Free MOOC on Digital Currency
The ‘Free MOOC: Digital Currency’ is the first free MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) on Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain technology globally, and the first course of the MSc in Blockchain and Digital Currency degree programme.
NEXT intake: 30 September 2024
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TOP REASONS to register for the
FREE MOOC on DIGITAL CURRENCY
1st CRYPTO MOOC
in the WORLD
Student
Community
110,000+ students enrolled
from 120+ countries
blockchain-issued
Certificate of Accomplishment
Brand-new curriculum
with practical exercises, labs, and research seminars
Taught by Andreas Antonopoulos, Antonis Polemitis and Prof. George Giaglis
Offering Two Certificates:
Complete both levels (Introductory & Advanced)
and earn two certificates in 12 weeks
Bridging the gap
The ‘Free MOOC: Digital Currency’ is transformed into a dynamic 12-week course, offering two certificates and allowing students to tailor their educational experience. The new version of the course includes a brand-new curriculum and hands-on elements such as practical exercises, labs, and research seminars.
The course is now divided into two levels: an ‘introductory level’ spanning six weeks and an ‘advanced level’ for the subsequent six weeks. Students are free to choose between taking both 6-week courses (introductory and advanced levels) to receive two certificates or opting for just one of them – this flexibility empowers students to shape their expertise according to their background and aspirations.
The new version of the free MOOC ensures that students not only acquire theoretical knowledge but also gain practical skills in the evolving realms of digital currencies and blockchain technology.
The free MOOC is available to anyone around the world interested in learning the basics of cryptocurrencies, in a paced and resource-rich environment, under the guidance of field experts.
The World’s First MOOC on Blockchain and Digital Currencies
Watch a video of the truly inspiring story of one of our first MOOC students, Tey El-Rjula, and his journey from refugee to blockchain entrepreneur.
Taught by world leading experts Andreas Antonopoulos, Antonis Polemitis & George Giaglis and attended by over 110,000 students, the ‘Free MOOC: Digital Currency’ is the world’s first MOOC on Digital Currencies.
This MOOC covers both a technical overview of decentralized digital currencies like Bitcoin, as well as their broader economic, legal and financial context. Through this free online course, students get first-hand knowledge of what they are, why they exist, why they are so important for improving financial services, and more.
Course
Outline
The course is structured into twelve weekly live Q&A sessions and a final exam.
Roughly each of the 12 MOOC sessions, represent individual courses in the MSc that dive far deeper into the specific elements that are discussed in the MOOC.
At the end of the 12 MOOC sessions, there will be a final quiz. MOOC students who successfully complete the course, will receive a certificate of accomplishment, digitally verifiable on the Bitcoin blockchain.
Furthermore, MOOC is the first course of the MSc Blockchain and Digital Currency program. Students of the MSc program are assigned a different examination path than the rest of the MOOC students. MSc students will be able to receive credit if they successfully pass mandatory and graded activities as well as a final essay-based exam.
Session | Session Theme | Instructor |
---|---|---|
1.1 | Brief History of Money | Antonis Polemitis |
2.2 | Fundamentals of Blockchains | Andreas Antonopoulos |
1.3 | Fundamentals of Cryptocurrencies | Andreas Antonopoulos |
1.4 | Programmable Blockchains | Andreas Antonopoulos |
1.5 | Decentralized Finance | Giaglis/Dionysopoulos |
1.6 | Wallet Security and Transactions | Lambis Dionysopoulos |
Research Seminar | Guest Speaker | |
2.1 | Advanced Topics in Bitcoin | Andreas Antonopoulos |
2.2 | Advanced Topics in Ethereum and Programmable Blockchains | Andreas Antonopoulos |
2.3 | Stable Digital Currencies | Lambis Dionysopoulos |
2.4 | Blockchain and Decentralization | George Giaglis |
2.5 | Convergence of Blockchain with Exponential Technologies | George Giaglis |
2.6 | Interacting with Decentralized Apps | Lambis Dionysopoulos |
Research Seminar | Guest Speaker |
Course Overview
The course is designed to provide an introductory understanding of decentralized digital currencies (cryptocurrencies) such as Bitcoin. In particular, the course will survey the theory and principles by which cryptocurrencies operate, practical examples of basic cryptocurrency use, including clients, wallets, transactions. We’ll look at the cryptocurrency ecosystem financial services and discuss the existing and potential interaction of cryptocurrencies with the banking, financial, legal and regulatory environment. Lastly, the course will examine in detail how cryptocurrencies can be viewed from an innovation perspective and what opportunities they present when blockchain technology converges with other exciting technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and Internet of Things.
The course consists of four general topics:
Theoretical introduction to cryptocurrencies and Blockchain technology: This will include the history of digital currencies, the invention of decentralized consensus through proof-of-work, and a technical overview of cryptographic currencies such as Bitcoin, as well as alternative/advanced uses of the blockchain.
Practical introduction to cryptocurrencies: In depth view of how the system works, how it stays secure and what incentives are in play to maintain it functional and growing. How transactions take place, and how Bitcoins are acquired, stored and secured.
Banking, financial and regulatory implications of cryptocurrencies: Overview of how cryptocurrencies map to the existing monetary and banking system, existing and possible approaches to regulation and their further development.
Convergence with other technologies & Innovation: How cryptocurrencies can be viewed through conventional innovation frameworks, what this unique positioning tells us about their future as a technology, and what possibilities exist for cryptocurrencies when combined with other innovative technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and Internet of Things, and the fascinating space of Decentralized Finance (DeFi).
What You Will Learn
After completion of the course students are expected to be able to:
Meet Your Instructors
Taught by world-leading experts Andreas Antonopoulos, George Giaglis and Antonis Polemitis
Mr. Polemitis is co-teaching the introductory MOOC on the programme.
Mr. Polemitis is the CEO of the University of Nicosia and also serves as a Director on the coordinating Board of the University. He is an adjunct faculty member and leads the industry advisory committee for the University on digital currency.
Professor George M. Giaglis is Director of the Institute for the Future at the University of Nicosia, as well as a leading expert on blockchain technology and applications and advisor to many blockchain projects and technology start-ups. George has been working on digital currencies and blockchain since 2012, with his main focus being on new forms of industrial organization (programmable smart contracts, decentralized applications and distributed autonomous organizations) and new forms of corporate financing (token economy, crypto-economics and ICOs).
Andreas M. Antonopoulos is a critically-acclaimed best-selling author, speaker, educator, and one of the world’s foremost bitcoin and open blockchain experts. Andreas makes complex subjects accessible and easy to understand. He is known for delivering electric talks that combine economics, psychology, technology, and game theory with current events, personal anecdote, and historical precedent—effortlessly transliterating the complex issues of blockchain technology out of the abstract and into the real world.
Lambis is an adjunct lecturer at the University of Nicosia and Henley Business School, where he is also a Doctoral Researcher. He has also served as the research lead at the EU Blockchain Observatory and Forum. His empirical research focuses on digital currencies.