The aim of this class is to provide a practical understanding of the digital transformation in the financial industry. The course will cover topics such as the blockchain technology, digital assets, fintech and AI with finance and business applications.

The students will work on case studies and white papers to acquire the fundamental concepts of cryptocurrencies, will identify opportunities for disruption in the financial services sector and will understand how technology will build better financial services firms. Additional in-class experiential learning will include interaction with startups, entrepreneurs and industry executives to allow you to experiment with this technology.

The technology Bitcoin Other cryptocurrencies and tokens The finance of cryptocurrency NFTs Bitcoin mining and scale up technologies Staking and lending Venture capital investing

For background information: The Basics of Bitcoins and Blockchains, A. Lewis Papers distributed in class

The students will have to discuss a team-based project (teams of 5 students each). The project will be based on the development of a new layer one technology or an application of blockchain technology in the financial markets.

For attending students, discussion of team-based project. For attending students, class participation is fundamental. For non-attending students, written exam based on the reading list of the course. This course has a pass/fail grading.

Academic performance and quality of the proposal