FinTech and Blockchain Course

Lesson 1 • Digital Disruption Drivers

Analyses technology, regulation, and consumer behaviour as disruption forces. Links macro trends to specific fintech business models.

Lesson 2 • Traditional Financial Systems Overview

Covers banking, capital markets, and payment infrastructure. Provides the baseline needed to understand where fintech creates disruption.

Lesson 3 • Fintech Business Models

Examines revenue models such as platform fees, interchange, and data monetisation. Grounds students in how fintech firms generate sustainable value.

Lesson 1 • Block Structure and Transaction Flow

Traces a transaction from creation to confirmation on-chain. Connects cryptographic concepts to real ledger operations.

Lesson 2 • Consensus Mechanisms

Compares proof-of-work, proof-of-stake, and delegated models. Shows how consensus rules determine security, speed, and energy trade-offs.

Lesson 3 • Cryptographic Foundations

Introduces hash functions, digital signatures, and public-key cryptography. These primitives underpin every blockchain security mechanism covered later.

Lesson 4 • Public, Private, and Consortium Chains

Differentiates permissioned and permissionless blockchain models. Guides selection of the right architecture for enterprise vs. open use cases.

Lesson 1 • Smart Contract Security

Identifies common vulnerabilities such as reentrancy and integer overflow. Teaches audit practices to prevent financial loss from contract exploits.

Lesson 2 • Smart Contract Fundamentals

Defines self-executing code on a blockchain and its lifecycle. Establishes the conceptual shift from legal contracts to code-enforced agreements.

Lesson 3 • Smart Contract Development Basics

Introduces a high-level contract language and development tooling. Students write and test simple financial logic in a sandbox environment.

Lesson 4 • Oracles and Off-Chain Data

Explains how oracles feed real-world data into smart contracts. Addresses trust and manipulation risks critical for financial contract reliability.

Lesson 1 • DeFi Architecture and Primitives

Maps the DeFi stack from wallets to protocol layers. Establishes composability as the core design principle enabling complex financial products.

Lesson 2 • Stablecoins and Synthetic Assets

Compares fiat-backed, crypto-backed, and algorithmic stablecoin designs. Evaluates peg stability mechanisms and failure modes relevant to DeFi risk.

Lesson 3 • Yield Strategies and Protocol Risk

Analyses yield farming, liquidity mining, and risk-adjusted return metrics. Prepares students to evaluate DeFi opportunities against smart contract and market risks.

Lesson 4 • Lending and Borrowing Protocols

Covers overcollateralised lending, interest rate models, and liquidation. Links protocol parameters to systemic risk and user incentive design.

Lesson 1 • CBDC Implementation Challenges

Identifies technical, operational, and policy barriers to CBDC deployment. Prepares students to assess readiness and risk in national digital currency projects.

Lesson 2 • Mobile Money and Digital Wallets

Analyses mobile money models and digital wallet ecosystems. Connects financial inclusion goals to wallet design and interoperability requirements.

Lesson 3 • Digital Payment Infrastructure

Covers real-time gross settlement, instant payment schemes, and card networks. Grounds CBDC analysis in existing payment system architecture.

Lesson 4 • Cross-Border Payments and Stablecoins

Evaluates stablecoins and blockchain rails as alternatives to correspondent banking. Connects payment efficiency gains to regulatory and liquidity risk considerations.

Lesson 1 • NFTs and Programmable Ownership

Evaluates NFT use cases beyond art, including intellectual property and real estate. Links programmable royalties and transfer restrictions to asset management applications.

Lesson 2 • Digital Securities and Issuance

Covers security token offerings, issuance platforms, and investor qualification. Links digital securities to capital formation and regulatory compliance requirements.

Lesson 3 • Real-World Asset Tokenisation

Explains how physical and financial assets are represented as on-chain tokens. Connects tokenisation to fractional ownership, liquidity, and settlement efficiency.

Lesson 4 • Secondary Market Infrastructure

Analyses digital asset exchange models, settlement finality, and market microstructure. Connects infrastructure design to price discovery and liquidity provision.

Lesson 1 • Crypto Asset Regulation

Analyses asset classification, exchange licensing, and stablecoin oversight frameworks. Prepares students to navigate regulatory uncertainty in digital asset businesses.

Lesson 2 • Regulatory Technology Solutions

Examines automated compliance monitoring, reporting, and identity verification tools. Shows how RegTech reduces compliance cost while improving accuracy.

Lesson 3 • Data Privacy and Consumer Protection

Covers data minimisation, consent, and financial consumer protection standards. Links privacy obligations to fintech data strategy and product architecture.

Lesson 4 • Regulatory Frameworks for Fintech

Surveys licensing, sandbox, and open banking regulatory models. Establishes how regulatory design shapes fintech market entry and product scope.

Lesson 1 • Measuring Fintech Business Performance

Defines KPIs for fintech products across acquisition, engagement, and unit economics. Enables data-driven strategic decisions and investor communication.

Lesson 2 • Fintech Product Roadmap Development

Teaches prioritisation frameworks, MVP design, and iterative delivery for fintech products. Connects roadmap decisions to regulatory timelines and market windows.

Lesson 3 • Enterprise Blockchain Use Case Evaluation

Applies a decision framework to determine when blockchain adds value over databases. Prevents costly misapplication by grounding selection in business requirements.

Lesson 4 • Risk Management in Fintech Operations

Identifies operational, cyber, and third-party risks specific to fintech firms. Builds a risk management mindset essential for scaling fintech products safely.