While President Trump has scorched Bitcoin with his anti-crypto remarks, his alma mater is joining other esteemed universities in offering classes on the revolutionary technology.
Wharton, the business school of the University of Pennsylvania and the world’s oldest collegiate business school, is offering its first student-organized course on cryptocurrency technology.
The seven-week series, entitled “Managing Disruptive Change: Cryptocurrencies,” explores the technology’s recent history and related businesses that use Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to transfer money and value, redesign payment rails and business transactions, and reimagine monetary systems.
It promises high-profile guest lecturers on a rotating professor/practitioner structure to blend theory with instruction from industry leaders. According to the course description, instructors have three main objectives.
- Provide students with a framework for analyzing current topics in business by connecting different aspects of academia to business practice.
- Help students contextualize cryptocurrency into a greater academic and practical framework.
- Enable students to learn from the teachings of industry experts and take those lessons with them into their academic and professional lives.
I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies, which are not money, and whose value is highly volatile and based on thin air. Unregulated Crypto Assets can facilitate unlawful behavior, including drug trade and other illegal activity….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 12, 2019
At the end of the course, students will have to turn in a 2,000-word paper written by groups of 4-5 participants. They can choose from various topics.
Examples of topics could include, but are not limited to:
- The crash of the Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange in 2011.
- Technology / innovation companies utilizing cryptocurrencies (Ripple, Coinbase, Circle)
- Central Bank investigations into government-issued digital currencies (Sweden, Uruguay)
- Analysis of laws and regulations pertaining to cryptocurrencies
Katherine Devore, one of 60 students currently enrolled, gives the course a thumbs up, reports The Daily Pennsylvanian.
“I would recommend this course, especially to anyone who is interested in going into the payment industry or anyone interested in blockchain. I feel like a lot of what we want to see in terms of courses is reflected in what we think employers are asking for and where our careers are going to go and where our interests lie.”
Starting on November 22, enrollment opens for Coursera’s Cryptocurrency and Blockchain: An Introduction to Digital Currencies offered by Wharton Online. You can check it out here.
