Certificate In Fintech And Blockchain

Introduction

Participants are immediately introduced to the world of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies and gain a confident understanding of the underlying technology and its alternative applications. The course will provide a thorough examination of blockchain technology, and participants will have the chance to see up-close how it works, operates and develops. The course will also examine various FinTech environments and discuss the legal, technical, and business issues they face today.

Objectives

• Confident knowledge foundation in FinTech, Crypto Currencies, and other Digital Assets;
• Interactive experience with Blockchain technology in a real-world scenario;
• Maintain awareness of legal, technical, and business risks with emerging financial technologies;
• Apply knowledge-base to solve a complex business scenario in simulated FinTech start-up;
• Understand the new Digital Asset/Cryptocurrency Era and how it will impact your industry.

Training Methodology

Combination of lecture, guided discussions, and group-oriented exercises with instructor feedback; course delivery will incorporate visual demonstrations and video-based walkthrough presentations.

Who Should Attend?

IT & Corporate Project Managers, Business Development Professionals, Sales/technical advisors, mid/senior-level managers, investment managers, and corporate professionals with a limited technological background.

Course Outline

Day 1: Historical Influences of Financial Mathematics and Technology

• Early Arab and Persian mathematicians
• Algebra and extended mathematics
• Trade extinctions and rise of new oil industries

The Industrial Revolutions

• Mechanization & Coal Extraction
• Sources of Energy: Electricity, Oil & Gas
• New Energy Sources: Nuclear; and New Electronics: Logical Processing Controllers
• Internet: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Cloud computing,
• The Internet of things (IoT), Big Data
• Emerging Business Models: Payment Processing, Big
• Data Tech, Automation, Cyber Security

Group Discussions & Problems – Initial Assessment

• What technologies comprise personal banking?
  • 30 Minutes Group Discussion
  • 20 Minutes for all Groups to present a diagram, or list of their discussion
• What technologies will eventually comprise personal banking?

Group Discussions & Problems – Initial

Assessment

• What legal challenges or risks do financial institutions face with emerging technologies?
  • 30 Minutes Group Discussion
  • 20 Minutes for all Groups to present a diagram, or list of their discussion

Banking On the Future – Digitalization

• Online Banking, Automated Services, Smartphone Banking as a Service - The Bank of the Future – 24/7/365, little to no branches
• Banking Millennials (Gen Y)
• The payments technology arms race
• Electronic money and cashless payment systems
• Removal of Cash, digital and virtual money
• Bitcoin and the future of currency
• Centralized Financial Regulatory Framework versus Decentralized
• Peer-to-peer lending & crowdfunding
• Currency as a bargaining chip, investment, securities, etc.

Day 2: FinTech: Technological Change

Begin with Team Exercise: How FinTech Disrupts

Banking and Financial Services

For each business center below: groups will discuss and present a technical innovation that adds value, but negatively affects an aspect of the market

• Retail banking
• Credit assessment
• Payments and correspondent banking
• Commercial and corporate banking
• Trading and investment banking
• Corporate finance and M&A
• Asset and investment management
• Private banking and wealth management
• Research and analysis
• Insurance (InsurTech)
• Regulation and compliance (RegTech)

Digitalization of Banking Services

Groups will identify traditional risks associated with emerging FinTech applications

• Opening an account
• KYC and due diligence
• Credit assessment
• Money transfers
• Payment and settlements
• Investing
• Lending
• Saving
• Risk management
• Asset and liability management
• Trading and electronic trade execution
• Automated hedging
• Liquidity management
• Debt collection
• Reporting and regulation
• Advisory
• Research
• Social Media and Web integration (Crowdfunds, ICO, P2P service)

Fintech Start-Ups

• Raising Capital (ICO) v. Gaining Capital
• Is the value from the technical service offered or from the expected interest in the market?
• Examples of FinTech start-up firms: web development teams, payment processors, online enders.

Day 3 & 4: Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies

Overview of Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies

• History of the blockchain
• The whitepaper of Satoshi Nakamoto
• The overall principles
• Back to basics: the ledger

How Does the Blockchain Work?

• The transaction chain
• The blockchain
• Bitcoin generation
• Transaction fees
• Transaction speed

Blockchain Demo

• The hash
• The block
• The blockchain
• The distributed blockchain
• The tokens
• (Instructor will use personal virtual blockchain environment to demonstrate)

Security Issues

• Cryptographic hash
• Managing more than 50% of CPU’s
• Double spending
• End of chain instability
• Time to transact
• Deflationary nature

Practical Issues

• Rewards
• Benefits
• Challenges

The Programmable Nature of the Blockchain

• What can be programmed into the blockchain
• How this can be done

Cryptocurrencies

• List of cryptocurrencies
• Types of cryptocurrencies
• Regulated vs. unregulated cryptocurrencies

Cryptography and Digital Signatures

• Hash
• Encryption and decryptions
• Symmetric and asymmetric keys
• Private and public keys
• Digital signature

Day 5: (Group Applications and Presentations) Applications of the Digital Ledger Technology

• Payments
• Storage of purchasing power
• Digitalization of assets
• Digitalization of contracts
• Non-Financial Use of Blockchain

Companies and Industries to Watch Technical Team Exercise

(Mock FinTech Conference/Project)

• Groups will improvise and create policy frame works for typical use-case scenarios:
  • Instructor will lead a group project where the students will design a blockchain-based technology application and work through scenarios designed to test their knowledge of the course material. The exercise will be both a combination of concept design, focused-discussion, and product oriented.

Course Wrap-Up Session

• Group Presentations
• Debrief
• Feedback