20645 Decrypting Crypto: Updated

Course Leaders: Brad Horn, Tom Naps (brad@saffroncapital.com, thomas.naps@gmail.com)
Time and Place Three Sessions: Tuesdays 10/6/2026 - 11/20/2026, 2:30 - 4:00 PM, The Commons Room at Bethlehem Lutheran Church - Minneapolis.
Course Description The market and regulatory environment for cryptocurrencies has changed significantly in the two years since we did the first iteration of our course. In response, the course will now explore the technical aspects of evolving cryptocurrencies and, to a lesser extent, NFTs. This includes the historical motivation behind cryptocurrency and the roles played by cryptography, blockchains, and consensus methods to make cryptocurrencies secure. The course will survey cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology stocks available for investing, as well as their impact on portfolio risk and return.

Week-by-week Course Plan

Oct 6th - Tom will discuss:
- Bitcoin as the exemplar of the original motivation for a cryptocurrency
- Public key cryptography as the "guarantor" of anonymity in cryptocurrencies
- Cryptographic hashes and blockchains as the "guarantor" of trust in cryptocurrencies
- In practice, how good are these "guarantees"?
- Slides from class
- Modular exponentiation calculator used in class
Oct 13th - Tom will finish his segment of the course in the first half of class, continuing his discussion of the problems that arise when mathematical theory meets the practical considerations underlying a serviceable financial system. Brad will begin his discussion of cryptocurrencies as part of an investment portfolio.
October 20th - Brad finishes his overview of balancing the risk and return of investments in cryptocurrencies.

Accommodations

OLLI is committed to making our courses accessible for members, and we expect our course leaders to help us make that happen. OLLI recommends that Course leaders teaching in classrooms wear voice amplifiers, and we set up our Zoom courses so that live captioning is an option. The OLLI office may contact you to make additional accommodations on a case by case basis. If you require additional accommodations, please contact OLLI@umn.edu and we will do our best to support your needs.

Disability statement

The University of Minnesota is committed to providing equitable access to learning opportunities for all students. If you have, or think you have, a disability in any area such as, mental health, attention, learning, chronic health, sensory, or physical, please contact the DRC office on your campus (UM Twin Cities - 612.626.1333) to arrange a confidential discussion regarding equitable access and reasonable accommodations. Additional information is available on the DRC website: https://disability.umn.edu or email drc@umn.edu.