Featured elective: Blockchain from First Principles to Analytics

New for the 2018-19 academic year: Get hands-on experience with the blockchain, a technology that is transforming how companies do business.

Why is an elective on blockchain relevant for Finance students?

Blockchain is a disruptive foundation technology that enables complex use cases where a single source of truth is needed. It is part of the resulting technology stack in the transition from centralized computing, storage, and processing to decentralized architectures and systems.

What will you learn in the Barcelona GSE's course on blockchain technology?

Technologies that make up the ‘blockchain’ (the Merkle Tree, hashing, etc.) and how it all comes together to solve many common problems in business today.
Cryptocurrencies and beyond: BTC, ETH, and Alt Coins are the most successful examples, but the blockchain is not limited to cryptocurrency. Beside the payments use case, blockchain technology opens manifold opportunities to redesign collaborative business processes such as supply chain and logistics processes.
Real world examples and presentations by industry experts will provide insights on the far-reaching possibilities of blockchain technology and be inspired to create your own new implementation
How blockchain interacts with Internet of Things and how it is seen from an analytics perspective

Download course syllabus

Who will be your instructors?

Jesse Seaver has been writing about blockchain technology since 2013, when one bitcoin was worth just $22. He is the author of HuffPost’s blog series “Blockchain: Reinventing Business” which is routinely a top match for searches on a variety of blockchain topics. He is currently at work on a book tentatively titled Blockchain: Reinventing Your World.

Gaston Besanson has been involved with the technical and quantitative sides of blockchain economics, from an empirical research and outreach point of view. He is a data scientist with focus in AI and Blockchain. He is a graduate of the Barcelona GSE Master's in Data Science.

What do Barcelona GSE Finance students say about Data Science electives?

Patrick Altmeyer '18

from Düsseldorf, Germany

"I chose the Barcelona GSE Finance Program over several equally competitive programs in the UK because of its strong focus on quantitative tools and programming and its unmatched flexibility with respect to course choices. Unique access to Data Science modules is helping me to enhance my ability to analyse and compute data, which will be vital for my graduate role at the Bank of England."
Elkébir Lamrani '18

from Rabat, Morocco

"The Barcelona GSE Finance program offers a quite unparalleled experience: it goes beyond a business school-style Masters in Finance by also giving big emphasis on quantitative analysis tools and programming. It also gives the freedom to join this knowledge to Macro/Micro economics and Data Science modules."

What else will you get from a Finance master's at the Barcelona GSE?

Courses in asset pricing, econometrics, and corporate finance to give you context and tools for jobs throughout the Finance industry
Electives to take a deep dive into quantitative tools, economic theory, or statistical methods from data science.
Collaborative environment with faculty and classmates
Small class size gives you direct access to professors
Access to a network of alumni working in banking, consulting, government, and international organizations as well as academia
Beautiful setting in Barcelona

See all Finance Program details and apply

Blockchain: design your own cryptocurrency

Amazing cool description provided by Filippo and Omiros. Discover the power of the blockchain with Barcelona GSE data scientist Omiros Papaspiliopoulos (PhD, University of Lancaster). Build your own cryptocurrency. Be California cool.

By the end of this course, you'll be ready to use X, Y, and Z like a pro.

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Machine learning for finance

So much machine learning, so much finance. This course will change your life. Filippo will tell us how.

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Presentations by finance professionals

Meet experts at the ECB, EY, Deloitte, JP Morgan, and other top firms. Find out how they are using the latest tools and how data science has become so very important in their lives.

Put it all in context

The Finance Program includes courses in asset pricing, econometrics, and corporate finance, but from there you will select electives to take a deep dive into quantitative tools, economic theory, or statistical methods from data science.