<i>Two MIT students have raised half a million dollars for a project to distribute $100 in bitcoin to every undergraduate student at MIT this fall.... The bulk of funding for the project is being provided by MIT alumni with significant additional support from within the Bitcoin community. The total of over $500,000 already pledged will cover the distribution of bitcoin to all 4,528 undergraduates</i><p>I guess I don't understand the "Why?". MIT kids are among the most elite already - why would people donate $100 to each student for that student to spend as he/she wishes? It's an honest question. As a company owner, why would you do this? What would be the benefits you would expect to see? I am clearly missing the "Why?" here. How would you feel if, after this first year, you found that 50% of the kids never did anything with the BTC? Or if 50% of the kids gave their BTC away to another student for nothing?<p>An interesting thing to see at the end was how many students ever logged in to set up an account, or even check their balance. The funding covers less than $50,000 for anything else - $452,000+ will go directly to the students. That leaves less than $50,000 to cover the administration, the distribution, and the education (a big part). If they get the education part wrong, it will have wasted a huge chunk of the $452,000.