Today, more than ever before, people have switched to online education from the comfort of their own homes. After all, it is much simpler, easier, and quicker both from the perspective of the students as well as the professors to establish an online educational course that needs to traverse and travel to and from the classroom every day. This results in reduced transport fees, as well as reduced office and classroom maintenance and gear fees.
However, not every single education platform out there has switched toward providing cryptocurrency payment options, which is a decision that might have potentially restricted numerous people from attending online classes.
Today, we will be going over why online education platforms might need crypto payments and how these crypto payments can benefit them in the long term.
Key Points:
- By opening up cryptocurrency payment options, these businesses can appeal to a tech-savvy crowd that wants to make quick, low-fee, and anonymous payments.
- Online education platforms can also benefit from the lower fees that are generated whilst making cryptocurrency payments.
- Online education platforms will be able to receive unrestricted payments from any student anywhere in the world that wishes to attend and experience their offering.
- NOWPayments is a non-custodial crypto payment gateway that gives any business the opportunity to accept over 150 different cryptocurrencies from anywhere in the world.
What is so special about online education platforms?
Online educational platforms provide a way through which people can gain access to the knowledge that they want to get, all without needing to ever leave their homes.
Furthermore, online education enables the teacher as well as the student to set their own learning pace, which means that they can benefit from additional levels of flexibility, as they can also set a schedule that fits anyone’s agenda. As a direct result of this, using an online education platform can also enable a better balance of work as well as studies, so there is nothing that students really need to sacrifice in order to get started.
Furthermore, an online learning platform is a representation of a workspace or even portal where educational content and resources can be found that are tailor-made for a specific subject or field that is being studied so that students can get and pick up everything that they would need from a single location.
These platforms will typically facilitate far smoother educational experiences and establish a level of connection and accessibility which was not as popular before.
Pros and cons of crypto payments
The pros of crypto payments for online educational platforms
- Security
Security is a major concern when it comes to just about any industry. However, it can be extremely important within the sphere of online education. Specifically, educational institutions need to prevent leaks of any student data, and this also includes the payments that they make. By utilizing blockchain-based solutions and implementing cryptocurrency payment options, these educational platforms can ensure that every one of their students can securely transfer their funds without needing to worry about their accounts getting compromised or restricted by third-party, centralized authority, for example. - Scalability
Another key feature that cryptocurrency payments bring to the table has to do with scalability. Many centralized solutions will typically have limits or restrictions on the amount that can be sent or the time frame through which it can be spent. The blockchain lives online 24/7/365, which means that transfers can occur at any point in time, and they are not restricted in any way. Modern blockchain networks also feature a high throughput level, which means that they can facilitate thousands of transactions per second (TPS). - Adoption Rate
Another key pro or advantage is the adoption rate, as today, more than ever before, cryptocurrencies have experienced a massive level of appeal and usage, especially among younger generations that have grown up online and are comfortable with using these growing technologies. - Cost
Ultimately, it is much cheaper to send or receive cryptocurrency transactions when compared to other FIAT-related and centralized solutions due to the fact that some specific blockchain networks feature some of the lowest fees in the industry, meaning that more money goes to the online education platform instead of the fees.
The cons of crypto payments for online educational platforms
- Technological Prowess.
Unless you use a blockchain-as-a-service provider or a payment gateway, it can be extremely tricky and expensive to set things up manually. - Cryptocurrencies can be volatile
Many people might opt out of using cryptocurrencies due to the sudden spikes in value. However, this can be remedied by stablecoin usage.
So why do online education platforms need crypto payments?
There are numerous reasons why online education platforms might need crypto payments.
Many students will typically be in the younger generations, which are already comfortable with using cryptocurrencies, so by enabling this as a payment option, your business might have an advantage over one that does not support cryptocurrency payments at all.
If the online educational platform has a course on cryptocurrencies, having real-world practice can make potential students a lot more comfortable with using cryptocurrencies as they can directly pay for the course in crypto.
Online education platforms will pay a lot fewer fees, and get the funds a lot quicker, which will lead to a much more efficient operation.
Due to the fact that cryptocurrency payments get stored on a public ledger, everything is fully transparent, which means that the platform can have a much higher level of trust from all and any future students, all of which contributes to its growth in the long-term.
There are hundreds of cryptocurrencies that are available, so by accepting a majority of them, any student, no matter where they live or what kind of cryptocurrency they have invested in, will be able to essentially pay for the course with ease.
Which are the most popular education platforms?
There are numerous online education platforms available.
- Skillshare
Skillshare is one of the most popular online platforms that feature thousands of classes that are divided into multiple categories. Anyone has the opportunity to create an account and find access to courses that they are interested in, many of which feature a project-based approach to the learning process that allows students to expand their creativity.
- Mindvalley
Mindvalley is one of the best online educational platforms for personal growth, where its main goal is to aid its students in succeeding at the work they do whilst also unlocking their full potential. This is an online educational platform that is suitable for people that aim to improve different areas of their life as quickly and as efficiently as possible.
- Coursera
Coursera is probably one of the most well-established and most-known online learning platforms that have stood out historically due to the fact that it has enabled students to access university-level courses alongside certification programs. These courses are taught by instructors that work or have worked in some of the largest companies and universities in their field.
- Udemy
Udemy is another extremely popular online learning platform that offers the largest variety of courses which makes it one of the most-filled in terms of content available. The goal of Udemy is to enable its students to essentially expand their knowledge as well as skills in any field, from business to marketing and even programming, and aims to disrupt and even democratize the educational system.
- Brilliant.org
Brilliant.org is essentially an online learning platform that puts a specific focus on subjects that are a part of STEM, which include Science, Match, and Computer Science. Brilliant.org also features courses that are designed for both children as well as adults and shares the primary goal of making the platform as fun and engaging to learn as possible whilst also being entertaining for anyone that wishes to enhance their skill level in some way.
How to set up crypto payments?
If you have come to the conclusion that your educational platform needs access to cryptocurrency payments and want to implement them, here is what you need to do:
- Create an account at the cryptocurrency payment gateway NOWPayment’s official page.
- Provide your cryptocurrency address to the platform to which you would like to receive the cryptocurrency payments.
- Generate your API key through the utilization of the website.
- Upon completion of all of the aforementioned steps, you will be able to pick a tool that will enable you to accept cryptocurrency payments. Ensure that you check out the list of the available options here.
Conclusion
Hopefully, now you know what online educational platforms are, how they work, and why cryptocurrency payments can be beneficial for them in the long term.
Cryptocurrencies are a representation of one of the newest, most secure, and efficient ways through which students can pay for their online education and through which online education platforms can get the most out of the funds, as few are lost through fees.