Digital Finance
BSC Intensive Course — FinTech & Crypto/DeFi
6Days24Topics16Notebooks480Quiz Qs
5
Foundational Pillars
P1Money & Trust
What money is, how trust works, why digital money is hard
P2Platform Finance
How FinTech unbundles and rebundles financial services
P3Cryptographic Trust
How blockchains solve trust without institutions
P4Tokenization
How tokenization bridges FinTech and DeFi worlds
P5Governance & Risk
Who decides what's allowed, what can go wrong
1
Day 1: Why Digital Finance?
1.1
Hybrid
What Is Money, Really?
Explain double-spending and account-based vs token-based money
1.2
Lecture+Disc
Financial System Pain Points
Identify core frictions in traditional finance infrastructure
1.3
Lecture+Disc
FinTech vs. Crypto/DeFi
Classify innovations as FinTech or Crypto/DeFi with tradeoffs
1.4
Lecture
Landscape Overview
Sketch the digital finance landscape and place innovation categories
2
Day 2: Platform Finance
2.1
Hybrid
Digital Payments
Trace a digital payment from initiation to settlement
2.2
Hybrid
API Economy & BaaS
Explain how APIs enable non-banks to offer financial services
2.3
Hybrid
Data-Driven Finance
Explain how alt data and ML change credit decisions
2.4
Lecture+Disc
Platform Economics
Analyze FinTech business model sustainability
3
Day 3: Cryptographic Foundations
3.1
Hybrid
Cryptographic Building Blocks
Explain hashing, public-key crypto, and verify digital signatures
3.2
Hybrid
Blockchain Mechanics
Explain consensus, compare PoW vs PoS, articulate trilemma
3.3
Hybrid
Wallets & Transactions
Explain transaction anatomy, wallet types, and UX challenges
3.4
Lecture+Disc
Bitcoin vs. Ethereum
Compare design philosophies and explain programmable money
4
Day 4: Programmable Finance
4.1
Hybrid
Smart Contracts
Explain smart contract execution, limitations, oracle problem
4.2
Hybrid
DeFi Primitives
Explain AMMs, lending pools, calculate impermanent loss
4.3
Hybrid
Stablecoins
Classify stablecoin designs and assess de-peg risk
4.4
Lecture+Disc
Tokenization & CBDCs
Explain RWA tokenization and compare CBDC designs
5
Day 5: Risk, Regulation & Dark Side
5.1
Hybrid
What Goes Wrong
Categorize digital finance failures and explain exploit mechanics
5.2
Lecture+Disc
Regulatory Landscapes
Compare major regulatory frameworks (US, EU/MiCA, Asia)
5.3
Hybrid
DAO Governance
Explain DAO mechanisms and identify governance attack vectors
5.4
Lecture+Disc
Privacy & Inclusion
Articulate privacy-transparency tradeoff, evaluate inclusion claims
6
Day 6: Convergence & Future
6.1
Lecture+Disc
The Convergence Thesis
Identify FinTech-DeFi convergence examples and drivers
6.2
Hybrid
AI & Digital Finance
Explain 3 major AI applications and assess AI-driven risks
6.3
Hybrid
Synthesis Framework
Apply structured evaluation framework to any innovation
6.4
Discussion
What's Next?
Identify open questions and articulate future hypotheses
14
Interactive Notebooks
NB01Money & Ledgers Simulation
NB02Payment Transaction Analysis
NB03Open Banking API Explorer
NB04Credit Scoring with Alt Data
NB05Hashing, Keys & Signatures
NB06Mini-Blockchain Simulator
NB07Blockchain Transactions on Testnet
NB08Smart Contract Interaction
NB09AMM & Impermanent Loss Sim
NB10Stablecoin Stability Analysis
NB11DeFi Exploit Anatomy
NB12DAO Governance Simulation
NB13Robo-Advisor Portfolio Model
NB14Innovation Scorecard (Capstone)
NB15Layer 2 Scaling Simulation
NB16Zero-Knowledge Proofs
6
Module Summaries (PDF Handouts)
24
Interactive Quizzes (480 Questions)
1.1What Is Money?
1.2Financial Pain Points
1.3FinTech vs Crypto/DeFi
1.4Landscape Overview
2.1Digital Payments
2.2API Economy & BaaS
2.3Data-Driven Finance
2.4Platform Economics
3.1Cryptographic Blocks
3.2Blockchain Mechanics
3.3Wallets & Transactions
3.4Bitcoin vs Ethereum
4.1Smart Contracts
4.2DeFi Primitives
4.3Stablecoins
4.4Tokenization & CBDCs
5.1What Goes Wrong
5.2Regulatory Landscapes
5.3DAO Governance
5.4Privacy & Inclusion
6.1Convergence Thesis
6.2AI & Digital Finance
6.3Synthesis Framework
6.4What's Next?
R
Resources
L
Standalone Lectures
INTROPlatform Economics — Lecture Preview & Learning Outcomes
PREPlatform Economics — Pre-Class Discovery Handout
90minPlatform Economics: Theory, Strategy, and the Future of Digital Markets
Q1Platform Economics Quiz — Part 1: Platforms & Network Effects
Q2Platform Economics Quiz — Part 2: Strategy & Business Models
Q3Platform Economics Quiz — Part 3: Data, Governance & Regulation
Q4Platform Economics Quiz — Part 4: Finance Applications & Future
CBDCCentral Bank Digital Currencies — Mini-Lecture
SCSmart Contracts — Mini-Lecture
AMMAutomated Market Makers — Mini-Lecture
STBLStablecoins — Mini-Lecture
TOKENTokenization — Mini-Lecture