This webpage provides supplementary material for the Blockchain Technology and Decentralized Finance part of the course Research Frontiers in Financial Economics. The material is an introduction to the subject and made available to aid interested students as well as anyone else who happens to find this content of interest.
Please note that the material on this page is updated regularly, between each course session. I welcome and appreciate any feedback to improve the content.
The course syllabus outlines the following:
The course deals with various important themes in finance, such as sustainability in financial economics and alternative investments. The focus of the course is on themes that reflect development on financial markets and financial decision-making. The course also addresses the challenges which arise as a result of these.
In practice, this bachelor-level course covers three primary areas: real estate finance, sustainable finance, and decentralized finance (DeFi). The course is designed to support students as they prepare to write their theses, helping them explore and decide on potential thesis topics.
For more details about the course, including the syllabus and schedule, visit the course page at Stockholm University.
I teach the decentralized finance (DeFi) section of the course. The DeFi section consists of three lectures, each two hours long. Due to the limited time, this course offers a brief introduction to blockchain technology and decentralized finance. The goal is to spark students’ interest in this emerging area, and this webpage will serve as a guide for those who wish to explore these topics further.
The materials presented here represent my own approach to a concise introduction to the key aspects of blockchain technology and DeFi. This includes a bit of history, an overview of major financial applications, and practical guidance on interacting with blockchains.
This material is designed for bachelor students in business, economics, and finance. As such, it avoids deep technical explanations of cryptography and computer science. However, I aim to provide enough detail to ensure a proper understanding of the content and will guide interested readers to additional resources for further exploration.
Throughout this material, I will provide recommended readings. Students are expected to read the primary texts, as they are foundational not only to this course but to the broader understanding of blockchain technology. I also encourage anyone interested to explore the supplementary readings, which offer deeper insights into the topics discussed.
The readings consists of whitepapers (detailed documents outlining problems, solutions, or technical concepts) and academic papers. In addition to these categories the supplementary readings consist of a few books that I’ve found helpful.
Note: for legal reasons I do not host all papers in the reading list. I host those that are considered to be in the public domain and the rest I link to. Most of the ones I link to are free to download.
The supplementary lecture material is essentially my extended lecture notes in writing. The lectures themselves (me talking plus the slides) approximate what I cover on this webpage. These notes provide an extended view of the topics, with direct links to source material. The notes were created for two reasons: i) for myself to help create my lecture slides 2) to give written and extended material to students.