Syllabus
Prerequisites:
There are no specific prerequisites for this course. However, it is expected that participating students have some basic knowledge of computer technologies, financial institutions, accounting, and business law. As such, the course is more suitable for master students and some exceptional senior level undergraduates.
Class procedure:
The course consists of 6 classroom lectures. The students' participation in lectures and exercise sessions is not mandatory but highly desirable. Each lecture can involve some pre-class reading and occasional in-class discussions.
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Annotation
This course covers recent developments in the area of financial innovation (FinTech), such as Blockchain, digital currencies, peer-to-peer methods of identifying ownership, and smart contracts. Its goal is to analyze the emergence of Blockchain and related innovations as highly disruptive technologies for the financial industry, business laws, accounting, and monetary economics (central banking). To fully understand the implications of such technologies, we will cover various related topics such as the nature of money, legacy payment and banking, basics of crypto technology, digital currency systems, peer-to-peer transactions, governance and regulation of emerging technologies, double-entry bookkeeping, and financial exchanges. We will also focus on several digital currencies, their "intrinsic value," the reasons for their recent popularity, and the microstructure of their trading. Finally, we will survey various ventures that have begun to capitalize on these innovations.
Registration into this compact course is open until the first day of the course.