The financial industry is not being left behind with the recent decision by the CFA Institute to include cryptocurrencies and blockchain in its Level I and II curriculums beginning next year, 2019. According to Bloomberg, the new material for the 2019 exams will be available in August this year.

The fact that the new Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) exams in 2019 will include cryptocurrencies and blockchain, is a sign that the digital assets have arrived in Wallstreet. The debate as to whether cryptocurrencies are investment instruments, can now be put aside for they will now be included in the 3 level CFA program to help train more financial professionals who are in tune with the ever evolving crypto industry.

The CFA Institute added the topics as part of a new reading called Finetech in Investment Management as a result of industry leaders showing urgent interest in surveys and focus groups. The CFA material on Crypto and Blockchain will appear alongside other finetech subjects such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Big Data and Automated Trading.

Crypto and traditional finance have been fused together ever since Bitcoin made it to mainstream media mid last year with a corresponding stellar Bitcoin bull run into the Holiday season of 2017. We also have firms like Goldman Sachs, BlackRock, Mastercard and J.P Morgan Chase, expressing their interest in blockchain technology as well as cryptocurrencies.

Stephen Horan, Managing Director for general education and curriculum at CFA Institute in Charlottesville, Virginia, had this to say about the new curriculum:

We saw the field advancing more quickly than other fields and we also saw it as more durable. This is not a passing fad.

Kayden Lee, a 27 year old financial economics student at Columbia University had this to say about the inclusion of crypto and blockchain into the CFA curriculum:

It will be beneficial for us, since there’s been a huge expansion and adoption of crypto in our investment universe. But more importantly the focus is on fintech and blockchain. How it works to improve, unravel or even disrupt certain sectors.

[Photo source, InvictusNews.com]