A Scottish private school has announced it will be the first in Britain to let parents pay their fees in bitcoin.
Lomond, a day and boarding school based in Helensburgh, stressed that it had strict anti-money laundering procedures in place for when it started accepting the cryptocurrency for the autumn term.
The school has a long tradition of recruiting pupils from countries such as China, Brazil, the UAE, Russia and Ukraine. It charges full boarders £38,700 a year.
The co-educational primary and secondary said that it had been asked to take bitcoin by parents and guardians of both local and international students.
Its decision, announced by Claire Chisholm, the head teacher, at a cryptocurrency conference on Friday, comes as smaller and medium-sized Scottish private schools face financial pressure from the UK government’s decision to charge VAT on fees.
Chisholm insisted that the move reflected her school’s pioneering ethos.
She said: “For generations, this school has nurtured inquirers, thinkers, communicators and open-minded risk-takers.
“It’s really no surprise then that the inventor of the television, John Logie Baird, is a former pupil.
“We were the first boarding school in Scotland to house both boys and girls under the same roof and recently moved away from the Scottish government‘s SQA curriculum and introduced the International Baccalaureate, a globally renowned qualification favoured by universities and employers worldwide.”
Baird, a local hero in Helensburgh, was one of the early pioneers of television, though it was not his technology that ultimately came to be widely used. Other former pupils include Andrew Bonar Law, who was briefly prime minister in the 1920s.
The school has about 60 boarding spaces. It said it hoped that allowing bitcoin would mitigate currency risks for its international clients.
There are long-standing concerns that UK private schools are accepting payments through shell companies, which may be enabling money-laundering or sanctions avoidance.
Lomond believes it is the first school in the world to accept fee payments in cryptocurrency. But it insisted it would “ensure full compliance with UK financial regulations, which encompass anti-money laundering [AML] and tax obligations”. In a press statement it added that any risk would be “carefully managed through phased implementation, conversion options and partnerships with secure service providers, including FCA-registered CoinCorner and Musqet” — two bitcoin payment providers.
The school will initially convert bitcoin into pounds before looking to build its own reserve of the cryptocurrency.
Chisholm added: “Just like any other independent school, we have implemented various AML procedures to ensure that the funds received in our accounts are clean and traceable. This standard applies equally to payments made via bitcoin.
“For bitcoin transactions, we will collaborate with CoinCorner, which has its own identification requirements before transferring the payment to us.
“Whether a student joins us from Helensburgh or from the other side of the globe, Lomond School follows stringent ‘know your customer’ procedures to verify each child, along with their parents or guardians, before enrolment.
“We are fully dedicated to adhering to best practices in this endeavour, with a clear regulatory roadmap aimed at achieving full FCA registration by 2026 for our service providers. We are fully committed to upholding transparency and responsibility at every step, staying proactive in our approach.
“Initially, we will not hold bitcoin, and any fees collected via this method will be converted immediately to pounds. Over time, should our community of bitcoin-supportive families embrace this initiative, there is the possibility to establish a bitcoin treasury. Lomond School has always been forward-thinking, and we aspire for this new venture to place us on the global map and attract more students to our remarkable school.”
