Canadian University in Dubai drops acceptance of cryptocurrencies via Binance Pay

Less than 24 hours after the Canadian University of Dubai (CUD) announced it was partnering with Binance Pay to accept cryptocurrency course fees, a technical hurdle dampened the excitement behind the short-lived initiative.

CUD, a private university in Dubai, appears to be interested in letting domestic and international students pay for tuition and course fees in cryptocurrencies. This move would have made it easy for students from all backgrounds to access Canadian programs in Dubai.

Binance Pay is a payment gateway service launched by cryptocurrency exchange Binance that allows businesses to integrate support for cryptocurrency payments. According to the university’s original statement, the partnership with Binance allows the institution to “adapt to the changing digital payments space.”

Binance Pay supports over 200 cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin (bitcoin), Dogecoin (governor) and Ethereum (Ethereum), and charges 0 fees per transaction. On February 7, Binance hosted a cryptocurrency workshop and information session for CUD, teaching students blockchain basics, cryptocurrency fundamentals, network 3 and Metaverse.

As the chart above shows, CUD has more than 1,800 domestic and international students—who are enrolled in 25 undergraduate and one of six graduate programs—who pay $18,000 a year in tuition.

Canadian University Dubai has not yet responded to Cointelegraph’s request for comment.

Related: Crypto Projects Respond to Dubai Privacy Coin Ban

Just as Binance was considering a partnership with CUD, Dubai issued cryptocurrency regulations for virtual asset service providers (VASPs) on Feb. 7. The Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) has published the “Marketwide Product Regulations,” which include four mandatory rulebooks and an activity-specific rulebook that sets out rules for operating VASPs.

“Regulatory certainty is very good for business. It’s good for consumers, investors and the Emirate of Dubai. These regulations are long awaited and widely welcomed,” said a cryptocurrency and blockchain lawyer in the United Arab Emirates Irina Heaver said in an interview with Cointelegraph.