Forget Bitcoin ATMs. The oft-misunderstood digital currency is going even more mainstream.

The University of Nicosia in Cyprus announced they would be accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment for tuition, making them the first accredited institution in the world to accept the cryptocurrency.

Geekwire has more:

This is an interesting move on UNic’s part to accept Bitcoin — after all, the volatility of the currency is at an all-time high right now. But a university spokesperson told GeekWire that it plans on converting students’ Bitcoin immediately to Euros. “The intention of this initiative is to ease transmission difficulties for certain students and to build our own practical knowledge about this field, not to engage in currency speculation,” the spokesperson said.

Established in 1980, the private university is located in the capital of Cyprus, and has roughly 5,000 students.

“Digital currency will create more efficient services and will serve as a mechanism for spreading financial services to under-banked regions of the world,” Dr. Christos Vlachos, the school’s CFO, said in a statement. “In this light, we consider it appropriate that we implement digital currency as a method of payment across all our institutions in all cities and countries of our operations.”

Bitcoin has been on an insane rollercoaster over the past week. Two days ago, the price was up around $US900, but this morning it crashed all the way to $US460.

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