Bitcoin Forum

Two top-ranked US universities, New York University and Duke University, are offering courses on cryptocurrencies for the first time.

Professor Geoffrey Miller taught the first class of NYU’s new course, The Law and Business of Bitcoin and Other Cryptocurrencies, yesterday. 35 students attended the session – the first in a series of 14 – which covered the fundamentals of money.

http://www.coindesk.com/top-us-colleges-begin-offering-bitcoin-courses/

As soon bitcoin will get an institutional integration it will be accepted by the society.

That's a good news. Educating general public about cryptos is nice idea to spread awareness.

It's not really the "general public"... it's a few select students at a couple of universities. That being said, another small step forward for bitcoin.

Seems like a pretty cool idea. I'd be curious to see what exactly they plan on teaching though.

I have seen some places where business students, specially the MBA students are taught about cryptos and they are mainly introduced to bitcoins. Some of them have even softwares to practice trading[with virtual  money ofcourse]

Are there any online courses on Bitcoin?

The University of Nicosia, Cyprus, has an online MSc in Cryptocurrencies. The first course is free.

http://digitalcurrency.unic.ac.cy/

Wow, thta's a great news! I think the next generation will choose bitcoin for sure.

This is some great news. :) It may not be many people who are taking the courses and definitely not the general public however it's something and could soon gain an interest if those that take the courses start to let others know about it.

I hope they have decent material. Bitcoin really is a very interesting hands-on example when it comes to protocols, cryptography, statistics, probabilities, randomness, etc. It can be used very well as an example for an application of those things!

If in the general sense, bitcoin were to keep behaving, IE minimal govt interference, and p2p transactions for low cost, bitcoin will continue to grow. I can realistically transfer $100 from point A-B and get it all in one piece. Volatility is not always the best but hopefully as it grows(there might be 2 year period where everyday it is worth more than the day before, good luck not losing any coin in that time period.)

but as we have seen, it also has the ability to be quite stable for extended durations of time.

This will likely result (in the medium to long term) that we will see new advances in the crypto currency world, either in bitcoin or in some other alt coin or in the way that bitcoin is handled by users. Or potentially changes to the way that mining works (not the algo, but in terms of how miners are built and operate).

Won't be too long before they offer a major in cryptocurrency.

A course in how to market and operate pump and dump scheme will be useful also.

Anyone have a syllabus for the class? They're probably going to teach kids why crypto currencies will fail.

Bitcoin is definitely cross disciplinary intersecting the study of computer science, technology, finance, law, sociology all together. An astounding innovation and achievement: a digital-based public ledger on a globally decentralized p2p network

Love this because if Bitcoin is going to be succesfull it will need the brightest minds in the younger generation on board.  Learning about it today leads to a much smoother transition to Bitcoin in the future.

I would doubt this would be the only thing they teach.

I think the classes will likely be somewhat more balanced then the views about bitcoin on this forum, but I also don't think they will teach that crypto currencies will certainly fail eventually. I think the classes will most likely teach the pros and cons behind crypto currencies, the risks and potential rewards of using a crypto currency as well as the technical aspect as to how they work.

You may be right but if you have taken many upper level college courses you quickly learn that some professors like to teach from text books they wrote. That forces you to literally study what they think. While most of them attempt to be unbiased that seldom happens. I was a UTA for two years. Part of my little suck butt job as a UTA (other than fetch cups of coffee) was to help several assholes professors teach their courses. I have seen two different professors teach the same material with two different synopsis. Their final exam questions were even tailored toward what they wanted you to believe.

Here's a link for the NYU course syllabus:

https://its.law.nyu.edu/faculty/coursepages/data/Bitcoin%20outline%20Apr%2016%202014.pdf

Course Webpage:

http://its.law.nyu.edu/courses/description.cfm?id=12865

It's a Law School course and doesn't seem to be anti- or pro- Bitcoin at all, just a look at the legal issues involved.

Thanks! I can see a few places where the instructor could sway the class toward his opinion.

Subjects of discussion will be:

Who does Bitcoin appeal to?

The instructor could lean toward, "radical nut job government subversives" or toward, "patriots disillusioned with societal flaws looking for a working solution".

Others that can be aimed include:

Bitcoin as a stateless currency with no monetary policy.
Which regulators should be watching over Bitcoin?
Money laundering for narcotics, terrorism, tax evasion, and other purposes.

The final course wrap up is a biased bitch! I'm going to show you an unbiased way to write each question next to it.

The world market for currencies – does Bitcoin fit in at all? - How will Bitcoin eventually or does it currently fit in the world market for currencies?

What intrinsic value would justify investing in Bitcoin? - I'm not even going to rewrite this one. This question is like saying: Who would be fucking stupid enough to invest in Bitcoin?

How does Bitcoin measure up on a risk/return basis? - Comparisons between Bitcoin and other like financial instruments.

Does Bitcoin’s trajectory resemble fads and bubbles from financial history? - Does Bitcoin resemble any other financial platforms in financial history?

The professor is going to slam Bitcoin.

Thanks!
Will go through it.  :)

And perhaps the two professors will just lecture on what they see based on fact.

And perhaps they will say the people who use it range from "radical nut job government subversives" and people who perceive themselves as "patriots disillusioned with societal flaws looking for a working solution" to just normal everyday people who think its a good idea.

The one lecturer is a law professor so we can assume he knows the law.
The other lecturer is an economics professor so we can assume he understands a bit about economics.

Based on the general reaction from the forum here to his paper and interviews, you can safely say that Prof Yermak will "slam" Bitcoin as a currency.  And by "slam" I mean that as a business I sell something that costs me $500 to make for 1 bitcoin and by the time I convert to USD that bitcoin is worth $470 and not the $640 I thought it did when I accepted the coin.  I need to run a business, pay salaries, rent and suppliers, and am I in a position to be able to deal with the volatility of bitcoin? Can I afford to hold the coin until the price increases?  Will the price increase? What can I use this coin for? Can I pay my suppliers with it?

If you don't educate people, they will become victims to the volatility, and negative sentiment will follow.
If you don't educate people, they will become victims to the legal ramifications of bitcoin and negative sentiment will follow.

The "know your customer" law has been around longer than Bitcoin has as far as I am aware (2001), but for some reason it doesn't and shouldn't apply to Bitcoin, hence the Good Luck Charlie thread.

great news. I think Stanford should be next

“The course is not so much about teaching a knowledge of bitcoin, but it’s to show how some of the issues about property, finance and contracts are going to change very quickly in the next century. The technology is forcing people to reexamine long-held assumptions.”

That's the most insightful public statement about Bitcoin I've ever seen from an academic.

Not surprising, considering that David Yermack has never owned a bitcoin or completed a single bitcoin transaction.

This TV show clip is the way I think college students are molded to parrot what their old geriatric dinosaur professors believe. Listen to the answer the speaker gives to the question the college kid asks. The speaker gives an honest answer and the college kid is just droning out the party line. The show is using real statistics. No country incarcerates a higher percentage of its population than the United States. The US tops every other nation in the world.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rinf3nmtnAo

It doesn't matter how long a law (like KYC) has been around if it's a stupid law or meant to oppress people that challenge big business or big government. The support for the ideals surrounding Bitcoin must be pretty large or the Bitcoin economy would not have grown to be its current size this fast. I was talking about Burning Man with a friend the other day about how you can pretty much get away with any illegal thing you want to there short of murder. Drugs of all kinds are used openly. The govt could shut it down. It's almost like they give people one week a year that they can do what they want to make them feel free. Others that watch or read about it and can't go live vicariously through the attendees. But don't go back to the city and do that same stuff or they'll lock you up and throw away the key.

Unfortunately, universities have become little factories that crank out drones willing to support the current system. Maybe that was caused by the reliance on money received from government and big business. Or maybe it's because the instructors are still living in the last generation when this was the greatest nation in the world.

College has to be where Bitcoin really starts to take off.

Stanford had a cryptocurrency course last year, don't forget! (I believe stanford was the first)

"The 21st century is when everything changes." - Captain Jack Harkness

I think it is interesting there are no prerequisites to this course. I would think that somewhat of an understanding of economics would be necessary for most students to grasp the material being taught. Also the first two classes that are for the law students only (that law students must attend) would likely have been taught in an macroeconomics course.  

Will have to take your word for it, I am not an American, don't live in America and my world view has not been shaped by your same experiences.

As someone who is getting their MSc at a university outside America, significantly later in life to the average student, I do agree with the comments on Universities becoming factories, or at least the one I attend, I am not so sure some of the students want to be there, or at least learn.

good to see that the public will be educated on this.

it would be nice in there courses if they also had a requirement of buying a small amount of bitcoin and then created a kind of economy for their own purposes. when i was little we had a type of vendor fair in 7th and 8th grade, you were allowed to bring in any type of food adn sell it as long as it wasn't spoiled or bad or anything. so everyone setup a table and used a type of fake currency, people voted on what to call the currency and everyone was given the same amount. the people who had the most after it was all over would win a prize for selling the most, and for making th emost profit. ppl brought in ice cream makers, cotton candy machines, sold popcorn that was freshly made, pizza all that stuff. was very valuable and fun.

they should do something like that,

Thanks for sharing that. I didn't know but it doesn't surprise me that universities in other countries have become the same way. I guess institutions that are designed to support existing societies would organically evolve the same coping mechanisms. Most of the students probably don't want to be there and don't even believe half of what they're being taught. A university education is requisite for any kind of financial success in all but a few special cases. That's why they're putting up with it. Young people aren't stupid. They know when someone is teaching them a load of crap. Good professors support arguing salient points in class and promote open debates that allow students to come to conclusions on their own based on informed faculty guidance. Bad professors give lectures, force the study of ID questions that beat questionable information into their students heads and allow few debates. I told my kids when they first started college to drop any class with a professor that refuses to allow you to question his conclusions and debate his reasoning. When they asked why, I told them because you probably aren't learning the truth. Why would you want me to pay to have your head filled with a bunch of lies?

California has an online course too

https://summer.uci.edu/courses/sectiondetail.aspx?serialid=70095&session=S2

Section Detail
 
Barter to Bitcoin: Society, Technology and the Future of Money ***ONLINE COURSE***
SOC SCI 89  ( 4.0 units )
Session II
In 2008, a person calling himself or herself or themselves Satoshi Nakamoto released a paper suggesting a system for an anonymous, peer-to-peer alternative money. Bitcoin was born. Although not the first digital currency ever proposed, nor the first challenger to fiat money, Bitcoin is the first to have captured the broad imagination of speculators, coders, regulators, criminals and the mass media. This course puts Bitcoin in context: how do we understand money as a social, political and technological phenomenon? From discussions of ancient transactions to the rise of state-issued currencies, we will explore the social and technical aspects of Bitcoin, its predecessors and potential successors, and how its features echo aspects of many different historical transaction systems. No prior knowledge of economics or computing is required. Look for an email from the Summer Session office around July 28th regarding directions on how to log into your session II online course.

Do this in college?  LOL

"Captured the imagination" - You may have found a good class there.

My upper level college level courses were in finance and there is little room for opinion in this courses. I didn't find any of my upper level professors to be biased, although this statement may be skewed by the fact that they were conservative which matches my general views.

Yeah, it's hard for them to seem biased when you agree with every word they say. LOL.

That just means bitcoin is here to stay. :)

I think this will probably spur long term innovation in the bitcoin ecosystem. It will hopefully inspire people to somehow get involved in bitcoin, and potentially start new companies that have to do with bitcoin and/or create new technology related to bitcoin.

Cool, wish my college did the same  ::)

About time this happened
Knowledge of the protocol and what one can do with it has to become a part of any sensible college curriculum

This is a very good news, I hope such kind of class can spread across the world.

Too much speculation. What if in those 35 students only 3 accepted the bitcoin concept whole heartedly. What then? In school we learn about Marx and Freud but do we practice them? No.. Maybe 2-3 students will be fascinated by their works but not all. Same goes to bitcoin.

1/2 full, 1/2 empty, you decide.

Considering global acceptance of Bitcoin is significantly lower than your rate of 3 out of 35, this could be viewed as an encouraging step.

Wishing the same too. :) I just have to check if this is true.

There is no move for Bitcoin global acceptance. Aside from that, hoarders are here to stay too!

I am going to wait for a title that says, BITCOIN IS INTRODUCED IN SCHOOL ALL OVER THE WORLD. :)

Almost all schools teach ancient Roman history too but I'm pretty sure they're gone.

that's interesting.  will look into that

If you want Bitcoin to succeed educate young and idealistic people. :)

That is a great new. I hope people will continue to spread the word and be ready for the next big thing.

Bitcoin are money
Money is life
Life is knowledge
Knowledge is collage
So bitcoin is collage.
I just made it do not laugh.
Bitcoin courses may hope available in worldwide

“The course is not so much about teaching a knowledge of bitcoin, but it’s to show how some of the issues about property, finance and contracts are going to change very quickly in the next century. The technology is forcing people to reexamine long-held assumptions.”

That's the most insightful public statement about Bitcoin I've ever seen from an academic.

College has to be where Bitcoin really starts to take off.

I heard MIT is accepting BTC in a bookstore...which other Colleges have accepted so far... ??? ???

Is there good online courses ?

Andreas is teaching a mooc based in Cyprus. http://digitalcurrency.unic.ac.cy/free-introductory-mooc

here u go https://www.khanacademy.org/economics-finance-domain/core-finance/money-and-banking/bitcoin/v/bitcoin-what-is-it

Wow... That is great stuff.

Goods new to bitcoin users. It is the time to party.

bringing "bitcoin" to the classrooms is the fastest  way of bringing awareness about bitcoin.this is really good,im super excited :)

I really wish they bring that here. People needs more bitcoin education inorder for them to embrace it.

Probably the most effective way.

Well they should.. Will be a great help for bitcoin and bitcoin users.