Coinbase has already handed out free bitcoin to over 20,000 students as part of its college bitcoin giveaway, the company says.

The bitcoin wallet and payments provider launched the scheme on 14th May, giving students who sign up the equivalent of $10 in bitcoin.

Not all students are eligible, however – only those with .edu addresses can apply and a limited number of universities can participate. CoinBase says it tried to include the top 500 universities worldwide.

The promotion was inspired by a similar project launched by two MIT students last month. The MIT giveaway, or ‘airdrop’, is limited to 4,528 undergrads, who will each receive $100 worth of bitcoin later this year.

Top 10 table

Coinbase recently published an updated list of the top 10 institutions in terms of signups to the scheme, revealing that the University of Michigan leads the way with 941 signups. The Californians are not far behind, though, with 939 signups coming from Berkeley. The University of Illinois ranks third with 873, followed by the University of Texas with 698 signups.

NYU, UCLA and Stanford are also on the list, along with UC Davis and a couple of other colleges. MIT is no longer in the top 10.

Security hurdle

Coinbase is going to some lengths to ensure that the free bitcoins go to legitimate college students, and is asking applicants to verify a unique phone number before they can receive their funds.

“This extra check has greatly reduced scammers trying to take advantage of this promotion. So it allows us to keep this promotion going,” says Coinbase.

Coinbase is still calling on eligible college students to sign up for an account and claim their $10 freebie, on top of which they can get an extra $1 referral bonus for getting more classmates to sign up.

Students image via Shutterstock