Chevron Left
Back to Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Infrastructure

Learner Reviews & Feedback for Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Infrastructure by Duke University

4.8
stars
1,581 ratings

About the Course

Decentralized Finance: The Future of Finance is a set of four courses taught by Campbell R. Harvey (Professor of Finance at the Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, and a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research) that focus on decentralized finance (DeFi). In this first course, we begin by exploring the origins of DeFi and take a broad historical view from the earliest barter economies, such as the first peer-to-peer exchanges of bartering, to present day. The course also looks at historical examples of money having value even though it is not officially backed. We then focus on the key infrastructure components: blockchain, cryptocurrency, smart contracts, oracles, stablecoins and decentralized applications (or dApps). This includes discussion of the mechanics of the Ethereum and Bitcoin blockchains including cryptographic hashing. Next, we focus on the specific problems that DeFi is designed to solve: inefficiency (costly, slow, and insecure today), limited access (1.7 billion are unbanked), opacity (we need to trust regulators to monitor banks and the regulators have mixed records), centralized control (financial system is oligopolistic imposing higher fees than we would have in a competitive market) and lack of interoperability (it is difficult to move funds from one financial institution to another today). The course closes by exploring many of the myths about the crypto space....

Top reviews

AS

Aug 16, 2022

Sofar I found this course very refreshing & clear overvieuw into the Crypto & DeFi space.Seeing there is alot of misinformation out there,so this gives you a good base.

NS

May 28, 2022

I personally would prefer a little bit more challenging tests and more of practical work.However, I really enjoyed the course and are planning to continue.

Filter by:

126 - 150 of 364 Reviews for Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Infrastructure

By Ivan O

•

Jan 24, 2022

Great way of explaining with a good overview of this innovation space that Defi is!

By Hendy A

•

Jan 21, 2022

Thanks Prof Harvey, in this initial course, you made me understand what the DeFi is

By Preetish B

•

Jan 9, 2022

It provided me a great introduction of cryptos. Many misconceptions are clarified.

By Ritika B

•

Dec 25, 2021

Great course to understand the basics. Very simply and efficient way of explaining

By Pablo G

•

Feb 23, 2026

Espectacular, explica las bases DeFi de manera intuitiva y simple, lo recomiendo.

By Ahmad A

•

Jan 4, 2023

I love you Professor ... you made my life many many many Thanks ... God bless you

By Gustavo C

•

Nov 4, 2025

Excelent delivery and clarity. easy to follow and understand. Execelent examples

By Tammy T

•

Aug 18, 2023

The instructor is a really energetic person and provides many insightful ideas.

By T. W G

•

Aug 5, 2022

The instructure is tight, on point and has a solid take in his teaching style.

By Robert R

•

Feb 6, 2022

Great course for anyone wanting to learn the fundamentals of Defi. Thank you!

By Jeanne C

•

Nov 24, 2021

This was a wonderful and easy to digest overview of DeFi. Thank you so much!

By Joe D

•

Feb 5, 2022

Material was very logical and clearly presented. Great introduction to DeFi!

By Omer K

•

Feb 17, 2023

Does a good job of explaining the basics of DeFi and Blockchain technology.

By Mark E

•

May 4, 2022

Great inturduction course.

It clearly lays down all the basic tirms of DeFi

By Tim M

•

Jan 17, 2022

Extremely thorough and well organized series of courses. Highly recommend.

By Werner H

•

Jan 27, 2025

Es una buena introducción. Es recomendable para ir entendiendo de qué va.

By Tony N

•

Dec 7, 2022

This is perfect for the beginner who knows absolutely nothing about DeFi.

By Markus L

•

Nov 30, 2021

Excellent professor and super exciting topic presented in a great way.

By TextGuy;

•

May 6, 2022

very good summary of all the fundamental knowledge for the cryto tech.

By kwame c

•

Mar 23, 2022

A very good intro inte world of DeFi, would 100% recommend this course

By Manuel E

•

Jan 29, 2022

Muy bueno el curso para tener una idea de que esperar en el mundo DeFi

By Shalini V

•

Jan 2, 2022

Thank you so much for making deFi so much more easier to understand.

By Tin L

•

Feb 24, 2023

Great course on DeFi to get people up to speed on what is going on.

By Michelangelo c

•

Jan 3, 2022

Awesome course. From the bottom up, provides excellent foundations.

By Earl J L

•

Nov 17, 2021

I really learned a lot and can't wait for more information to come.