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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Infrastructure by Duke University

4.8
stars
1,380 ratings

About the Course

Decentralized Finance: The Future of Finance is a set of four courses taught by Campbell R. Harvey (Professor of Finance at the Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, and a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research) that focus on decentralized finance (DeFi). In this first course, we begin by exploring the origins of DeFi and take a broad historical view from the earliest barter economies, such as the first peer-to-peer exchanges of bartering, to present day. The course also looks at historical examples of money having value even though it is not officially backed. We then focus on the key infrastructure components: blockchain, cryptocurrency, smart contracts, oracles, stablecoins and decentralized applications (or dApps). This includes discussion of the mechanics of the Ethereum and Bitcoin blockchains including cryptographic hashing. Next, we focus on the specific problems that DeFi is designed to solve: inefficiency (costly, slow, and insecure today), limited access (1.7 billion are unbanked), opacity (we need to trust regulators to monitor banks and the regulators have mixed records), centralized control (financial system is oligopolistic imposing higher fees than we would have in a competitive market) and lack of interoperability (it is difficult to move funds from one financial institution to another today). The course closes by exploring many of the myths about the crypto space....

Top reviews

NA

Jan 13, 2022

I have fore-read about blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies, yet, this course was an excellent way to structure and review my knowledge. I am sure to join the next course of this specialization!

TN

Apr 12, 2022

Great introduction into DeFi, the professor walks us through key definitions, a bit of history, potential applications and common misunderstandings about this space. Good launching pad to dive deeper

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226 - 250 of 310 Reviews for Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Infrastructure

By Rafael G

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Feb 18, 2022

Amazing course!

By Emmanuel A

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Jan 21, 2022

amazing course

By Kevin C

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Oct 27, 2023

Great course

By Adil A

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Nov 27, 2022

Great course

By Chinyere I

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Aug 25, 2022

Great Course

By Rajpal G

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Mar 19, 2022

Great Course

By dwayne k

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Jan 25, 2022

great course

By GIFT M

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Feb 29, 2024

informative

By Insu P

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Jul 10, 2023

Wonderful!!

By Dr. G M A

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Mar 17, 2022

Excellent!

By Salman K

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Sep 15, 2023

Fantastic,

By Jose G

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Aug 16, 2022

Excelente.

By SUPRAJA K

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Nov 5, 2024

excellent

By Norman A

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Jul 1, 2023

Excellent

By XYZ s

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Jun 4, 2022

Great One

By Melvin C

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Apr 20, 2022

Fantastic

By Shanthanalakshmi M

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Apr 6, 2022

Very good

By Ben K

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Dec 9, 2021

Inspiring

By Bruno F

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Nov 26, 2021

MUITO BOM

By Ruben T

•

Nov 19, 2024

amazing!

By Andres J S L

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Jun 27, 2024

Clear!!!

By Xavier c

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Oct 1, 2023

EXCELENT

By JOSE E L E

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Jan 17, 2023

GREAT !!

By José A M M

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Mar 29, 2023

Amazing

By JONATHAN C

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Mar 24, 2023

great !