DeFi specialization. For free.

After several Cex collapse in 2022 (3AC, Celsius, FTX…) , many think next bull run will actually reward Dex project, and DeFi will be one leading sector.

Everywhere you find calls claiming we are still early in crypto, and we are: in fact, one should find by him or herself the informations to understand what a cryptocurrency is, how Bitcoin is different from other crypto, what is a L1 and L2 blockchain, and, of course, what DeFi is.

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Apart social network community, a useful tool is to engage in some online free course, like the one available on Coursera. I found some on DeFi, and enrolled in a 4-courses-specialization from Duke University, titled “Decentralized Finance (DeFi): The Future of Finance”, held by Professor Cam Harvey:

• The first course, DeFi Infrastructure, focuses on the historical evolution of decentralized finance as well as the problems that DeFi solves.
• The second course, DeFi Primitives, deals with mechanics, supply and ownership, and loans and swaps.
• The third course, DeFi Deep Dive, explores the leading protocols including MakerDAO, Compound, Aave, Uniswap and dYdX.
• The fourth course, DeFi Risks and Opportunities, analyzes the key risks including smart contract risk, governance risk, scaling as well as regulatory issues. The final part of the course sketches a vision of finance in the future including the winners and the losers.

Although some concepts of the first course were already familiar to me, some insight have been very interesting and, IMO, relevant to get the ability to understand and evaluate DeFi project and related dApps in crypto ecosystem.

The first money transfer in the US happened in 1871, and costed a 3% fee: almost the same as today in CeFi.

The course explores which are the problem of CeFi, such as inefficiency, opacity, limited access, centralized control and lack of interoperability, and how DeFi can solve them, even answering to some concerns about security or impact on Quantum Computing.

The course is set to be handled in 4 week, but it can be done much faster (it took one to me).

Coursera is a platform offering a number of university courses from hundred of institutions worldwide. The courses are 100% online and, most important, 100% free.

Actually, you have three chances to enroll in a course: if you take a course in audit mode, you will be able to see most course materials for free, and take the quizzes (answers hidden!) at the end of each week to prove your understanding.

To access graded assignments and to earn a Certificate, you will need to purchase the Certificate experience, enrolling in the single course or buying a longer Coursera subscription. The paid enrollment gives you a certificate and a grade thet you could eventually share on Linkedin or in your resume. Anyway, if what you want is to learn, it is a much affordable way, available online and via app, including subs and lectures.

A whole sector is dedicated to Blockchain.

Let’s build our future!