint their own silver dollar size tokens
    and gaming chips it may make sense for closed electronic transaction
    systems.

    Parents and scholarships might make deposits to the account of a student.
    Time payments to ensure a meal ticket or rent budget not be blown in a weekend
    might be facilitated.

    Interesting.....

    --
    Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't. Mark Twain.
  9. Why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Really the main question is why? What was the supposed problem that this is solving? Or is this yet another solution in search of a problem.

  10. Re:To the moon! by JesseMcDonald · · Score: 4, Informative

    The question is what can you GET for them... Right now? Not much.

    You really need to update your anti-Bitcoin propaganda. Between Bitcoinstore, Overstock.com, TigerDirect, Fancy, eGifter, and Gyft you can get quite a bit for a bitcoin these days, and that's not counting all these other merchants:

    Trade page at the Bitcoin Wiki

    --
    "The state is that great fiction by which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else." - Bastiat
  11. Re:Yet another article about how MIT is wasting by Kaenneth · · Score: 2

    I assume 'Gelatinous Cubes' were invented when someone's mom brought down snacks to the basement during a miniatures session.

    Pretzel Golems didn't make the cut.

  12. Next fall? by ArcadeMan · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...giving each MIT undergrad $100 in Bitcoin (or about 0.22 Bitcoins) starting next Fall.

    By next fall, 100$ in Bitcoin might be 0.0022BTC or 22BTC.

    --
    Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
  13. Re:To the moon! by Trapick · · Score: 2

    Do any of those actually sell a product for a fixed amount of bitcoin for longer than a day? Are in all cases are they taking bitcoin at whatever the exchange-rate-of-the-second is?