By
Chimamanda U. Martha
April 25th, 2024
As the field of cryptocurrencies continue gainig popularity, NYU becomes the first university to offer major in blockchain technology.
According to the recent report, New York University (NYU), one of the most prestigeous colleges in the US which was founded in 1831, has become the first university to offer its students a major course in cryptocurrency and blockchain technology.
The course will be provided by the NYU Stern School of Business, which is located on NYU’s Greenwich Village campus next to the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences. Stern was the first school to offer undergraduate courses in cryptocurrencies and blockchain.
As it was reported, the course will be targeted at helping students to get deep knowledge of both legal and business implications of crypto and blockchain technology. As NYU’s adjunct professor Andrew Hinkes told in an interview:
“We hope to establish a groundwork so that the students can understand what’s really happening under the hood, so that they can understand both the legal and the business implications, and prepare them to go out and tackle this new market.”
The course turned out to be so popular that NYU’s administration had no alternative but to double its offerings this school year – over a hundred students have registered for this Major program.
As the popularity of cryptocurrences and blockchain technology has significantly increased over the year 2018, some prestigeous university, such as Stanford and MIT, began to offer undergraduate programs in cryptocurrency and blockchain technology.
The recent research made by Coinbase showed that 42% of the world’s top ranking universities now offer courses on digital currencies. Of the 172 classes reviewed in the study, 15% were offered by economics, finance, law and business departments, while 4% were in social science departments.
According to Adam White, Coinbase representative:
“This is a grassroots movement. These are students saying, ‘hey, university, I want to take a class on this.’ I think they see the development, the birth of a new industry. In many ways, we look at things like bitcoin and ethereum and blockchain as the internet 3.0.”
One of NYU students who enrolled in the crypto major, Mustafa Khan, noted:
“In the environment we live in today, it’s become especially relevant to get a hold of how new technologies work and how they interact with the legal system.”
The same research demonstrated that 26% of students are interested in studying crypto. But the mpst interesting thing is that students not only have intention to study the subject, but also to invest in digital currency with the same eagerness as well. About 21.2% of college students already had crypto investments before enrolling into the course.