The University of Cumbria has announced the launch of a free online Masters-level course that will look at the future of money.

The month long 'Money and Society' MOOC (massive open online course) will be targeted at "monetary innovators and activists from any political persuasion", and look into "the essence of money and how it has been interpreted and misinterpreted over the last three millennia", according to the university.

Among other things, the course will seek to address the "dangerous assumption, prevalent in the bitcoin community, that money is best understood as an asset with value in itself".

Professor Jem Bendell, co-designer of the course, said:

"Once we understand that a currency is a process, not a thing, we can explore and design the innovations that use currencies as tools in service of a productive community."

More than one hundred students have already signed up to the course, which is due to start on 16th February. Notably, the British university also accepts bitcoin for tuition fees.

The University of Nicosia, Cyprus, also launched a MOOC on digital currencies in May last year.