Scotland's Lomond School accepts Bitcoin for tuition payments, a first in the UK
The Lomond School in Scotland will accept Bitcoin (BTC) tuition payments beginning in the Autumn semester of 2025, making it the first school in the United Kingdom to do so.
Accepting Bitcoin is part of the school's plan to integrate “sound money principles” from the Austrian School of Economics into the curriculum to "prepare students for the uncertain future,” the announcement reads, adding:
"Bitcoin is available to anyone willing to learn — making it more democratic and inclusive, particularly for people in developing nations who lack access to traditional banking. Lomond sees Bitcoin as a perfect real-world case study in economics, computing, ethics, and innovation."
The school has no plans to accept other cryptocurrencies, and will convert the BTC to fiat currency immediately, according to the announcement. It might establish a BTC treasury in the future, pending input from the Lomond community.
Lomond's announcement highlights the growing tide of institutions adopting Bitcoin as a hedge against inflation amid turmoil in the global financial order.
Value of the British pound (GBP) 1209-2025. Source: Statista
Related: Swedish MP proposes Bitcoin reserve to finance minister
Bitcoin slowly makes its way through the education system
Bitcoin is now part of the curriculum in several schools and universities; some of these institutions have also adopted a BTC treasury strategy to protect reserves against the corrosive effects of inflation on purchasing power.
In 2022, the University of Cincinnati added crypto courses to its curriculum to teach students about BTC and emerging Web3 technologies.
Mi Primer Bitcoin, a Bitcoin education initiative, partnered with the Ministry of Education in El Salvador in 2023 to integrate Bitcoin education into the school system.
Visual of Bitcoin’s hard supply cap expressed through successive halving events. Source: River
The University of Wyoming launched the Bitcoin Research Institute in July 2024 to conduct peer-reviewed academic studies about the decentralized digital asset.
In February 2025, the University of Austin announced that its endowment fund allocated $5 million to BTC investments. The university's endowment fund has approximately $200 million in assets under management.
Chun Lai, the endowment fund's chief investment officer, said the fund wanted BTC exposure to capitalize on the financial upside of digital assets as crypto experiences increased institutional adoption.
Magazine: TradFi fans ignored Lyn Alden’s BTC tip — Now she says it’ll hit 7 figures: X Hall of Flame