DeFi and the Future of Finance is a set of four courses that focus on decentralized finance. The final course is called DeFi Opportunities and Risks. It is essential that you complete the first three courses: I. DeFi Infrastructure; II. DeFi Primitives; and III. DeFi Deep Dive before beginning the fourth course. The course starts with the premise that an analysis of any new technology must clearly gauge the risks and challenges. Given that DeFi is only a few years old there are plenty of risks. The course begins with the most obvious risk: smart contract risk. Smart contracts are foundational for DeFi. The code of these contracts is public - opening a clear attack vector for hackers. That is, in traditional finance, hackers need to break into a system to get access to the code and data. In DeFi, everything is open source.There are many other risks studied including: Governance risk; Oracle risk; Scaling risk; Decentralized Exchange or DEX risk; Custodial risk; Environmental risk; and Regulatory risk.
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Opportunities and Risks
This course is part of Decentralized Finance (DeFi): The Future of Finance Specialization
Instructor: Cam Harvey
10,879 already enrolled
Included with 
(290 reviews)
Recommended experience
What you'll learn
A framework to evaluate DeFi risk; Environmental implications of cryptocurrency; and winners and losers in the future of finance.
Skills you'll gain
Details to know
Add to your LinkedIn profile
4 assignments
See how employees at top companies are mastering in-demand skills
Build your subject-matter expertise
- Learn new concepts from industry experts
- Gain a foundational understanding of a subject or tool
- Develop job-relevant skills with hands-on projects
- Earn a shareable career certificate
Earn a career certificate
Add this credential to your LinkedIn profile, resume, or CV
Share it on social media and in your performance review
There are 5 modules in this course
The first model explores both logic errors and economic exploits that characterize smart contract risk. We then focus on some specific exploits including the Yearn.finance exploit that utilized a massive flash loan.
What's included
4 videos1 reading1 assignment
The second model explores additional risks including governance attacks, DNS attacks, oracle vulnerabilities, and DEX risk. The module ends with an exploration of the different types of custodial arrangements and the risks that each approach creates.
What's included
5 videos1 assignment
Scaling risk is one of the biggest risks facing DeFi. Current capacity of the Ethereum blockchain is only about 15 transactions per second whereas the Visa network is 65,000. This module explores potential solutions to the scaling problem.
What's included
4 videos1 assignment
The final module explores the regulatory risk that the DeFi space faces from KYC/AML to the potential declaration that some DeFi tokens are securities. Central bank digital currencies are also explored. We then explore the environmental impact of Proof of Work consensus and the migration to the environmentally friendly Proof of Stake.
What's included
3 videos1 assignment
What's included
2 videos
Instructor
Offered by
Recommended if you're interested in Finance
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Duke University
Coursera Project Network
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Why people choose Coursera for their career
Learner reviews
290 reviews
- 5 stars
88.31%
- 4 stars
10.99%
- 3 stars
0.68%
- 2 stars
0%
- 1 star
0%
Showing 3 of 290
Reviewed on Apr 12, 2022
Course is an excellent starting point to understanding DeFi, and provides a base for continued learning to this important shift in finance.
Reviewed on Dec 29, 2021
Excellent overview of the opportunities and risks of DeFi as of the end of 2021. Look forward to helping define the future of DeFi based on the understanding gained from these courses.
Reviewed on Sep 10, 2024
Love it. A little older of a class but it talks about some of the still leading defi protocols in use today.
New to Finance? Start here.
Open new doors with Coursera Plus
Unlimited access to 10,000+ world-class courses, hands-on projects, and job-ready certificate programs - all included in your subscription
Advance your career with an online degree
Earn a degree from world-class universities - 100% online
Join over 3,400 global companies that choose Coursera for Business
Upskill your employees to excel in the digital economy
Frequently asked questions
Access to lectures and assignments depends on your type of enrollment. If you take a course in audit mode, you will be able to see most course materials for free. To access graded assignments and to earn a Certificate, you will need to purchase the Certificate experience, during or after your audit. If you don't see the audit option:
The course may not offer an audit option. You can try a Free Trial instead, or apply for Financial Aid.
The course may offer 'Full Course, No Certificate' instead. This option lets you see all course materials, submit required assessments, and get a final grade. This also means that you will not be able to purchase a Certificate experience.
When you enroll in the course, you get access to all of the courses in the Specialization, and you earn a certificate when you complete the work. Your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile. If you only want to read and view the course content, you can audit the course for free.
If you subscribed, you get a 7-day free trial during which you can cancel at no penalty. After that, we don’t give refunds, but you can cancel your subscription at any time. See our full refund policy.