The following list covers courses for a general audience (as opposed to the section that follows it). These are not degree programs that require a significant investment of your time (i.e. one or more years of work), but rather courses that usually include several weekly sessions.
The vast majority of these are online, giving people the flexibility to tailor their learning to their usual routines and responsibilities.
Table of Contents:
General courses in cryptocurrency and blockchain technology
First, here’s a list of popular courses that cover the basics of crypto and blockchain, often with a focus on how to use them in a business or organizational environment.
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edX course on Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, University of California, Berkeley
This is an extremely popular online course that covers the fundamentals of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency, including the basics of smart contracts, Ethereum, and decentralized application development. It’s free, but offers unlimited access to course materials for a small fee. It lasts about six weeks, with students expected to devote three to five hours per week to learning.
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Micro-certificate in blockchain innovation and implementation, University of British Columbia, Canada
This is a 55-hour online course designed for professionals and executives looking to understand if and how to implement blockchain in their organizations. It provides a fundamental (mostly non-technical) understanding of blockchain, as well as knowledge on how to evaluate blockchain use cases and how to implement distributed ledger technology.
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Certificate of Advanced Studies in Blockchain, University of Zurich, Switzerland
This is another course aimed at professional leaders who want the tools to assess whether or not to use blockchain technology. It lasts an entire semester and is divided into three components, covering blockchain technology, blockchain business, and blockchain in relation to regulation and law.
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Free MOOCs on blockchain and digital currencies, University of Nicosia, Cyprus
With over 65,000 students enrolled at the last count, this free MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) from the University of Nicosia in Cyprus is probably the most popular blockchain and cryptocurrency course in the world. Taught by Andreas Antonopoulos and other experts, it requires no existing knowledge of crypto and helps situate cryptocurrencies in their broader economic, legal and financial contexts.
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Blockchain, Coursera,
Coursera website/online learning platform offers a number of blockchain-related packages, but its Blockchain course is the most popular. This is intended as an introduction to blockchain and cryptocurrency, but it also goes into smart contracts, dApps, and development. Provided by the University at Buffalo, it lasts about four months and suggests about four hours a week of study.
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Blockchain Application Development, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
If you’ve ever wanted to learn how to build dApps on Ethereum, this is the course for you. It lasts eight weeks and requires basic programming experience (in Python, Javascript, Go, Java, C++), is not for newbies, but provides students with work-relevant knowledge that could help them find work in the industry. RMIT also offers other blockchain courses, so check out those if you’re looking for something more business-oriented.
Cryptocurrency Trading Courses
While knowing the technical aspects of blockchain and its business implications is fine, some people may simply be interested in learning how to trade. Well, here is a selection of some of the most useful online cryptocurrency trading courses.
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Complete Cryptocurrency Investment Course, Udemy
Provided by MOOC provider Udemy, this course gives users a grounding in blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies. More importantly, it teaches the basics of fundamental and technical analysis (so you can assess whether a particular cryptocurrency is worth investing). It’s not free, but it does offer a 30-day money-back guarantee and lifetime access to the course. Udemy also offers courses related specifically to trading fundamentals and algorithmic trading that are worth trying.
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Bulls on Crypto Street
Offering one of the most comprehensive trading courses available anywhere, Bulls on Crypto Street bills itself as a “bootcamp” for trading. It offers basics about blockchain and bitcoin, while also teaching users how to use exchanges, basic trading strategies, NFT trading, using DeFi, and technical analysis. It has a free introductory course, and while you’ll have to pay for the full shebang, it has few peers.
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RocketFuel Crypto Education
Offering a seven-day free trial, this online course is ideal for newcomers. It starts with an introduction to the fundamentals of cryptocurrency and blockchain, then moves into the basics of investing and trading, while also looking at how to use trading apps and software. The monthly subscription, at $47, also grants users access to a community of like-minded traders.
The best degree programs in blockchain and cryptocurrency at universities and colleges
It is worth noting that the courses described below cover various areas of cryptography and that some are part of general degrees related to computer science. However, depending on your particular interests, you should be able to find at least a handful of that dress.
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University College London, MSc in Emerging Digital Technologies
This Master of Science focuses on helping students develop programming skills in areas such as data science, blockchain technologies, and information management systems and aims to prepare them for careers in companies looking to leverage such technology. UCL’s Centre for Blockchain Technologies also offers a Master’s degree in Financial Technology, while the BSc standard and the MSc in Computer Science also have relevance to blockchain.
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University of California, Berkeley, BA in Computer Science
Home to its own Hub for Blockchain Innovation, the University of California, Berkeley also offers a bachelor’s degree in computer science that may include blockchain development, as well as other relevant fundamentals such as cryptography.
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Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Bachelor of Business (Blockchain Enabled Business)
This degree program focuses on the business aspect of blockchain technology, teaching students how to apply and manage blockchain in public and private enterprises. In addition to learning how to use blockchain within companies, it imparts skills in accounting, marketing, management, statistics, and business IT. RMIT also offers a number of other blockchain-related courses at different levels, which are worth trying.
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Stanford University, BSc and Master of Science in Computer Science
Participants in Stanford’s bachelor’s and master’s degrees will have the opportunity to take a number of courses related to cryptography, including one on “Cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies” and another on “cryptography”.
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Hong Kong Polytechnic University, degree in financial technology and artificial intelligence
Hong Kong Polytechnic University offers a graduate program in computer science and artificial intelligence that, from the second year onwards, allows them to choose a specific degree. It is the Financial Technology and Artificial Intelligence BSc covering software engineering, systems security, artificial intelligence, machine learning, cryptocurrency, crowdfunding and e-finance, big data and other related areas.
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National University of Singapore, Master in Digital Financial Technology
The National University of Singapore also offers degree programs in computer science dealing with blockchain, but it is its MSc in Digital Finance Technology that provides a more comprehensive level of specialization. It claims to prepare students for a career as a blockchain developer and also overlaps with artificial intelligence, data analytics, and risk management.
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University of Nicosia, Master in Blockchain and Digital Currency
Offering students the chance to study online or on campus, this Master from the University of Nicosia in Cyprus offers comprehensive education in the fundamentals of blockchain and cryptocurrencies. It is touted as the world’s first Master of Science in its subject area and aims to help “financial services and business professionals, entrepreneurs, government officials, and public administrators better understand the technical underpinnings of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology.”
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University of Nicosia, Master in Computer Science (focus on blockchain)
This Master of Science in Computer Science allows students to focus on blockchain technologies as a specialty. This includes how to code blockchain, while also focusing on programmable smart contracts and the architectures (like Ethereum’s) that enable them.
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Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MSc in Electrical and Computer Engineering
MIT offers degree programs that allow students to choose components relevant to cryptography, but its Master programs offer more chances to study blockchain technology in more depth.
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The University of British Columbia, BSc in Computer Science
UBC’s Computer Science degree offers students the chance to take courses related to cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, including distributed systems and algorithms. A similar thing applies to his Master’s degree in computer science.
Honorable mentions
The above are just ten of the most prominent degree programs related to blockchain and/or cryptocurrency. In fact, many more universities are adding crypto-related degrees or modules with each passing week. So, given that offering a summary of all of them is beyond the scope of this article, here’s a brief rundown (in no particular order) of some top-tier colleges that currently teach blockchain to some extent.
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UNSW Sydney (Australia)
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ETH Zurich (Switzerland)
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University of Oxford (United Kingdom)
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Cornell University (United States)
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Delft University of Technology (Netherlands)
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University of Sydney (Australia)
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University of Cambridge (United Kingdom)
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University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (USA)
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University of California, Los Angeles (USA)
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University of Edinburgh (United Kingdom)
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University of Bologna Business School (Italy)
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Technical University of Munich (Germany)
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Arizona State University (USA)
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University of Salamanca (Spain)
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Carnegie Mellon University (United States)
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University of Melbourne (Australia)
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Georgetown University (United States)
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Imperial College Business School (United Kingdom)
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University of Reading Henley Business School (United Kingdom)
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University of Swansea (United Kingdom)
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University of New York (USA)
Do your own research
Again, the
list above doesn’t exhaust the number of colleges that offer blockchain-related learning, so it’s always worth doing your own research and checking with any university you like to see if they teach anything relevant.
Also, even if you’re not particularly interested in attending college to learn about cryptography and get a degree, you can always do your reading online. For one, there are a large number of websites (like this one) that offer not only regular coverage of the cryptocurrency market and industry, but also provide useful guides on the latter. Similarly, crypto-exchanges such as Binance, Coinbase, and Kraken have launched their respective “academies” that provide useful glossaries and explanations related to cryptography.
And while it may seem daunting to start learning about cryptocurrencies and blockchain, it would really help your trading to do so. Because in a world where platform after platform claims to offer some sort of “revolution” in technology and/or finance, it would be really helpful to have the tools and knowledge to overcome hyperbole.
