The Lomond School in Scotland will begin accepting Bitcoin (BTC) tuition payments starting in the Autumn semester of 2025, thus becoming the first institution in the United Kingdom to offer this payment option.
This adoption of Bitcoin is part of the school’s initiative to embed “sound money principles” from the Austrian School of Economics within its curriculum, aimed at “equipping students for an unpredictable future,” as stated in their announcement. The school adds:
“Bitcoin is accessible to anyone eager to learn — promoting a more democratic and inclusive financial environment, especially for individuals in developing countries who might not have traditional banking options. Lomond views Bitcoin as an exemplary real-world case study relevant to economics, computing, ethics, and innovation.”
The school has no immediate plans to accept any other cryptocurrencies and will promptly convert the BTC received into fiat currency, according to the announcement. However, there are possibilities for establishing a BTC treasury in the future, contingent on feedback from the Lomond community.
This announcement from Lomond underscores the increasing trend of institutions embracing Bitcoin as a safeguard against inflation in light of the ongoing instability within the global financial system.
Value of the British pound (GBP) from 1209-2025. Source: Statista
Related: Swedish MP suggests establishing a Bitcoin reserve for the finance minister
Bitcoin gradually integrates into the education system
Bitcoin is now included in the curricula of several educational institutions; some have also adopted a BTC treasury strategy to safeguard their reserves against inflation’s detrimental impact on purchasing power.
In 2022, the University of Cincinnati introduced crypto courses to enlighten students about BTC and emerging Web3 technologies.
In 2023, Mi Primer Bitcoin, an initiative focused on Bitcoin education, collaborated with El Salvador’s Ministry of Education to incorporate Bitcoin learning into the national school system.
Illustration of Bitcoin’s hard supply limit depicted through successive halving events. Source: River
The University of Wyoming established the Bitcoin Research Institute in July 2024 to conduct peer-reviewed academic inquiries into the decentralized digital asset.
In February 2025, the University of Austin revealed that its endowment fund dedicated $5 million to BTC investments, managing approximately $200 million in total assets.
Chun Lai, the chief investment officer of the endowment fund, stated that they sought BTC exposure to leverage the financial potential of digital assets as crypto gains increasing institutional traction.
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