Nearly Half of the World’s Famous Universities Offer Courses about Cryptocurrency or Blockchain

According to a new study of Coinbase, a cryptocurrency exchange and Qriously, a research firm, 42% of the top 50 universities in the world currently offer at least one course about blockchain or cryptocurrency.

The report was published on the media page of Coinbase, and the results came from Qriously’s findings on 675 American college students, 50 international universities, and interviews of professors and students. According to US News and World Report, New York University (NYU), ranked 30th among US universities, is one of the universities offering numerous of cryptocurrency and blockchain courses.

New York University opened its first course on cryptocurrency in 2014, taught by David Yermack, Chairman of the Finance Department, who enrolled 35 students in total. The course is about the operation and applications of major cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin trading, ltc stock or ripple blockchainand so on. Since then, people’s interest in cryptocurrency has increased dramatically, which is reflected in the number of registrants in the same class. In the spring semester of 2018, 230 students were enrolled in the same class, and the number increased significantly.

Yermack has had a heated discussion about the importance of the course. He said that a an underway process will result in the migration of most financial data to blockchain-based organizations, and students will benefit from this area.

The report also found that students of all majors are interested in the blockchain technology. According to Dawn Song, a professor of computer science at the University of California at Berkeley, the survey of Coinbase showed that 9% of college students have chosen blockchain or cryptocurrency courses currently. The reason why the number of students taking the cryptocurrency course is so high is partly because the courses offered are limited and may continue to increase in the coming months and years.

Part of the reason for widespread interest is that recent graduates with blockchain and cryptocurrency knowledge can get a lot of job opportunities. Benedikt Bunz, a Ph.D. student at Stanford University who specializes in cryptocurrency believed that it is easy to got a job if you are an expert in cryptocurrency and cryptography.