Bitcoin Has Mined a Spot for Cryptocurrency in Business Curricula
I don’t remember a week in the past few years where a news story about Bitcoin, Dogecoin or any other cryptocurrencies has not broken. With more than 1 in 10 Americans having invested in cryptocurrency within the past year, especially when coupled with the volatility of the digital finance market, this conclusion proves feasible.
Started in 2009 modeling a paper posted to a cryptography mailing list discussion by anonymous user Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin emerged as a peer-to-peer transaction mechanism. It allowed users to begin exchanging money at lower rates without intermediaries like banks or the government, providing a more private way to complete transactions. To obtain Bitcoin, users must ‘mine,’ or invest in equipment that completes ‘blocks’ of verified transactions that compose the ‘blockchain’ – the public ledger of all transactions – by solving complex equations before other miners, thus earning them Bitcoin. It can also be obtained by completing online tasks such as shopping, taking surveys or setting up crypto accounts.
As a digital currency, no physical Bitcoins exist. In addition, there is only a set amount of Bitcoin available to mine, with 18 million out of 21 million Bitcoin already in existence. Despite the harmful environmental effects of competing to mine Bitcoin, its market risk, the decreasing reward it self-regulates with and its use in illicit transactions, Bitcoin has continued to gain global notoriety since its conception, with approximately 46 million Americans owning Bitcoin and El Salvador even adopting it as a form of legal tender.
Wax figures stand on top of Cyrptocurrency to graphically demonstrate the process of mining. Sourve: Creative Commons, @Crypto360
With Bitcoin, and all cryptocurrency, continuing to expand its user base, it deserves a spot in Marist’s business curricula. Since the Business Administration and Accounting majors already require a course in Information Systems, and all three majors in the School of Management entail a class in Technology for the 21st Century, adding an elective course about digital currency would align with preexisting material. Just as technological advances in other areas precipitate their necessity in lessons, digital currency is only expected to expand as a transactional avenue, and the School of Management should have the opportunity to graduate having learned about it.
In addition to supplementing the business education in the School of Management, offering a course on cryptocurrency would better prepare students for the workforce. According to Marist’s Undergraduate Outcomes Report 2016-2020, Marist students have received full-time offers at their internships with Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase & Co. All popular employers among School of Management students, the firms are among many that have already begun to utilize cryptocurrency. Daniel Pinto, Co-President and COO for JPMorgan Chase & Co. said that Onyx, the corporation’s division for blockchain initiatives, prides itself on providing customers with access to the newest financial technology.
“We’re constantly investing for the future regardless of the economic environment,” Pinto said. “Onyx represents our ongoing mission to provide clients with best-in-class platforms as their business models and banking needs evolve over time.”
Besides preparing students to encounter cryptocurrency in their career, a class on the digital market currencies like Bitcoin exist and would help students practice investing using real currency. A 2021 poll by Mastercard found that 77% of millennials are interested in learning more about cryptocurrency, with 75% expressing an interest in using it once they understand it better. As Pinto expressed, there is an amplified want for and to learn about cryptocurrency across all domains, education included. By providing students with a class on blockchain technology, students will be able to channel their fascination into one of the most significant innovations in finance technology before ever leaving school.
Furthermore, the skills gained when learning to invest in currencies like Bitcoin translate to those used in traditional investing and personal finance to educate students through a modern financial lens. For example, education about the safety of cryptocurrency, including only using verified exchanges and how to secure transactions, is applicable not only to digital currency but also to the Dow. After learning basic principles that correspond with novel financial innovations, School of Management students could reinforce them using established investing methods. The same can be said of using cryptocurrency to illustrate basic money management skills.
Personal finance is at the core of any business education, and learning to only invest what is financially feasible is crucial to handling money responsibly. If students could enroll in a class about digital finance, they would supplement their current education by learning about a relevant industry topic that also piques their interest and establishes the framework for other topics in the field.
We are currently living through a period of financial innovation, where a decentralized and private way to exchange money created by an anonymous person (or persons) is rapidly expanding, with worldwide spending on blockchain technology expected to grow from 1.5 billion in 2018 to 11.7 billion by 2022. Regardless of your opinion on cryptocurrency, it would be impractical to ignore its growing notoriety. From Ledgers to blockchains, double-entry to triple-entry bookkeeping, cryptocurrency has revolutionized the world of finance and deserves a spot in business education.