---

title: "Decentralised Finance at Finec MGIMO"

---

# Teaching cryptocurrencies and decentralised finance

Evgeniy Pogrebnyak, Finec MGIMO

Draft 2021-09-24

## Introduction

At [Finec MGIMO](https://finec.mgimo.ru/en/) we are taken by surprise
by student interest and - even more - the student competences in navigating,
exploring, and making own use cases for cryptocurrencies
and decentralised finance applications.

Often times the students lead us, the faculty, to explain
what is new and why it is to experiment and bear the risks.
There is a clear generational shift in financial behavior
and attitude, that remains to be explored.

This guide serves the following purposes:

1. Explain the basics and document advanced use cases
of distributed ledger technology, cryptocurrencies,
and decentralised finance.
2. List competences needed to work in decentralised finance
and how to acquire them through our classes,
self-learning using open material and starter projects.
3. Building a network of between students, interested faculty
members and market professionals to make better
teaching cases and formulate engaging research topics.

<!--
We aim to equip the students with finance fundamentals
that should complement the appetite for financial
innovation and experimentation.
-->

## Calendar

- 22.09.2021 - lecture on cryptocurrencies and cryptoassets
as part of Fintech and Digital Finance course MGIMO-ADA MBA program,
with Andrey Zlotnik (HSE/CMF) as guest speaker.

## Study plan

### Introduction

1. Blockchain and distributed ledger technology (DLT)
2. BTC and ETH
3. Source of value and acceptance
4. Limitations (high volatility, slow transactions, operational risks)
5. Uncertain regulation

### Extensions

- Geography of mining
- Stock exchanges, trading of altcoins and price arbitrage
- Stable coins - tether example:
- asset side composition of tether
- [tether white paper](https://tether.to/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/TetherWhitePaper.pdf)
- NFT and pricing of "art"
- Trading for derivatives for cryptoassets
- Regulators attitude

### Discussion

Entering the market:

- Does one have to always buy BTC or can buy altcoins directly?
- What kind of references or values does a wallet hold? Are they the identifiers of a BTC chunk?

More questions:

- We acknowledge we are old and younger generation are more eager adopters
- Is DLT well-described by a read-only database metaphor?
- Is 100% BTC economy deflationary?

## Student experiences

Undergraduate class:

- 3-4 students very active in this space
- many students interested
- few reluctant

MBA class:

- Student case in a brokerage: clients come to buy and hold BTC for just
a few weeks, up to three months, seeking upside. Do not leave long position on BTC.
- Some students bought BTC or ETH, but do not see any upside or use case.

## Upcoming topics

### Parachains and bridges

- https://polkadot.network/about/
- https://www.parity.io/
- Cosmos (ATOM)
- web3 / solidity

### Gary Gensler MIT Course

- [Course readings][sy]
- [Payments lecture 1][pay]

[sy]: https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/sloan-school-of-management/15-s12-blockchain-and-money-fall-2018/readings/
[pay]: https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/sloan-school-of-management/15-s12-blockchain-and-money-fall-2018/lecture-slides/MIT15_S12F18_ses13.pdf

### Twitter

- [@PrasoonPratham topic introduction and links](https://twitter.com/PrasoonPratham/statuы/1441032455729844226?s=20)

## Glossary

Blockchain - time-stamped append-only blocks

Consensus - agreement on legitimate sequence of blocks

Proof of work vs proof of stake

Utility (dapp) and security tokens