The Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Program has announced that next year it will start offering cryptocurrencies and blockchain courses as part of the new curriculum. The announcement by CFA is yet another indication that cryptocurrency and blockchain have once again grabbed the attention of Wall Street.
Fintech in investment management
The CFA will launch a new course called “Fintech in Investment Management,” that will be broken down to several crypto topics. Additionally, the course will incorporate other topics like machine learning and artificial intelligence.
Following the announcement, CFA’s 2019 exams will include cryptocurrency and blockchain questions. The exam, which is run by the CFA institute, has prepared more than 150,000 finance professionals. The institute has an intensive 3-tier program and crypto and blockchain will now be part of Level I and Level II curricula.
Why CFA will be including crypto topic
CFA said that the decision to include cryptocurrency and blockchain was taken because the two sectors are increasingly attracting interest among people and countries around the world. In a statement, Stephen Horan, the managing director for general education and curriculum at the CFA Institute in Virginia, several groups and surveys show that interest in the two areas is growing. Horan said that some the topics that will be included are automated trading, big data, machine learning and artificial intelligence.
The CFA exam is regarded as the most notorious and brutal exam in the finance industry. CFA applicants have to pass a three-stage examination. Only half of the applicants pass the first stage.
The two topics will also be included in the ethics section of all testing levels. This will be on a topical basis because the sector keeps changing due to regulatory developments on matters like crypto exchanges and taxation.
The institute will release reading materials for next year’s exam in August 2019. Applicants take the exam after taking 300 hours of course time. Last month, over 200,000 people applied for the exam. The exam is seen by many as a doorway to white-collar job prospects. Many of those who applied were from Asia, which is known for having the highest level of crypto activities.