I am very pleased to lecture two blocks in the fifth round of the Blockchain and FinTech certificate program at the University of Liechtenstein:
- Digital Innovations / FinTech Business Models and Economics
Possible Strategies and Roles for Financial Intermediaries - Introduction to DeFi (Decentralized Finance)
The first part is about introducing the students to the following aspects:
- What is an innovation and what distinguishes it from an invention?
- What is FinTech?
- What is a FinTech innovation and what is not?
- What are the challenges?
- What are the business fields?
- What do the business models look like?
- What are the types of market participants?
- How does the disruption happen?
- What are the economic implications for the market participants?
- What are the options and possible strategies for a traditional financial intermediary?
- What are the future roles in the financial services business?
In the second part, the basics of decentralized finance will be taught. In addition to the basic understanding and the functioning of different protocol types (exchanges, lending and borrowing, stable coins, investment management, etc.), the risks and challenges will also be addressed. In particular, the differentiation from the centralized financial world and the widespread "pseudo" decentralization in DeFi will be discussed.