Bitcoin Forum

MIT Students will receive $100 in bitcoin over the next month as the distribution phase of the project begins.

http://tech.mit.edu/V134/N53/bitcoin.html

Are there any estimates on how many people are going to sell them immediately in order to cash in $100, and how many are going to get to know more about Bitcoin. I wonder how many are going to get them, at all :D

The bitcoin is spread to the smart people.  The data collected from them will be more accurate. Hope the results will come out soon.

Surely there will be some people cashing out as soon as they can. Others will play/examine/experiment/buy something etc. Either way, there will be a big number of (potentially smart) people who will get familiar with bitcoin.

Even if you sell straight away, that means you've done at least one transaction, you own a wallet, so you've gained the basic knowledge of how it works and you're more likely to use it later on.

Very good project imo. Don't see any info on who sponsors it though.

I like this quote:

I think if you go to MIT you do not need a hundred bucks that bad. I would expect the receiving students to invent great things for bitcoin. It is an excellent idea to give them a seed to grow.

Pretty sure most of them are just gonna frame it with their degree.

It will be interesting to see how many merchants go to MIT trying to get them to sell their coins
Might spread from there anyways interesting experiment
Hope for its success

Its the ideal time to get BTC too, with prices being this low. Imagine getting 0.3 BTC for free.

I do not think they will cash out immediately. Some will, but I think the majority will just keep it in case it becomes anything.

Doesn't matter so much if hese guys cash the btc immediately
What matter more is that this project connects the, to cryptos and makes them want to engage with the protocol in some form

Apparently the MIT bookstore started accepting bitcoin shortly after the project was announced

great news but I believe I read somewhere that MIT had their own coin, not the college but like one of the conye type things that originated at the school

I guess naive first year students will fall for that trap and use it for a book discount (sort of)
I'm assuming they have a used bookstore and the normal bookstore offers at a premium so if they were going to save some money they would buy used with cash unless they couldn't find it then use BTC at the main store.

Both the community college and university that I went to had only one "real" bookstore that would sell both "new" and "used" books side-by-side. The used prices were really not that much better

For me there was a Bookstore that sold used and new books side by side
Then there was a different bookstore that sold the same books at a larger discount because students set the prices for what they want to sell the book for as a result they almost always underbid the used price at the bookstore.

At other university same idea but the main bookstore and the used bookstore were in separate buildings instead of across from each other, so first year students wouldn't be aware of them.

I definitely think it's an interesting experiment and good press for bitcoin no matter what the kids do with the money.

The goal of the program is that students would get interested in Bitcoin and research it and potentially create new technology/uses/business ideas for it

The MIT coop accepts BTC (and has a bitcoin atm just inside) for some time now. The guy working there told me that they have had been seeing an increased amount of people using bitcoin there, although he personally have never handled such a transaction though. The prices in there are competitive.

The ATM will probably generate additional interest in bitcoin by the students as they are forced to look at it/pass by it anytime they go in. Hopefully this will enable the bitcoin economy in cambridge to flourish like it has in vancouver and sanfrancisco

This is great the most important part of this is not the value of the Bitcoin that is given out it is that the students understand the principles.