Cryptocurrencies, Blockchain and Digital Assets

Explores the landscape of cryptocurrencies, blockchain, and digital assets with a primary focus on Decentralized Finance (DeFi) and its application to specific financial use cases.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Brad Chandler3.9/5

Summary

What you’ll be able to do

  • Describe the historical context and evolution of cryptocurrencies, blockchain and digital assets.

  • Describe the fundamentals of decentralized finance, including how it works, its strengths and limitations and how it differs from traditional finance solutions.

  • Analyze how well decentralized finance meets the requirements of important financial use cases.

  • Evaluate a blockchain, cryptocurrency or digital asset project that applies decentralized finance concepts.

  • Analyze the potential positive impacts of cryptocurrencies, blockchain and digital assets on society, as well how they are overhyped and unlikely to deliver value.

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

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average GPA
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No recorded grade history.

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Prerequisites

Course map

(FINANCE 305, 325, and ECON/​FINANCE 320) or declared in undergraduate Business Exchange program

FINANCE 615

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Professors

Spring 2027
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About this rating

Raw average: 5.00/5 from 4 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

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Historical instructors & teaching patterns

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Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

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SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
SEM 001Classroom Instruction0 / 400

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Student experience

the class

Delving into the experimental and evolving landscape of cryptocurrencies, blockchain and digital assets, technologies that have impacted the financial world, for good and bad, over the last decade. A primary focus on "Decentralized Finance" ("DeFi") and its application to specific financial use cases.

difficulty & workload

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Topics

  • Historical context and evolution of cryptocurrencies, blockchain, and digital assets.
  • Decentralized Finance (DeFi) and its application to specific financial use cases.
  • Evaluation of projects applying decentralized finance concepts in blockchain, cryptocurrency, or digital assets.

Skills

  • Describing the fundamentals of decentralized finance, including its mechanics, strengths, limitations, and differences from traditional finance.
  • Analyzing how effectively decentralized finance meets the requirements of specific financial use cases.
  • Evaluating the societal impacts of cryptocurrencies and blockchain, including both positive effects and hype-driven limitations.

Grades

Instructor

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Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

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Selected offering source records
FINANCE 615 · Spring 2027

Cryptocurrencies, Blockchain and Digital Assets

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records
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    "offering_id": "1274:233:027340",
    "course_id": "FINANCE 615",
    "course_uid": "course_c1440a7e7e8200a608b73835",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "027340",
    "source_subject_id": "233",
    "title": "Cryptocurrencies, Blockchain and Digital Assets",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Not Applicable"
  }
]
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Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Full model traces

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Model & dataset provenance
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