The course introduces students to recent advances in the fintech area, and will focus on key concepts and theoretical underpinnings of financial intermediation, blockchain, and cryptocurrencies.
The primary focus of this course is on fintech (such as peer-to-peer platforms), blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies, which are perhaps the most significant innovations in finance in recent years. Peer-to-peer platforms have introduced new forms of lending, and are believed to have democratized finance. Blockchain has disrupted traditional financial services by introducing decentralized, peer-to-peer forms of financing that affect banks, stock exchanges, venture capitalists, private equity firms, and other financial intermediaries. It is now widely speculated that these legacy incumbents will gradually disappear in coming decades as new fintech platforms and blockchain-based financing methods such as initial coin offerings (ICO) become popular and more widely available.
We will begin by formulating the basics of financial intermediation, the economic role played by banks and other financial intermediaries, and the benefits and drawbacks of their services. We will then study disintermediation and the emergence of peer-to-peer platforms. Next, we will explore the advent of trustless, decentralized cryptocurrencies beginning with Bitcoin, and its impact on various financing innovations (such as ICOs) and investments. We will also explore whether cryptocurrencies can truly function as alternative forms of money, and how they pose a threat to incumbent financial intermediaries and even to central banks and regulators. We will then study ICOs, understand how their tokenized architecture aligns growth incentives and ensures competition, the investment risks associated with ICOs, and regulatory responses to this recent innovation. Lastly, we will study how financial transactions such as auctions are conducted on online platforms like eBay.
A student who has completed the course should have the following learning outcomes:
Knowledge
The student:
Skills
The student can:
General competence
The student:
Portfolio. The grade awarded will be:
The exam will be given in the language in which the course is taught.
The exam can be submitted in English, Norwegian, Swedish or Danish.
The Department of Economics can conduct a sample of aids in the examination room.
Assessment in teaching semester.
Regarding re-sit exam
Essay
Students with valid absence as defined in UiB's study regulations § 5-5 can apply for an extension of the submission deadline on the written essay by emailing Studieveileder.econ@uib.no. The application must be submitted before the deadline for submission has expired.
School exam
A re-sit exam is arranged for students with
If a resit exam is arranged, it is available for students with the following results/absences:
If you have the right to take a resit exam and a resit exam is arranged for students with valid absence, you can register yourself in StudentWeb after January 15th/August 1st.
Institutt for økonomi
itok@uib.no