Calendar

Session #   Topic key dates 
1 Introduction  
Act 1: Blockchain and Money Fundamentals
2 Money, Ledgers, and Bitcoin  
3 Blockchain Basics and Cryptography  
4 Blockchain Basics and Consensus  
5 Blockchain Basics and Transactions, UTXO, and Script Code  
6

Smart Contracts and DApps

Guest Lecturer: Prof. Lawrence Lessig, Harvard Law School

 
7 Technical Challenges  
8 Public Policy  
9 Permissioned Systems  
10 Financial System Challenges and Opportunities First business write-up due by this class
Act 2: Blockchain and Use Case Economic
11

Blockchain Economics

Guest Lecturer: Rob Gensler, Investor and Financial Analyst

 
12 Assessing Use Cases  
Act 3: Financial Sector Use Cases
13

Payments, Part 1

Guest Lecturer: Alin Dragos, MIT Digital Currency Initiatve

 
14 Payments, Part 2  
15

Central Banks and Commercial Banking, Part 1

Guest Lecturer: Robleh Ali, MIT Digital Currency Initiative

 
16 Central Banks and Commercial Banking, Part 2  
17 Secondary Markets and Crypto-Exchanges  
18 A New Approach to Crypto-Exchanges and Payments  
19 Primary Markets, ICOs, and Venture Capital, Part 1  
20 Primary Markets, ICOs, and Venture Capital, Part 2  
21 Post Trade Clearing, Settlement, and Processing  
22 Trade Finance and Supply Chain  
23 Digital ID Second business write-up due by this class
24 Conclusion Group Research Paper due by end of the semster