DeFi Masterclass - Cohort 8
A 4 week long DeFi Masterclass, a hands-on workshop to get you comfortable transitioning into the world of DeFi and learning how to make passive income, with Anand Iyer & Kedric Van de Carr, your DeFi sherpas.
DeFi Masterclass
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) is the most exciting thing to happen to finance and to money. The traditional finance models are being challenged by primitives that are being built on the blockchain and cryptocurrency. The Total Value Locked (TVL) in DeFi has grown from $1B in June 2020 to over $85B, and growing. And we are still in the very early stages of this movement. With this hands-on course you will get comfortable and fluent with DeFi concepts and primitives. You will get a solid foundational understanding of the Ethereum blockchain and how it powers DeFi. You will learn how to mange your risks and rewards, earn high yields through programs like Staking and Yield Farming, and learn to make a passive or active income in the world of DeFi.
Taking this course will help you get more fluent with DeFi concepts and primitives. You will be able to map traditional finance concepts such as depositing, lending, borrowing to the decentralized world. This is a hands on course and you will get a feel for how you can control your financial destiny through the world of DeFi.
Topics we will cover
We’ll go in-depth on the following concepts
Gain a breadth of knowledge about blockchains
Learn about the basics of Ethereum and its significance
Grow your understanding of decentralization
Gain familiarity with other blockchains (such as Polkadot, Cosmos, Solana etc.)
Dive into the world of DeFi
Trade, Stake, Yield Farm, Deposit, Borrow and Lend using DeFi assets
Understand some of the dangers of DeFi
Distill the ideas behind NFTs, API3 and the futures of Ethereum (like EIP 1559, Layer 2 Scaling etc.)
Who this course is for
Traditional Finance Background: You are an investor, analyst or fund manager working in traditional finance.
Crypto Novice: You are a crypto novice and you are looking to learn more about DeFi.
Seeking Passive or Active Income: You are looking for opportunities to make passive or active income with crypto and DeFi.
Format
This will be a 4 week, live, hands-on course that will
1. introduce you to the fundamentals behind DeFi
2. get you setup such that you can play with DeFi primitives firsthand (such as trading on decentralized exchanges, staking, yield farming etc.)
We will be doing live sessions, with breakouts.
- You will be part of a cohort that is eager to learn.
- You will have access to the community to be able to pose questions and help each other out.
- We will loop in experts and guest speakers from the field and do AMAs.
- You will have access to me as well as your cohort after the session is done so that you can continue to grow together.
This is an active hands-on course, and not just a one-way lecture. This is the course I wish I had access to when I was first getting started.
The sessions will all be done over Zoom and you will be invited to our Discord.
What we will cover
Week 1: Blockchains and intro to DeFi
- Ethereum
- Smart Contracts
- Oracles
- Gas
- EVM
- What is DeFi?
- Other Blockchains
Week 2: DeFi Primitives
- Crypto Loans and intro to Aave (and other lending/borrowing platforms)
- Trading and intro to Uniswap (and other DEXes)
Week 3: (Passive) Income Opportunities
- Staking
- Liquidity Pool Mining and Yield Farming
- Stablecoins and APYs
Week 4: NFTs, Web3 & Futures
- EIP 1559
- ETH 2
- Layer 2 Scaling
- Web3 and dApps
Time Commitment
Each live session will be one hour long, with approximately 30 minutes of take home work (that will serve as prerequisites for the next class)
Meet your instructors
Anand Iyer
Anand is an entrepreneur and early stage venture capital investor at Pear, focused on investing in blockchain and cryptocurrency companies, and Decentralized Finance. In his previous role, Anand was the CEO and Founder of Trusted which was acquired by Care.com in 2018. He has been investing in cryptocurrencies since 2013.
Kedric Van de Carr
Kedric is a serial entrepreneur. He received a B.S. in Finance from NYU - Stern and has previously co-founded several blockchain/cryptocurrency businesses (ComfyCoins - Acquired; Unblockable - Venture Funded). Kedric is an experienced Crypto Yield Farmer and has been investing in Cryptocurrencies since 2013.
Hear what our past attendees have to say:
"One of the highest insight-per-second classes I've taken... and it's only week 1. Thank you @ai for the excellent kickoff to DeFi masterclass today" Brian Rumao
"The Defi Master Class really opened up my eyes to a whole new world in finance and now I’m totally hooked! Anand and Kedric managed to cater the class to both beginners like me, and experienced folks and we all learned from each other. Not only did Anand and Kedric share incredibly valuable and hard earned insights based on their own experience, they also answered everyone’s questions during the class in a separate discord channel while teaching, and then stayed after class for over an hour each time answering even more questions! They even hosted office hours during the week and I know I can count on them to help me with any questions after the class is over. I can’t wait to use what I learned and start yield farming asap!" Margarita Golod
"This class has been one of the fastest time-to-value products ever. In just two weeks I’ve gone from 0 to 60 in my DeFi journey with the help of insightful classes, post-class discussions, hands-on projects, curated content, and an amazing community. Without this structured and guided learning, it would have taken me months to get this far. Thanks Anand and Kedric for offering this class and the incredible amount of time and effort you're putting into making it a success for us." Vaibhav Pandya
Just completed the Defi Masterclass with @ai and @kedric; what a wonderful way to fall down the DeFi rabbit hole, meet interesting & curious people, and move from reading to actually doing. Highly recommend! @shiyankoh.eth
Best experience of '21 so far deep-diving into the DeFi ecosystem with super instructors @ai @kedric & an amazing set of peers who kept the discord channels always buzzing. @KhuranaSanchi
One of the best and inspiring course around - The Defi Masterclass with @ai and @kedric. Highly recommended, amazingly prepared and executed! @armintaipei
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to need to know anything about cryptocurrency or DeFi?
A basic understanding of cryptocurrency is a nice to have, but not a requirement.
I don’t own any cryptocurrencies, can I still join this course?
Yes. You don’t need to own any cryptocurrencies.
Can you help me manage my portfolio?
We are not investment experts or investment advisors. Unfortunately we cannot coach you on your investment decisions. However we can offer guidance on the best tools and products you can use to maximize your yields.
Do I need to own a hardware wallet?
A hardware wallet is an excellent idea and we strongly recommend it. However it is not a prerequisite for this course.
How do I get in touch with my peers or my instructor between sessions?
You will be invited to a Discord server with other members from your cohort where you can pose questions and engage with the community.
Do you offer office hours?
Yes. We post office hours on our Discord server. We are also quite active outside of office hours.
How engaged is the community?
>80% attendees usually stick around for up to an hour after each session. They get to engage with us and with each other in an open and casual manner. The community is also very engaged on Discord. We share investment opportunities and job opportunities with one another.
What is your refund policy?
We honor full refunds up to 10 days before the start of the course. While we cannot offer refunds within 10 days or after a course begins, we can always transfer your registration to another cohort.
Are videos and slides from the presentation made available?
Yes, videos and slides are available to all registrants.
What is the homework like?
Homework tends to be light - approximately 15-20 minutes of homework between sessions. They serve as prerequisites for the next session.