Cryptocurrency and Blockchain: Understanding the Technology and the Challenges It Presents

This course aims to unpack the hype behind the cryptocurrency craze and give students the facts through the eyes of leading regulators, technologists, lawyers, and experts.

Students learn what blockchains and cryptocurrencies are, how they can be used, and where the future of this technology is headed.

The course covers multiple areas, including the basics of blockchain technology and how it works; how to create, transact, and store cryptocurrencies; regulatory and legal challenges that come with the adoption of a digital currency; surveys of how different regulatory agencies define securities in the US; and technical pieces that are underpinning secure software, system interactions with cryptocurrencies, and distributed consensus for reliability.