Remember the interesting news item this year that all MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) undergraduate students would received $100 of bitcoin for free? Well, we haven’t heard a whole lot about it, but the project has officially gone live.
It’s spearheaded by the MIT Bitcoin Project and somewhat mysteriously financed, but the 4500+ students at the school are able to easily pick up their bitcoins, which they can then convert to U.S. dollars, or more preferably, spend at bitcoin-accepting locations in the MIT area (which is a growing bitcoin hot spot).
In order for students at the school to take advantage of the opportunity, they will need to take a survey at bitcoinproject.mit.edu. From there, they will be well on their way to acquiring their digital money — finally.
Interestingly enough, the window for students to take advantage of the offer isn’t lengthy by any means. According to the MIT Bitcoin Project, students will have until November 2nd at 11:59 p.m. to get their requests in.
For most folks, however, that shouldn’t be much of a problem. It’s plenty of time.
It will be fascinating to see how this whole project will play out, though. Will students hoard their bitcoin? Will they convert it immediately to fiat? Or will they spend it at the increasing number of bitcoin-friendly businesses in the Cambridge area?
Time will tell.