In the relatively young market of blockchain and cryptocurrency, finding accurate information on a specific topic can be time-consuming and sometimes difficult to achieve. In this article, I want to provide reputable online blockchain courses, brought to you by renowned universities.
You can enroll in all courses without any admission requirements, except the MSc in Digital Currency. To be eligible for enrollment, you will need to verify obtaining a Bachelors Degree in any random field. The MSc has specific application dates and starting times. Most courses referred to in this article can be followed for free.
These online courses are often offered as a Massive Open Online Course or MOOC. MOOCs provide an affordable, flexible way to learn new skills, advance your career and improve upon your personal development. Platforms like edX and Coursera collaborate with renowned universities and institutions to offer affordable and free online courses.
MSc in Digital Currency, at the University of Nicosia
In 2014, the largest private university in Cyprus, University of Nicosia, started offering the Master in Digital Currency. The MSc in Digital Currency is designed to help financial services and business professionals, entrepreneurs, government officials, and public administrators better understand the technical underpinnings of digital currency, how it will likely interact with existing monetary and financial systems, and what opportunities exist for innovation in digital currency systems.
The program is structured into three semesters, with each completion being rewarded with 30 ECTS. The total tuition fee is estimated at 12,800 EUR.
If you are interested in applying for the MSs in Digital Currency, but you are not ready to fully commit yet, I suggest following the free MOOC. You can register for the course, DFIN-511: Introduction into Digital Currencies, by following this link. Over 22,000 students have already enrolled in the free MOOC, with a completion rate of 17%.
University of Oxford
One of the world’s top-rated universities, the University of Oxford, also offers various online blockchain courses, without admission requirements. For instance, the Oxford Blockchain Strategy Program that offers business leaders and innovators insights to blockchain technology and how it works, how blockchain will affect the future of business organizations and how to make better strategic business decisions. This course is priced at 2,350 GBP.
University of California at Berkeley
Blockchain at Berkeley is an organization run by UC Berkeley students. The goal of the organization is achieving blockchain innovation, through education, research, design and consulting.
Blockchain at Berkeley has a YouTube channel with a lot of valuable on-campus lectures about blockchain.
At the moment, two courses are offered through edx.org, an online education platform. They are Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Technology. Courses can be followed, free of charge, but if you prefer to receive a certificate you will have to pay the tuition fee of $99 per course.
Princeton University
Princeton University, a private research university based in Princeton, NJ and number 13 on the list of top universities in 2018, is offering an 11-week program, called Bitcoin and cryptocurrency Technologies. You can register for this course through Princeton Online.
A few things you will learn in this course: How does Bitcoin work? What makes Bitcoin different? How secure are your Bitcoins? How anonymous are Bitcoin users? What might the future hold?
After this course, you’ll know everything you need to be able to separate fact from fiction when reading claims about Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. You’ll have the conceptual foundations you need to engineer secure software that interacts with the Bitcoin network.
The course is offered free of charge but does not come with a certificate after completion.
University at Buffalo
On education platform, Coursera, you can enroll in the Blockchain Specialization course offered by the University at Buffalo. There are actually four courses included in this specialization. All four courses can also be purchased or followed individually.
By following the entire specialization course you can get an in-depth overview of the various aspects of blockchain and cryptocurrencies. After you are introduced to the basics, you get to learn about smart contracts, dApps, and blockchain platforms. Prior knowledge of programming language is helpful in succeeding to pass the course.
Duke University
Duke University, offers an online course called FinTech Law and Policy, which can be followed on Coursera, free of charge, or you can pay $49 if you want to receive a certificate after you passed the final quiz.
In the course, you will learn about the critical legal, regulatory, and policy issues associated with cryptocurrencies, initial coin offerings, online lending, new payments and wealth management technologies, and financial account aggregators. This course is based on US law.
The University of Hong Kong
The University of Hong Kong (HKU), one of the leading institutions offering high-level education in Asia, initiated a variety of affordable online FinTech courses, through education platform, edX. The complete offering includes the following courses: Introduction to FinTech, FinTech Ethics and Risks and Blockchain (starts May 15th) and FinTech: Basics, Applications, and Limitations (starts May 15th).
Courses can be followed free-of-charge or you can pay the tuition fee to receive a certificate after successfully passing the final test.
Concluding remarks
As I see it, educating yourself about blockchain and cryptocurrencies at this stage, before the mainstream population has discovered the innovative technology, brings you a great advantage. The adoption of blockchain technology, by large corporations, governments and other global entities, is projected to increase at a rapid pace. The multitude of blockchain use cases and the quest for Central Bank Digital Currencies continue to increase.
To improve on my own personal knowledge about blockchain and crypto I have successfully completed The Blockchain at Berkeley courses Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Technology, The Blockchain Specialization of Buffalo University and the FinTech Law and Policy course from Duke University. I am currently enrolled in the Free MOOC Digital Currency at the University of Nicosia and I am following the Linux Foundation course, Blockchain understanding its uses and implementations. My personal favorites are the Blockchain at Berkeley courses and the FinTech Law and Policy course from Duke University.
What is your opinion? Have you already followed online blockchain, cryptocurrency or FinTech courses? Which ones did you like?
Disclaimer: I am not being rewarded for writing this article. All the information provided in this article is based on my own personal opinion.
If you like my content about blockchain and cryptocurrencies, you can give me a follow. I also have an account on Steemit and Twitter. You are welcome to follow me there as well. On my LinkedIn page, you will find a bit more personal information. You can ask me questions on Telegram: @LindaCrypto.
I hope you have enjoyed this article, and please comment in the allocated section below if you have any further questions.
Thank you!
Linda Willemse