Program Overview

Blockchain and Digital Currency

Overview

The Master’s degree is designed to prepare participants to become competent professionals in the field of digital currency and Blockchain technology. Graduates benefit from a broad background, combining courses in Finance, Management, Computer Science, and Information Systems to provide a holistic analysis of Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain systems, applications, and services.

Admission

Admission Criteria

The minimum general requirement for admission to the post-graduate degree programme is a Bachelor Degree from a recognised university.

English Language Proficiency

Students satisfy the English requirements if their first degree was taught in English. Otherwise, they would need to present a minimum TOEFL score 550 and above, or Computer-based TOEFL score of 213 and above, or Internet-based TOEFL (iBT) score 79-80 and above, or GCSE (or GCE) English Language “O” Level of “C” or above or IELTS of 6.5 and above or Cambridge Exams (First Certificate with Grade B and above, as well as Proficiency with Grade C and above or a score placement at the ENGL-100 level of the University English Placement Test. The University offers English courses at various levels to help students reach the required standard for admission to a graduate program.

Assessment

Course assessment usually comprises of a comprehensive final exam and continuous assessment. Continuous assessment can include amongst others, weekly interactive activities, projects, positive online forum participation etc.

Letter grades are calculated based on the weight of the final exam and the continuous assessment and the actual numerical marks obtained in these two assessment components. Based on the course grades the student’s semester grade point average (GPA) and cumulative point average (CPA) are calculated.

Graduation

The student must complete 90 ECTS and all programme requirements.

A minimum cumulative grade point average (CPA) of 2.0 is required. Thus, although a ‘D-‘ is a PASS grade, in order to achieve a CPA of 2.0 an average grade of ‘C’ is required.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this program, the students should be able to:

1. Define concepts of money and money supply and associate present international financial markets and money transfer systems to digital currency alternatives.
2. Explore theoretical principles on currencies, banking, the role of central banks, and monetary policy to determine the likely implications of digital currencies upon them.
3. Identify and analyse challenges, prospects, and risks of Cryptocurrencies and devise business proposals and/or develop Blockchain systems and services that address them.
4. Apply and advance practice or research on Blockchain technology, cryptography, decentralized systems architectures, and information systems to design innovative systems and services that complement and extend the existing Cryptocurrencies ecosystem.
5. Review, analyse, and compare different regulatory environments (banking, payments, commerce, legal, accounting, etc.), debate on likely implications introduced by Cryptocurrencies, and advise on alternative proposals.
6. Analyze best practices related to digital currencies, specify business opportunities, and apply digital currency based innovative solutions to address problems in business, finance, or the society at large.

Academic Path

Section A: Required Courses

• BLOC-511DL: Digital Currency (10 ECTS)
• BLOC-512DL: Blockchain Systems and Architectures (10 ECTS)
• BLOC-513DL: Law and Regulation in Blockchain (10 ECTS)
• BLOC-514DL: Emerging Topics in Blockchain and Digital Currency (10 ECTS)
• BLOC-515DL: Blockchain and Entrepreneurship Management (10 ECTS)
• BLOC-516DL: Principles of Money, Banking and Finance (10 ECTS)

Section B: Electives

• Choose three (3) courses or a Master Thesis
• BLOC-521DL: Digital Currency Programming (10 ECTS)
• BLOC-522DL: Smart Contract Programming (10 ECTS)
• BLOC-523DL: Permissioned Blockchains Programming (10 ECTS)
• BLOC-524DL: Cryptographic Systems Security (10 ECTS)
• BLOC-525DL: Emerging Topics in Law and Regulation (10 ECTS)
• BLOC-526DL: Emerging Topics in FinTech (10 ECTS)
• BLOC-527DL: Open and Decentralized Financial Systems (10 ECTS)
• BLOC-528DL: Token Economics (10 ECTS)
• BLOC-529DL: Decentralized Finance (10 ECTS)
• BLOC-551DL: Master Thesis (30 ECTS)

Semester Breakdown

Semester 1

• BLOC-511DL: Digital Currency (10 ECTS)
• BLOC-516DL: Principles of Money, Banking and Finance (10 ECTS)
• BLOC-513DL: Law and Regulation in Blockchain (10 ECTS)

Semester 2

• BLOC-515DL: Blockchain and Entrepreneurship Management (10 ECTS)
• BLOC-512DL: Blockchain Systems and Architectures (10 ECTS)
• BLOC-514DL: Emerging Topics in Blockchain and Digital Currency (10 ECTS)

Semester 3

• BLOC-551DL: Master Thesis (30 ECTS)

Faculty

• Dr Klitos Christodoulou
• Dr Ifigenia Georgiou
• Professor George Giaglis
• Dr Elias Iosif
• Professor Soulla Louca
• Professor Spyridon Makridakis
• Professor Maria Michailidis
• Dr Charalambos Savvides
• Professor Marinos Themistocleous

Visiting Faculty

• Dr Demetris Tzovaras
• Dr Konstantinos Votis

Adjunct Faculty

• Dr George Dotsis
• Ms Evgeniya Kapassa
• Dr Konstantinos Karasavvas
• Dr Apostolos Kourtis
• Dr Theodosis Mourouzis
• Muhammad Mustaf Kamal
• Dr Periklis Thivaios

Industry Experts / Guest Lecturers

• Mr Andreas Antonopoulos
• Mr Athanasios Leontaris
• Mr Stefan Loesch
• Mr Ioannis Menelaou
• Mr Antonis Polemitis
• Mr Mark Toohey