The course explores the widespread digital innovation in the financial sector and, in particular, the development of Fintech companies and Blockchain assets. Students will develop an in-depth view of Fintech market participants, regulation, and how new digital innovation has enlarged payment, investment, and financing opportunities for companies and individuals.
The first part of the course allows students to understand (1) the Fintech landscape and how fintech has changed the relationship with traditional banking services; (2) the applications of digital technology such as crowdfunding and token offerings along with the traditional subjects (venture capital, business angels, accelerators, ...) in the entrepreneurial finance domain.
The second part of the course is focused on bitcoin and the associated blockchain technology.
Starting from a computationally focused approach to elliptic curves over finite fields and presenting the discrete logarithm problem as the cornerstone of public-key cryptography, bitcoin is introduced as an ingenious breakthrough innovation. Its game theory, computer science (distributed systems, distributed consensus), and monetary theory elements are examined in the attempt to properly convey the interdisciplinarity of the topic and appreciate its relevance.
Technical and programming elements about digital signatures, blockchain, Merkle tree, addresses, transactions, and timestamping are also provided to assess features and limits of the Bitcoin protocol.