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Cyprus’ University of Nicosia is now offering a second Free DeFi course, in addition to the existing digital currencies course. Next session is expected to start in January 2022. Find all details below.
University of Nicosia.
Largest independent university in Cyprus, the University of Nicosia (UNIC) is also one of the largest English language universities in southern Europe. In 2013, It was the first university in the world to accept Bitcoin for tuition fees. In addition to their master degrees (available on-campus but also online), the free Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) serves as an on-ramp to the Masters Degree, representing the first six weeks of the related Master Degree.
#1 “Introduction to Digital currencies“.
Course overview.
This course aims to provide an introductory understanding of decentralized digital currencies (cryptocurrencies) such as Bitcoin. Specifically, this course explores the theories and principles of how cryptocurrencies work, as well as practical examples of basic usage of cryptocurrencies such as customers, wallets, and transactions. Take a look at the financial services of the crypto ecosystem and discuss the existing and potential interactions between cryptocurrencies and banks, finance, law and the regulatory environment. Finally, this course offers how cryptocurrencies can be viewed from an innovation perspective, and when blockchain technology converges with other exciting technologies such as artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things.
The course consists of four general topics:
- Theoretical introduction of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology: This includes the history of digital currencies, the invention of decentralized consensus by proof of work, the technical overview of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, and the alternative / advanced use of blockchain.
- Practical introduction to cryptocurrencies: Deep insight into how systems work, how they are kept secure, and what incentives they have to make them work and grow. How transactions take place and how Bitcoin is acquired, stored and protected.
- Banking, Financial and Regulatory Impact of Cryptocurrencies: An overview of the mapping of cryptocurrencies to existing financial and banking systems, existing and possible regulatory approaches, and their further development.
- Fusion of other technologies and innovations: This unique position of how cryptocurrencies can be viewed through traditional innovation frameworks tells us about the future of technology. And what are the opportunities for cryptocurrencies combined with other innovative technologies such as artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things , and a fascinating space for decentralized finance (DeFi).
Learning outcomes.
After completion of the course, students should be able to:
- Define DeFi and explain how it competes, complements, or confuses traditional finance.
- Summarize the basic DeFi application stack and shows examples of how decentralized exchanges, automated market making, lending / borrowing, synthetic assets and derivatives work with DeFi and other components of the DeFi application stack.
- Explain the key risks associated with DeFi, such as smart contract risks, temporary losses, and regulatory impacts, and suggest actions to mitigate them.
- Trade major types of DeFi protocols and applications on Ethereum, Binance smart chains and other blockchains.
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#2 “Introduction to Decentralized Finance (DeFi)”.
Course overview.
The course aims to provide an introduction to Decentralized Finance, a coverage of the field of decentralized finance (DeFi) and its main components, including decentralized exchanges (DEXs), automated market making (AMM), liquidity mining, yield farming, stablecoins, blockchain derivatives, DeFi protocol governance and others. The course will:
- Explain the principles by which decentralized financing works.
- Consider DeFi innovation / novelty and risk by drawing similarities to traditional financial (TradFi) applications.
- See the full range of existing DeFi applications and protocols.
- Learn how DeFi can disrupt your existing financial system architecture.
- Discuss new developments related to DeFi, such as: Non-fungible tokens (NFT) and Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).
The course runs over six sessions (understand 6 weeks), covering three themes:
- DeFi Basics (Session 1 and 2): An overview of what DeFi is and how it compares to traditional finance. The first part of the course also introduces Ethereum (and other Layer 1 blockchains on which DeFi applications run), smart contracts, substitutable and non-substitutable tokens, other background material needed to understand DeFi,etc…
- DeFi Application Stack (Session 3 to 5): Learn more about the components of the DeFi application stack, including decentralized exchanges, automated market making, lending, liquidity mining, yield farming, decentralized insurance, synthetic assets, oracles and stablecoins.
- DeFi Governance (Session 6): Discussion of algorithm governance, its application to DeFi, and the future of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs).
Learning outcomes.
After completion of the course, students will be able to:
- Define DeFi and explain how it competes, complements, or confuses traditional finance.
- Summarize the basic DeFi application stack and shows examples of how decentralized exchanges, automated market making, lending / borrowing, synthetic assets and derivatives work with DeFi and other components of the DeFi application stack.
- Explain the key risks associated with DeFi, such as smart contract risks, temporary losses, and regulatory impacts, and suggest actions to mitigate them.
- Trade major types of DeFi protocols and applications on Ethereum, Binance smart chains and other blockchains.
Here’s an overview of the Best 2021 Free Blockchain University courses.
Course requirements.
Students are encouraged to start with “Introduction to Digital Currencies” in order to ease the learnt of the Introduction to Decentralized Finance (DeFi) lesson. The lasts MOOCs (Massive Open Online Course) were due on October 11th, 2021. However, additional courses start monthly, based on demand, including some fast learning formats.
In order to enroll in the MOOC, the only condition is enough capabilities in English to understand the course, which will be given by University of Nicosia Computer Science and Finance professors, as well as bitcoin experts including Andreas Antonopoulos, a University of Nicosia Teaching, or Antonis Polemitis, University of Nicosia’s CEO. You can have a look about the Course #1 teachers here and #2 there.
To succeed, students will need to participate in course sessions, complete exercises along the way and complete an assessment task at the end of the course. They also can use the learning platform, have access to educational material, are given the opportunity to ask questions and even get access to the final exams.
Finally, you can receive a certification, about each course, which will be a Non Fungible Token (NFT) for a fee.
Additional details.
But remember,
Disclaimer: All details found on this post, and more generally on this website (neverfomoagain.com) are for informational purposes only. I don’t provide any financial advices. Please, Do your own research before undertaking to any investment/trading actions.
