Gaining a better understanding of Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency ecosystem can be a daunting task. It is rather easy to get overwhelmed by all of the information, and finding the right starting point for your quest is not easy. Thankfully, there are a few mainstream Bitcoin courses people can take advantage of. Most of these efforts focus on the US crowd, but international recognition is gaining traction as well.
#5 Duke University
Back in 2014, Duke University was one of the first major US universities to launch a course revolving around digital currencies and Bitcoin. Under the name of Innovation and Cryptoventures, this course was taught in Spring Term 1 and 2 of 2015. In 2016, the course was run again, although it remains unclear whether or not we will see another of these courses in 2017. If there is enough demand for it, it is difficult to imagine why Duke University would not host it.
#4 Princeton
Princeton’s course of Bitcoin is aptly named “Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technology”. Following this course can be done through Coursera, a very popular for-profit educational platform. This particular course was turned into a book form, which can be purchased on Amazon at a rather affordable price. It is well worth checking out to get a better understanding of Bitcoin, the blockchain, and everything surrounding the cryptocurrency ecosystem right now. The course itself is still up on Coursera as well, and a new “session” will start on January 23rd.
#3 Stanford University
Similar to the other two universities, Stanford launched their course on Bitcoin and blockchain technology a few years ago. Under the Bitcoin Engineering umbrella, this is one of the very few full-time Bitcoin course available today. Its main focus is building bitcoin-enabled applications, as well as developing other programs that will strengthen the ecosystem. It is likely an MOOC version of this course will be made available later on in 2017, according to the Stanford website.
#2 New York University
It is becoming difficult to find a major US university not paying to Bitcoin and blockchain these days, which is a positive trend. NYU started their set of cryptocurrency classes back in 2014. Unlike the other universities, NYU focuses more on the legal side of things with their initial course. Several altcoins were highlighted during this course as well, which gave people an idea of how vast the cryptocurrency ecosystem is.
Back in 2015, NYU added a new course, called Digital Currency: Revolution in Money and Payments. As one would expect, the primary goal is to give participants an overview of digital currencies, as well as mobile payment systems. There’s also a big focus on blockchain technology, regulation, and evaluating Bitcoin’s chances of success in the long run. For now, there is no further date for this class, although it heavily depends on how many people are interested, and willing to pay the US$3,800 cost.
#1 University of Nicosia
Perhaps the most prominent course, like the one offered by the University of Nicosia. In fact, they are the only one to offer an MS in Digital Currency, which acts like any other university degree one can think of. Moreover, it is possible to take this course through an online platform, rather than having to travel all the way to Cyprus. Over 5,000 students have enrolled for the free MOOC throughout the years, and it is expected that number will continue to grow over time.
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