UPenn’s Wharton Taps Coinbase to Accept Crypto for Online Blockchain Course

Wharton said it will be the first Ivy League institution or U.S. business school to accept cryptocurrency from program participants.

Oct 28, 2021 at 8:00 a.m. UTC

Updated May 11, 2023 at 5:51 p.m. UTC

Signage for the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School stands outside of the new campus in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Friday, Feb. 3, 2012. The University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, the 131-year-old business school in Philadelphia, is counting on a new West Coast campus to raise its high-tech profile. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images

A new online executive education program at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania will accept payment in various cryptocurrencies via Coinbase, including bitcoin, ether and USDC, the school said Thursday.

The Ivy League business school is launching the six-week “Economics of Blockchain and Digital Assets” course for “business and technology professionals seeking to learn about blockchain and digital assets through its value-driving principle: economics,” according to a statement.

The Philadelphia-based Wharton said it will be the first Ivy League institution or U.S. business school to accept cryptocurrency from program participants.

“We designed this program for business professionals and executives from a range of backgrounds, including traditional finance, management and tech,” said the program’s academic director, Wharton professor and blockchain author Kevin Werbach.

Wharton will partner with blockchain consulting firm Prysm Group to offer the certificate program.

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