Nigerian school now accepts crypto payments despite regulatory concerns

Oxford Science Academy, a private school in northern Nigeria city of Kano now accepts cryptocurrency as a payment method for school fees. But the school says payment using cryptocurrency is optional, and that the conventional payment methods are still available to parents.

The head of the school Sabi’u Musa Haruna stated that the decision was taken after consulting with the parents of the students. This is coming when crypto regulation in the country is still uncertain.

Nigeria is the second biggest Bitcoin (BTC/USD) market in the world, only behind the U.S. But in February, its central bank ordered all commercial banks in the country to close any crypto-related account. The nation’s apex bank warned that financial institutions are banned from facilitating crypto payments.

Crypto community still strong in Nigeria

The regulatory concerns have not deterred the crypto community in Nigeria to continue carrying out their business since most of the transactions are done online.

The acceptance of cryptocurrencies by Oxford Science Academy is another sign that the crypto community is still very active despite the recent regulatory setbacks. Haruna said,

In a recent statement, Haruna told the BBC that he thinks Bitcoin will gain more acceptance than fiat in the future.

Going against centralized money

Cryptocurrencies provide a private and faster way of making payments. While it has been used for payments in finance and technology industries, paying schools fees in cryptocurrency is not very common. Haruna stated that he was moved to introduce crypto payments in the school due to the level of adoption digital assets are seeing.

The move could pave the way for other schools to adopt cryptocurrency payments, which will be a shift from centralized to decentralized payment methods.