According to local news outlet Arabian Business, Citizens School, located in Dubai, will accept tuition payments denominated in Bitcoin (BTC) or Ethereum (ETH). Payments using digital assets are facilitated via an unnamed processing platform and are automatically converted into United Arab Emirates Dirhams (AED). Dr Adil Alzarooni, founder of Citizens school, commented:
“We look forward to enhancing the role of young generations in achieving the UAE’s digital economy. As more people embrace the era of digitalization, today’s children will become the entrepreneurs and investors of tomorrow.”
Meanwhile, Hisham Hodroge, CEO of Citizens School, added: “Introducing the ability to pay tuition fees through cryptocurrencies goes beyond just providing another payment option. It is a means to drive further interest in the applications of blockchain — a technology that Citizens School intends to deploy, in time, across several aspects of its academic and administrative operations.”
The school, set to open in September of this year, is located at the heart of Dubai and appears to be structured as an international school. It is available to students ages from 3 to 11. On its website, Citizens School lists its tuition cost as 45,000 AED to 65,000 AED per year ($12,250 to $17,700) before VAT, school lunches, a mandatory iPad for learning, field trips, extracurricular activities, and transport.
The UAE has become a digital asset proponent in the Middle East with an increasing number of crypto friendly regulations. Both Binance and FTX have recently received their operational licenses in Dubai. Meanwhile, regulators in Abu Dhabi are rolling out draft recommendations for the trading of nonfungible tokens.