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70359-01 - Colloquium: Money, Finance and Cryptocurrencies: How to Use DeFi Protocols (3 CP)
| Semester | fall semester 2026 |
| Course frequency | Every fall sem. |
| Lecturers | Aleksander Berentsen (aleksander.berentsen@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | In monetary economics and finance, the key issues are the role of liquidity, the frictions that make money essential, and the role of credit and financial intermediation for the economy. In this colloquium, we use this knowledge to study Decentralized Finance (DeFi). The term DeFi refers to a rapidly expanding novel financial infrastructure built on top of blockchains such as the Ethereum blockchain. DeFi does not rely on intermediaries and centralized institutions. Instead, it is based on permissionless protocols and decentralized applications (DApps). The promise of this novel technology is to create a financial infrastructure that is more open, interoperable, and transparent in comparison to the existing financial infrastructure. The basic idea of the colloquium is to identify the building blocks of a financial system. Which services does a financial system need to be complete (to satisfy all potential financial needs of users)? We will explore this question by studying DeFi where these financial primitives are being developed as we speak. The twist of the colloquium is that we want to learn to be 'our own banker.' We will learn to use DeFi protocols without intermediaries -- even without a user interface. For this purpose, we will learn how to use these protocols by directly interacting with smart contracts using Python. |
| Comments | Overall there will be a total of 6 meetings - approximately every second week (in-class or online). The exact dates will be announced at the beginning of the semester. this course may require you to do programming. If you are uncertain about your computing skills, we strongly recommend taking advantage of the faculty's free crash courses. These are available to you during the first weeks of each semester, and are given in English. https://wwz.unibas.ch/en/computational-economics-and-finance/teaching/vorkurs-arbeiten-mit-wissenschaftlicher-software/#c55838 |
| Admission requirements | This course require you to do programming with Python. If you are uncertain about your computing skills, we strongly recommend taking advantage of the faculty's free crash courses. These are available to you during the first weeks of each semester, and are given in English. https://wwz.unibas.ch/en/computational-economics-and-finance/teaching/vorkurs-arbeiten-mit-wissenschaftlicher-software/#c55838 |
| Course application | 1. The number of participants is limited to 20. 2. If you are interested in participating, please send an email to Prof. Aleksander Berentsen (aleksander.berentsen@unibas.ch) by September 14, 2026, 08 pm. Please indicate: your name, study program, and matriculation number Please make sure that you are registered for the fall semester and have paid the semester fees before you register for this course. Eucor-Students and mobility students of other Swiss Universities or the FHNW first have to register at the University of Basel BEFORE the enrollment deadline and receive their login data by post (email address of the University of Basel). Processing time up to a week! Detailed information can be found here: https://www.unibas.ch/de/Studium/Mobilitaet.html After successful registration, you have access to the enrollment link. 3. You will be notified on 15.09.2026 by email if you have NOT been admitted to the course. 4. A deregistration is possible until 21.09.26 at the latest by email to belegungstorno-wwz@unibas.ch 5. Your registration will be entered in your Online Services only after the official deadline of the course registration period, i.e. after October 12, 2026. 6. The following applies to everyone: enrollment = registration for the exam/assignment! In case of non-participation after registration it will be noted as "nicht erschienen" in the transcript. |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | No specific media used |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14-täglich | Wednesday | 08.15-10.00 | Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät, Seminarraum S14 HG.32 |
| Comments | Overall there will be a total of 6 meetings - approximately every second week. The exact dates will be announced at the beginning of the semester. |
Dates
| Date | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|
| Wednesday 16.09.2026 | 08.15-09.15 | Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät, Seminarraum S15, WWZ |
| Wednesday 30.09.2026 | 08.15-10.00 | Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät, Seminarraum S14 HG.32 |
| Wednesday 14.10.2026 | 08.15-10.00 | Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät, Seminarraum S14 HG.32 |
| Wednesday 28.10.2026 | 08.15-10.00 | Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät, Seminarraum S14 HG.32 |
| Wednesday 11.11.2026 | 08.15-10.00 | Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät, Seminarraum S14 HG.32 |
| Wednesday 25.11.2026 | 08.15-10.00 | Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät, Seminarraum S14 HG.32 |
| Wednesday 09.12.2026 | 08.15-10.00 | Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät, Seminarraum S14 HG.32 |
| Modules |
Module: Field Electives in Finance and Money (Master's Studies: Finance and Money) Module: Finance Field: Monetary Economics and Macrofinance (Master's Studies: Finance and Money) Module: Specific Electives in Finance, Controlling, Banking (Master's Studies: Business and Economics) Specialization Module: Areas of Specialization in International and/or Monetary Economics (Master's Studies: International and Monetary Economics) |
| Assessment format | record of achievement |
| Assessment details | Your tasks will be to develop six Jupyter notebooks, where each notebook is dedicated to a particular financial primitive such as trading or borrowing and lending. The grading will be based on these notebooks and your presentations of these notebooks. |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Registration/deregistration: teaching staff |
| Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
| Scale | 1-6 0,1 |
| Repeated registration | as often as necessary |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Business and Economics , studiendekanat-wwz@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Faculty of Business and Economics |