MIT Bitcoin Project Participants Spent Their Bitcoins on Books and Food, Missing 13,000% Gains

Students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) who participated in the Bitcoin project spent the cryptocurrency they were given on textbooks and food. They missed 13,000% gains, Bloomberg reports.

In 2014, Bitcoin Core developer Jeremy Rubin and Nascent co-founder Dan Elitzer, then MIT students, launched the MIT Bitcoin Project. Each participant received $100 in the first cryptocurrency (0.3 BTC at the then-current rate) to foster a campus digital-currency ecosystem.

More than 3,100 students joined the study, but in the first month 40% converted the cryptocurrency to fiat. After two years, only 14% of the total participants used the digital gold for purchases and other operations. The rest kept the coins in their wallets, waiting for further price appreciation.

Christian Catalini, chief economist of the Diem Association, who oversaw the project at the time, added that one in ten students disposed of the cryptocurrency in the first two weeks, and by mid-2017 — one in four.

The digital gold was spent by participants at the campus bookstore that accepted bitcoins. They also bought beer and ordered meals via the Fireflies app. The latter was created by student Sam Udotong and charged $3-4 for each delivery.

Some students still own the cryptocurrency obtained through the project. Mary Spanjers told the publication that she had wanted to spend bitcoins on a T-shirt that cost $35. She declined the idea — today the price of those coins exceeds $4,000.

In March 2021, staff at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and MIT announced that by July they would have completed work on a prototype of the digital dollar.

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