Fintech, Blockchain, Crypto and Web3.0

After almost two decades of accelerated financial innovation, it is time to better understand what makes fintech succeed and even more importantly – what doesn’t. There is no better place to do so than in Israel, one of the top 3 fintech hubs in the world and by far the leader in fintech startups and unicorns per capita.

The instructors, who have both academic and vast practical experience, will walk students through topics crucial to understanding the success and failure of financial innovation using real life fintech cases. Furthermore, in many sessions, leading industry experts will discuss their battle-tested views on the necessary elements of financial innovation.

The first part of the course will provide a birds-eye view on many areas of fintech with the focus on several detailed examples of groundbreaking disruptions of traditional financial system.

The second part of the course will focus exclusively on an arguably most cutting-edge area of fintech, which has the possibility to transform completely all areas of finance as we know it and, in the process, to reduce substantially the amounts wasted on financial intermediation – blockchain technology and its current and future applications.

After students obtain subject knowledge and re-live various fintech use-cases via discussions with industry experts, they will utilize their knowledge in two major aspects. First, students will prepare a detailed suggestion plan to dilemmas of some of the start-ups whose management has participated in the course. The second major assignment will require students to prepare a proposal of a new, still nonexistent business idea/application in the field of blockchain technology. Both assignments will be presented in the form of a pitch deck.

Course highlights include:

1. Learn about one of the most currently disruptive verticals in the most innovative country in the world.
2. Learn and understand where the world is going in terms of digital banking, alternative data, blockchain, crypto, decentralized finance, and more.
3. Get a first-hand view on the success factors of fintech innovation in general and blockchain innovation in particular.
4. Discuss various topics with industry experts to find what drives them and how to become successful entrepreneurs.
5. Develop a critical reasoning approach to analyze innovation processes.
6. Provide recommendations to startups as to possible solutions of their challenges.
7. Engage with faculty, experts, and students in a practical workshop to develop an investor pitch decks and a trial pitch.