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Leading universities in Russia have started to offer courses in cryptocurrency along with their existing finance curricula. According to their representatives, this decision has been made due to increasing public interest in blockchain technology and cryptocurrency.
See also: Cryptocurrency 101
Sergy Studnikov, a managing board member of Moscow State University’s Financial Analytics program, elaborated the university’s plan for cryptocurrency course, “We will have master class immediately for several programs – for this we invite industry representatives.” Higher School of Economics, another leading university of Russia, is offering cryptocurrency as a topic in Financial Technologies course. Saint Petersburg State University will teach cryptocurrency along with banking, finance and financial markets program.
Cryptocurrency is seeing an unparalleled support from the Russian state. Ethereum, a digital currency with second largest market cap, was built by a Russian programmer and is endorsed by the Russian president Vladimir Putin. Burger King also launched its own cryptocurrency in Russia.
There has been an immense increase in the usage and popularity of cryptocurrency in recent years. Now, industries in Russia have started to demand cryptocurrency courses from their partner universities. Sberbank, an industrial partner of Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology has opened a new scientific laboratory to conduct research on cryptocurrency.
Blockchain, the backbone technology behind Bitcoin, is finding its application in other fields as well. Ukraine, the neighboring country of Russia, is considering to implement it at a state level. The National University of Science and Technology, Russia’s leading university for the study of metallurgy and steel-making, signed an agreement with a government-owned bank to create a center for materials and breakthrough technology with a special focus on Blockchain.
It is not the first time that universities are offering courses in cryptocurrency or blockchain technology. New York University (NYU) started offering “The Law and Business of Bitcoin and Other Cryptocurrencies” in 2014. Other acclaimed universities like Stanford and Princeton also offer online courses on cryptocurrency.
