The sudden rise in the value of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, and its subsequent decline, focused the world’s attention on cryptocurrencies as a means of payment. Blockchain technology powers Bitcoin and has been hyped as the next new, transformative technology. In this course, we first discuss the technical underpinnings of blockchain and review key concepts such as decentralization and consensus algorithms. We then examine blockchain as an asset and review the dynamics of the cryptocurrency markets. Finally, we examine blockchain as a business solution, with a focus on understanding business cases in which blockchain does and does not make sense.
It is really awesome course. Concepts are clearly explained by the professor. Graphical representation is also made perfectly to understand easily. Thanks to Coursera & University of Michigan.
The course content is good but a bit too slow and the instructor could have used some more tools rather than just him speaking into the camera though he managed to grab our attention most times.
The information is really valuable. The authors should review some of the sound in the last week, though. I really appreciate the conceptual maps the authors worked on, very useful!
I got a deeper understanding of the system "Bitcoin" and "blockchain technology" as an asset. I feel now more prepared to do further research myself or to understand news on these subjects.
I very excited about the first and second courses. The lecturer is very smart. The deep knowledge and professional representation catches you and keeps on track through the course.
I do not know if I feel prepare to enter an exchange, but I guess I must still learn by experience. It was an interesting and fun journey. I would love to see more courses like this.
The course has been incredible to start with the use of ICT, especially the impact of the industry 4.0, for this reason it has been interesting the course and thank you for the opportunity !!!!
Very nice introductory course which explained "Bitcoin" and "Ethereum" proof-of-work and proof-of-stake concept. The pros and the drawbacks of cryptocurrency.
the information is really valuable. understanding more about blockchain and crypto and the way mr ANDREW..explained really appreciat it ...
Excellent introductory course. Covered all of the basics and conveyed a basic understanding of both Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies. Easy to understand and a great speaker.
A great course to begin with, thank you for bestowing me with the tremendous amount of knowledge and understanding on blockchain technology.
Excellent introduction material on blockchain and cryptocurrency. I enjoyed the lectures, working on the assignment and my understanding on the material is reinforced by taking the quiz.
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In both the courses that I have attended on this fintech specialistaion, Prof Wu, mentions refrerence material many times, but I find the references nowhere. This diminishes the value of the course significantly.
I work for a software company (non engineer) but did not have grasp on what blockchain was. Nor did I know much about cryptocurrency. This course does a good job of explaining basics and providing overview. Instructor engaging. Good pace of material. I highly recommend it. Though I did not intend to do whole specialization of four courses, I will now because I liked this course so much.
I have only one small suggestion. Posting a certificate on LinkedIn for "B and C EXPLAINED" sounds amateurish. It would be so much better if this was "INTRODUCTION to B and C."
I love the way Mr.Andrew Wu delivered the lectures! He explained things in a simple manner (what blockchains are, what are the differences between "hot" and "cold" storages etc). He also gives an objective view of the cryptocurrency market. This course is a must-enrol for anyone looking to understand the basics of blockchain and cryptocurrencies!
Not overly impressed. The presenter seemed very nervous and seemed to read the script directly, but not very confidently. This is a major distraction from learning the material. In particular, Week4/Lesson 1 had clear retakes that were accidentally left into the course :-(.
Some of the concepts, such as the economic comparisons to fiat transaction processing, were interesting. However, I am left with the impression that the instructor really has a general, native bias against blockchain, bitcoin, ethereum, and smart contracts, even though they are still in their infancy.
this is an excellent course, Andrew the instructor is great, he makes it very accessible. I highly recommend this course as he is able to explain complex concepts and make them easy to follow. If you are new, start with this course!
It would be great if the slides can be shared, and secondly, the instructor has not included the many reading lists and references for further reading anywhere as part of the course materials. Would be good to share that.
This is such An Informative course and great guide towards blockchains and more so the bitcoin . Its Key to anyone interested in investments in the same as well as for purposes of understanding the advantages and disadvantages of Blockchains too .
It is really awesome course. Concepts are clearly explained by the professor. Graphical representation is also made perfectly to understand easily. Thanks to Coursera & University of Michigan.
Excellent introduction material on blockchain and cryptocurrency. I enjoyed the lectures, working on the assignment and my understanding on the material is reinforced by taking the quiz.
Really wish the quiz questions were better, felt they were very poorly written. However, the actual lecture material is very good and worth diving into if you are interested on how cryptocurrency and blockchain tech works.
Although I loved the course material I found the questions on quizzes to be very ambiguous, and the wording is confusing to say the least, other than that it was great, thanks.
Basic definitions weren't there before explanation starting of the main topics that caused serious troubles for me and I was like finding each and every technical word on chrome that seriously wasted alot of time.
I would suggest that before explanation of the topics first the course title should be discussed deeply and at last I would suggest this course to intermediaries not to beginners.
Everything up to week 3 was easily understandable. However, some aspects of lesson 2 in week 4 were quite hard for me to understand as I don't have a strong background in finance. Hence, I think that aspect of the course should be worked on. Other than that, great and informative course!
This is the first time I approach Blockchain and Cryptocurrency in theory and get to know about why Bitcoin is available in the market and how it works. I would love to get into the Cryto market and know how to keep my account safe
The information is really valuable. The authors should review some of the sound in the last week, though. I really appreciate the conceptual maps the authors worked on, very useful!
The course describes ins and outs of Blockchain & Crypto currency in a easy way. Anyone can understand the core concept of Blockchain. I personally recommend this course.
Very informative. straight to the point. might be difficult if it's your first introduction to the blockchain.
Very concise and clear course
Cons: There are 2 questions on a quiz that reference things that aren't even mentioned until the following week. If you are like me and actually care about your grades on these, you will be just as frustrated as I was.
Pro: I learned a great deal and am very happy I took this course. It is great as for as the information. I think it is kind of a huge deal that they made graded quizzes without ensuring they were asking questions relevant to the material they just went over. Hearing those topics/phrases in the following weeks course only made it more frustrating. It's work it for the knowledge. Lots of great information!
I thought that the course did a good job of making cryptocurrency understandable at the conceptual level and I would recommend it to others who want that level of understanding. But, I only assigned it three stars for two reasons.
1. It left many practical issues unanswered. For example, while there was frequent reference to a cryptocurrency wallet, and its conceptual function was made clear, there was no explanation of how to create one.
2. While it was described as an entry level course, a substantial knowledge of the terminology of both finance and IT was assumed and used by the lecturer.
This course covered the basics of blockchain. However, I found MIT Opencourseware's Blockchain and Money has more readings, is more detailed, and is overall more enjoyable. Also, I have not been able to access any of the cases offered on Coursera. Maybe it is a technical problem. I reported the problem but did not receive any help.