Dubai’s University CUD to embrace crypto payments

by Arthur · February 11, 2023

The Canadian University of Dubai (CUD) partnered with Binance to enable students to pay their fees in digital currencies.

With the recent collaboration, the exchange dived deeper into the local ecosystem. It received a cryptocurrency license from Dubai’s regulators last September.

Decide the semesters in Crypto

The world’s leading crypto platform revealed the partnership on its Twitter account, saying that current and future students at CUD are allowed to settle their education costs in digital assets instead of fiat currencies.

The Binance Pay payment technology supports over 70 cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Dogecoin (DOGE), Litecoin (LTC), Polygon (MATIC), Ripple (XRP) and many others. Stablecoins such as USDT and USDC are also on the list.

Established in 2006, the Canadian University of Dubai (better known as CUD) offers an education system based on the curriculum employed in the North American country. It has approximately 1,200 students and is composed of four faculties: Architecture and Interior Design; Communication arts and sciences; Engineering Applied Science and Technology; and management.

Binance strengthened its presence in Dubai last September, obtaining a minimal viable product (MVP) license from the Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA). The extension of the previously secured authorization enabled the company to offer digital asset services to institutional and qualified retail investors in the area.

Binance’s rival – Crypto.com – also received regulatory approval in Dubai, while bankrupt FTX was allowed to establish regional headquarters.

Dubai bans privacy coins

Despite its pro-crypto stance and ambition to establish Dubai as an “international hub for virtual assets”, the domestic regulator recently banned all operations with privacy coins such as Monero (XMR) and Zcash (ZEC).

VARA also sets license requirements that organizations with digital assets must pass. Some of the principles include anti-money laundering procedures, prevention of insider trading, marketing protocols and monitoring whether cryptocurrencies are used in illegal activities.

“Any obfuscation of fund flows poses a challenge to detect illegal activities, so it is not surprising that regulators are reacting strongly to these types of asset classes and mechanisms,” said Angela Ang – Senior Policy Advisor at TRM Labs.