Decentralized Finance - Syllabus
Course Information
| Course Code | FIN-DeFi-501 |
| Credits | 6 ECTS |
| Duration | 12 Weeks |
| Format | 2h Lecture + 2h Lab per week |
| Level | Masters / Graduate |
| Semester | Spring 2025 |
Instructor
| Name | Prof. Dr. Joerg Osterrieder |
| joerg.osterrieder@fhgr.ch | |
| Institution | FHGR - University of Applied Sciences of the Grisons |
| Office Hours | By appointment |
Course Description
This course provides a comprehensive introduction to decentralized finance (DeFi), exploring the technical foundations, economic mechanisms, and practical applications of blockchain-based financial protocols. Students will gain hands-on experience with DeFi protocols through Python-based analysis and interact with live blockchain data.
Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:
- Explain DeFi architecture - Describe how blockchain technology, smart contracts, and cryptographic primitives enable trustless financial services
- Analyze AMM mechanics - Calculate swap outputs, price impact, and slippage using constant function market maker formulas
- Evaluate lending protocols - Compute collateralization ratios, health factors, and liquidation thresholds in overcollateralized lending
- Assess stablecoin stability - Compare different stablecoin mechanisms and evaluate their risk profiles and failure modes
- Quantify impermanent loss - Calculate the opportunity cost of liquidity provision under various price divergence scenarios
- Design yield strategies - Construct and evaluate risk-adjusted yield farming strategies across multiple protocols
- Identify security vulnerabilities - Recognize common smart contract vulnerabilities and analyze historical DeFi exploits
- Analyze governance systems - Evaluate token-based governance mechanisms and identify potential attack vectors
- Implement DeFi interactions - Write Python code to interact with DeFi protocols using web3.py and analyze on-chain data
Prerequisites
- Python proficiency (3.10+) with experience in data analysis libraries
- Basic understanding of blockchain technology and cryptographic concepts
- Fundamentals of finance and economics (time value of money, risk/return)
- Basic statistics and probability (distributions, hypothesis testing)
Weekly Schedule
Overview of decentralized finance, its history, and comparison with traditional finance
Reading: Decentralized Finance: On Blockchain- and Smart Contract-Based Financial Markets
Ethereum, smart contracts, and the technical infrastructure of DeFi
Reading: Ethereum: A Next-Generation Smart Contract and Decentralized Application Platform
Token standards, fungible and non-fungible tokens, and tokenomics
Reading: An Empirical Study of ERC20 Token Networks
Automated Market Makers, liquidity pools, and DEX mechanics
Reading: An Analysis of Uniswap Markets
Collateralized lending, interest rate models, and liquidations
Reading: SoK: Lending Pools in Decentralized Finance
Stablecoin mechanisms, algorithmic vs collateralized designs
Reading: Stablecoins 2.0: Economic Foundations and Risk-based Models
Yield optimization strategies, impermanent loss, and risk management
Reading: Liquidity Mining on Decentralized Exchanges
Perpetual futures, options, and synthetic asset protocols
Reading: The Decentralized Financial Crisis
Price oracles, the oracle problem, and data reliability
Reading: SoK: Oracles from the Ground Truth to Market Manipulation
Decentralized governance, voting mechanisms, and treasury management
Reading: A Survey on DAOs and Their Governance
Smart contract vulnerabilities, audits, and risk management
Reading: Flash Boys 2.0: Frontrunning in Decentralized Exchanges
Emerging trends, Layer 2 solutions, and regulatory landscape
Reading: SoK: Layer-Two Blockchain Protocols
Assessment
| Component | Weight | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Weekly Exercises | 30% | 12 exercises, best 10 count |
| Midterm Project | 20% | Due Week 6 - Protocol analysis report |
| Paper Presentation | 15% | Present and lead discussion on research paper |
| Final Project | 35% | Complete DeFi analysis/implementation project |
Grading Scale
| Grade | Percentage |
|---|---|
| A | 90-100% |
| B | 80-89% |
| C | 70-79% |
| D | 60-69% |
| F | < 60% |
Course Materials
Required Software
- Python 3.10+ with Jupyter notebooks
- Web3.py for blockchain interaction
- MetaMask or similar wallet (for testnet interactions)
Recommended Readings
- Harvey, Ramachandran, Santoro (2021). “DeFi and the Future of Finance”
- Schaer (2021). “Decentralized Finance: On Blockchain- and Smart Contract-Based Financial Markets”
- Uniswap, Aave, Compound protocol documentation
Online Resources
- Ethereum Documentation
- DeFiLlama - DeFi analytics
- Etherscan - Blockchain explorer
Policies
Academic Integrity
All work must be original. Use of AI assistants for ideation and code assistance is permitted; direct copying or submitting AI-generated content as your own is not. All sources must be properly cited.
Late Submissions
- Up to 24 hours late: 10% penalty
- Up to 48 hours late: 25% penalty
- Beyond 48 hours: Not accepted without prior arrangement
Collaboration
Students are encouraged to discuss concepts and approaches with classmates. However, all submitted code and written work must be your own. Clearly document any external resources or discussions in your submissions.
Course Schedule Overview
| Week | Module | Topic | Deliverable |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-3 | Foundations | DeFi, Blockchain, Tokens | Exercise 1-3 |
| 4-6 | Core Protocols | DEXs, Lending, Stablecoins | Midterm Project |
| 7-9 | Strategies | Yield, Derivatives, Oracles | Exercise 7-9, Presentation |
| 10-12 | Advanced | Governance, Security, Future | Final Project |
Contact
For questions about course content, post in the GitHub Discussions. For personal matters, email the instructor directly.