University of Dubai CUD to Embrace Crypto Payments

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

With the recent collaboration, the exchange dove deeper into the local ecosystem. It received a cryptocurrency license from Dubai regulators in September last year.

Settlement of the semesters in Crypto

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

#Binance help bring crypto to @CUDUAEa leading university in Dubai.

Prospective and current students can now pay their fees, including tuition fees, with crypto.

Powered by Binance Pay. pic.twitter.com/bqWuezZVKJ

—Binance (@binance) February 9, 2023

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

Established in 2006, the Canadian University of Dubai (better known as CUD) offers an educational system based on the curriculum used in the North American country. It has approximately 1,200 students and is made up of four faculties: Architecture and Interior Design; Communication Arts and Sciences; Engineering in Applied Sciences and Technology; and Management.

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

Binance rival Crypto.com has also received regulatory approval in Dubai, while bankrupt FTX has been allowed to set up a regional headquarters.

Privacy Coin Ban in Dubai

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

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

“Any obfuscation of fund flows poses a challenge in detecting illicit activity, so it is not surprising that regulators react strongly to these types of asset classes and mechanisms,” said Angela Ang, Senior Policy Advisor at TRM Labs.