This online program draws on the work of leading MIT faculty and cryptoeconomics expert, Professor Christian Catalini, to examine blockchain technology from an economic perspective. You’ll be offered a foundational overview of how blockchain technology works, in order to demystify the technology and to understand its possibilities and limitations. Over the course of six weeks, you’ll be guided to understand blockchain technology beyond the fundamentals, and to appreciate its application and promise in the context of your own organization.

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Blockchain Technologies: Business Innovation and Application (self-paced online)

Certificate Track: Technology, Operations, and Value Chain Management

Location: Online

Tuition: $3,500

Program Days (for ACE Credit) 2

Download the Blockchain Technologies program brochure

Receive email updates on Blockchain Technologies: Business Innovation and Application (self-paced online) Save Program Blockchain technology has the potential to fundamentally change the way business is conducted, and to transform the foundations of our economic and social systems. Despite its far-reaching potential, there remains a level of uncertainty around blockchain technology and the breadth of its application as an economic catalyst. This program draws on economic theory to offer participants a deep and practical understanding of blockchain technology, and to effectively demonstrate its meaningful capacity for innovation and efficiency in business.

Blockchain Technologies: Business Innovation and Application explores parallels between blockchain technology and other general purpose technologies, highlighting its capacity to enable widespread, transformational change. You’ll examine how blockchain technology can cheaply verify, under certain conditions, the attributes of a transaction. You’ll gain a deeper understanding of the cost of networking, and learn how blockchain technology can bootstrap and facilitate a marketplace without traditional intermediaries. Using an engaging mix of resources, you’ll be guided to explore the effects of blockchain technology on market power in digital platforms, privacy, and trust.

The program looks toward the future of blockchain technology, exploring its longer-term implications for business and its relationship with other emerging technologies, including AI and IoT. You’ll be offered the opportunity to apply your learnings to your own context, walking away with a proposal for a blockchain-based solution to a problem within your current or future organization.



Upon completion of this program, you will be able to:

Examine blockchain technology through an economic lens

Discover the possibilities and limitations of blockchain technology, and evaluate its long-term implications for your business

Develop a sound understanding of two key costs significantly lowered by blockchain technology: the cost of verification and the cost of networking

Propose a blockchain-based solution to address a business problem within your own context

The following modules contribute to the holistic approach your learning path takes:

ORIENTATION: WELCOME TO YOUR ONLINE CAMPUS (ONE WEEK)

You’ll be welcomed with a personal call and get introduced to your online teaching and technical support network. Begin connecting with fellow participants while exploring the navigation and tools of your Online Campus. Be alerted to key milestones in the learning path, and review the completion requirements for this program.

You’ll be required to complete your participant profile and confirm your certificate delivery address.

MODULE 1: AN INTRODUCTION TO BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY

Learn how to think about problems that may require a blockchain by dispelling some common misconceptions about the technology and comparing it to other general purpose technologies.

MODULE 2: BITCOIN AND THE CURSE OF THE DOUBLE-SPENDING PROBLEM

Evaluate Bitcoin as a specific application of blockchain technology that solves a meaningful problem. Analyze this cryptocurrency as a store of value, medium of exchange, and unit of account.

MODULE 3: COSTLESS VERIFICATION: BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY AND THE LAST MILE PROBLEM

Discover how blockchain technology lowers the cost of verification. Consider how blockchain and suitable, complementary technology can be used to solve the last mile problem.

MODULE 4: BOOTSTRAPPING NETWORK EFFECTS THROUGH BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY AND CRYPTOECONOMICS

Learn about how blockchain technology reduces the cost of networking. Recognize the implications this has for market structure and how it changes the nature of intermediation.

MODULE 5: USING TOKENS TO DESIGN NEW TYPES OF DIGITAL PLATFORMS

Discover how businesses have been using tokens and cryptoassets to raise funding and launch new types of digital platforms.

MODULE 6: THE FUTURE OF BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY, AI, AND DIGITAL PRIVACY

Consider how blockchain technology may interact with broader changes in digital platforms, AI, and IoT. Explore the implications of blockchain technology for digital privacy.

This executive program integrates rich interactive media—such as videos, infographics, and e-learning activities—as well as traditional didactic components such as written study guides (course notes). There are opportunities for collaborative learning through discussion forums.

The program begins with an Orientation to welcome you to the Online Campus. During Orientation, you will explore your analysis environment, become comfortable with your new online classroom, meet your Success Team, and get to know your fellow classmates. Watch the video about the online campus experience >

After Orientation, the course is broken down into six manageable, weekly modules, designed to accelerate your learning process through diverse learning activities:

Work through your downloadable and online instructional material

Interact with your peers and learning facilitators through weekly class-wide forums and small group discussions

Enjoy a wide range of interactive content, including video lectures, infographics, live polls, and more

Investigate rich, real-world case studies

Apply what you learn each week to quizzes and ongoing project submissions Each module is released weekly, allowing a flexible but structured approach to learning. You’ll be supported as you engage in individual activities and group discussions, ensuring you feel confident to submit your best work at each weekly deadline. The time commitment is estimated at 6-8 hours per week, self-paced and entirely online.

SUCCESS TEAM

Throughout the course of the program, you will be supported by a team of professionals. Head Facilitator: A subject expert who’ll guide you through content-related challenges

Success Manager: Your one-on-one support available during MIT hours (9am - 5pm EST) to resolve technical and administrative challenges

Global Success Team: Available 24/7 to solve your tech-related and administrative queries and concerns

This program is designed for professionals seeking a deeper knowledge of the impact and applications of blockchain technologies in an economic environment. Whether you’re an entrepreneur looking to integrate blockchain into your business plan, or you’re in an industry such as retail or finance and wanting to understand the current and future developments of this new technology, this program will be relevant to you.

If you’re working directly within the strategic, operational, or managerial function, this program will equip you with the knowledge necessary to discover opportunities for efficiency and innovation using blockchain technology.



FACULTY DIRECTOR Christian Catalini Theodore T. Miller Career Development Professor

Associate Professor of Technological Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Strategic Management

Christian Catalini is the Theodore T. Miller Career Development Professor at MIT, and an Assistant Professor of Technological Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Strategic Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Christian's main areas of interest are the economics of digitization, entrepreneurship, and science. His research focuses on blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies, the economics of equity crowdfunding and startup growth, and the economics of scientific collaboration. Christian is one of the principal investigators of the MIT Digital Currencies Research Study, which gave access to all MIT undergraduate students to Bitcoin in the fall of 2014. He is also part of the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy and the recently launched Digital Currency Initiative. His work has been featured in Nature, Science, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, WIRED, NPR, Forbes, Bloomberg, TechCrunch, the Chicago Tribune, The Boston Globe, and VICE news among others. Christian has presented his research at a variety of institutions including Harvard University, MIT, Yale University, London Business School, New York University, UC, Berkeley, the Federal Reserve Bank, the US Treasury, the World Bank, and the White House OSTP. In 2009-10, Christian was a visiting student at Harvard University. He holds a PhD from the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, and MSc (summa cum laude) in economics and management of new technologies from Bocconi University, Milan. Erik Brynjolfsson Schussel Family Professor of Management Science

Professor of Information Technology

Director, The MIT Center for Digital Business

Erik Brynjolfsson is Director of MIT’s Initiative on the Digital Economy, Schussel Family Professor of Management Science at the MIT Sloan School, and research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. His research examines the effects of information technologies on business strategy, productivity and performance, digital commerce, and intangible assets. At MIT, he teaches courses on the Economics of Information and the Analytics Lab. He has also taught at Stanford University and Harvard University. Brynjolfsson was among the first researchers to measure productivity contributions of IT and the complementary role of organizational capital and other intangibles. His research provided the first quantification of online product variety value, known as the “Long Tail,” and developed pricing and bundling models for information goods. Recognized with ten Best Paper awards and five patents, Brynjolfsson’s research has appeared in leading economics, management, and science journals. His papers can be found at http://digital.mit.edu/erik He is the author of several books including, with coauthor Andrew McAfee, the New York Times best-seller The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies (2014) and Machine, Platform, Crowd: Harnessing Our Digital Future (forthcoming, June 2017). Brynjolfsson is editor of SSRN’s Information System Network and has served on editorial boards of numerous academic journals as well as the Academic Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. Brynjolfsson holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Harvard University in applied mathematics and decision sciences, and a PhD from MIT in managerial economics. Roberto Rigobon Society of Sloan Fellows Professor of Management

Professor of Applied Economics

Roberto Rigobon is the Society of Sloan Fellows Professor of Management and a Professor of Applied Economics at the MIT Sloan School of Management. He is also a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, a member of the Census Bureau’s Scientific Advisory Committee, and a visiting professor at IESA. Roberto is a Venezuelan economist whose areas of research are international economics, monetary economics, and development economics. Roberto focuses on the causes of balance-of-payments crises, financial crises, and the propagation of them across countries—the phenomenon that has been identified in the literature as contagion. Currently he studies properties of international pricing practices, trying to produce alternative measures of inflation. He is one of the two founding members of the Billion Prices Project, and a co-founder of PriceStats. Roberto joined the business school in 1997 and has won both the "Teacher of the Year" award and the "Excellence in Teaching" award at MIT three times. He received his PhD in economics from MIT in 1997, an MBA from IESA (Venezuela) in 1991, and his BS in Electrical Engineer from Universidad Simon Bolivar (Venezuela) in 1984. He is married with three kids. Catherine Tucker The Sloan Distinguished Professor of Management and Professor of Marketing MIT Sloan School of Management

Catherine Tucker is the Sloan Distinguished Professor of Management and Professor of Marketing at MIT Sloan. She is also Chair of the MIT Sloan PhD Program. Her research interests lie in how technology allows firms to use digital data to improve their operations and marketing, and in the challenges this poses for regulations designed to promote innovation. She has particular expertise in online advertising, digital health, social media, and electronic privacy. Generally, most of her research lies in the interface between marketing, economics, and law. She has received an NSF CAREER Award for her work on digital privacy, the Erin Anderson Award for Emerging Marketing Scholar and Mentor, the Paul E. Green Award for contributions to the practice of Marketing Research and a Garfield Award for her work on electronic medical records. Tucker is associate editor at Management Science and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. She teaches MIT Sloan's course on Pricing and the EMBA course "Marketing Management for the Senior Executive." She has received the Jamieson Prize for Excellence in Teaching as well as being voted "Teacher of the Year" at MIT Sloan. She holds a PhD in economics from Stanford University, and a BA from the University of Oxford. Please note that faculty are subject to change and not all faculty teach in each session of the program.

All reviews are submitted by program attendees and are not edited by MIT Sloan Executive Education. Read more about our ratings and reviews. Sort By: Date Reviewed | Date Attended | Rating Pablo Rodriguez C: Great program that has made me understand the potential and capacity of Blockchain technology to change the world as we know it. Actually, initially I thought that the application of the Blockchain would be very focused on the financial world. Nothing is further from the truth, the applications are huge and it is a much bigger change. I recommend it 100% to any director with responsibilities and interest in new technologies. Overall: Application: Content: Experience:

Addala A: Very interesting course not technical more focused on the entrepreneurial strategy for blockchain use case. I recommend Overall: Application: Content: Experience:

William L. Foster I: Thank you Prof. Catalini. The content was timely and the subject matter experts that you put together were all brilliant. The videos were engaging and insight-rich. I watched them several times to absorb the finer details. I used the course to vet my AI-enhanced Permissioned Blockchain Marketplace startup idea. There is some novel secret sauce... the good news is that it will work... and I refined it with what I learned in your course. I just completed the MIT EDP program with Director Bill Aulet leading the Cohort personally. MIT is a launching pad, the value is 10X every penny you invest. Overall: Application: Content: Experience:

Tom L: Great Materials! Within a month of completing this course I was able to use the concepts that I learned to help design a blockchain based solution to help one of my nonprofit customers provide more improved services to their constituents. Overall: Application: Content: Experience:

Tomoko S: it is easy to understand the blockchain concept and what we need to prepare for our business operation. Overall: Application: Content: Experience:

Peter M: Very Good and Enjoyable Programme Overall: Application: Content: Experience:

Clay W: Content was very helpful in my understanding of the subject. Teaching format is professional and informational. Would recommend to a fellow colleague. Overall: Application: Content: Experience:

Comfort M: This course provided a new perspective and helped me learn how blockchain is used in the world today. Overall: Application: Content: Experience:

Carlton R: The course is extremely beneficial to those interested in learning the constructs and applications of a new technology for the business world. Overall: Application: Content: Experience:

Vincent L: Excellent content, active discussions. Overall: Application: Content: Experience:



BASIC REQUIREMENTS In order to complete a course, you’ll need a current email account and access to a computer and the internet. You should be familiar with using a computer and accessing the internet, as you may need to read documents in Adobe PDF Reader, view Microsoft PowerPoint presentations, and read and create documents in Microsoft Word. Installing Adobe Flash Player will give you full access to certain course content, such as interactive infographics. However, you’ll still have access to this content in the form of a downloadable PDF transcript if you’d prefer not to use Flash. Click here for Adobe Reader

Click here or Adobe Flash Player

BROWSER REQUIREMENTS We recommend that you use Google Chrome as your internet browser when accessing the Online Campus. Although this is not a requirement, we have found that this browser performs best for ease of access to course material. This browser can be downloaded here.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS Certain courses may require additional software and resources. These additional software and resource requirements will be communicated to you upon registration and/or at the beginning of the course. Please note that Google, Vimeo, and YouTube maybe used in our course delivery, and if these services are blocked in your jurisdiction, you may have difficulty in accessing course content. Please check with a Course Consultant before registering for this course if you have any concerns about this affecting your experience with the Online Campus.