Introduction
Blockchain is a transformational technology that is redefining the ways to conduct different transactions over the internet. In recent years, blockchain technology has offered a radical approach towards data storage along with easier solutions for updating and moving data. The possibility of decentralized and encrypted storage for business and personal usage has made blockchain a very robust technology.
The basic tenet of blockchain technology consists of a set of blocks that contains the information about the events, transactions, or any data generated through various means of IT processes that are available in a distributed ledger which are replicated and stored as multiple copies in the blockchain architecture. The data in a blockchain is cryptographic, tamper-proof, immutable, and verifiable.
The technology holds promise and it has the potential to contribute to multiple sectors such as e-governance, time stamping, transaction recording among several other uses.
The knowledge of blockchain technology opens several career possibilities as this technology is transforming multiple industries such as finance, healthcare sector, media, government requirements, and aviation industries to name a few.
With the advent of digitization across industries, several companies have witnessed massive advancements with the implementation of blockchain technologies. The most crucial period for professionals is the timing of the entry into a particular technology space.
It is advisable by technical experts that one must try to gain entry into a domain during the boom period of the technology. As blockchain technology is emerging, it is one of the most sought after technical qualifications in the technology industry today.
Therefore, it is essential for aspirants and seasoned professionals looking for a switch in their domain to be equipped with a thorough understanding of theoretical aspects and hands-on experience concerning the technology.
Finding a suitable course on the online platform has been a challenge in recent times as due to the competitive market, there are several offerings of a trending course in the job market. However, every course differs from what is being offered in the curriculum. The article deep dives further into providing an insight into some of the best 25 blockchain courses.
Related reading: Top 10 NFT (Non-Fungible Tokens) Online Courses
Blockchain Training Courses
Although the blockchain is a decade old technology, it has grown in prominence in recent years. Initially, it was created to keep records of transactions of digital currencies with the likes of Bitcoin. Today, blockchain has several implications across industries.
Thus, it becomes more crucial to have experts in this domain with the growing demand for blockchain professionals. Fortunately, there are various blockchain training courses offered by reputable institutions and upcoming online education platforms for this subject. Some of the highly-rated courses are listed out in the following section.
1. Blockchain: Foundations and Use Cases – Coursera
The blockchain foundation course is offered on the Coursera platform. The course is ideal for non-developers as well as developers who are willing to get introduced to the fundamentals of blockchain. The curriculum is well-developed as well. The course is among the highly rated courses on this e-learning platform.
Several topics are covered on blockchain fundamentals along with concepts on decentralization and its link with blockchain. The initial three models focus on the basic concepts whereas from the fourth module onwards there is more in-depth content about Bitcoin and Ethereum and the next-generation blockchain technologies. The modules of this course are highlighted below.
Week 1: Blockchain Foundations- In this module, the topics such as why blockchain is popular, a brief history of blockchain, move to decentralization, ledgers, distributed ledgers, what is blockchain, and about the academy is covered.
Week 2: The Technical Side- The module covers the topics on cryptography, hash functions, public-key cryptography, and signing along with blocks and blockchain and the nodes and network.
Week 3: Blockchain in Use- There are important topics that are discussed in this module. The topics include trust framework, consensus mechanisms, blockchain interoperability, private blockchains, and consortium.
Week 4: Further Topics- Â The module highlights the topics on bitcoin, ethereum, smart contracts, cryptocurrency tokens and wallets, and the marketplace.
Week 5: Use Cases-Â The use cases on self-sovereign identity and reputation, ownership and governance, supply chain, and asset tracking are being covered.
Prerequisite: The course considers that learners are completely new to blockchain technology with no prior experience.
Level: Beginner
Rating Achieved: 4.72/5
Duration: 10 hours approximately
2. IBM Blockchain Foundation Developer – Cognitive Class
Among several online courses in blockchain, this is among the best ones from a trusted source as IBM certification of completion will be provided at the end of the course. IBM certifications are always a valuable addition for a professional as it is widely regarded in the IT industry. The course is a blockchain developer course that aims at providing a hands-on experience using Hyperledger Fabric development using the IBM blockchain platform.
The course content comprises built-in tutorials as part of the IBM blockchain platform which requires learners to install visual code studio and run the IBM platform for a development environment for blockchain. The fundamentals of Hyperledger Fabric development are covered and key concepts such as components, capabilities of the developer tools, and smart contracts are also discussed in the course.
Prerequisite: Blockchain Essentials course by IBM needs to be completed before taking up the course. Familiarity with programming language is desirable but not an essential requirement for the course.
Level: Beginner
Duration: 6 hours approximately
3. Blockchain Technologies: Business Innovation and Application – MIT
A definite value addition course for professional development from MIT. The course is focused on providing a deeper understanding of the potential of blockchain technology and the possible limitations of the technology. The concepts will enable a learner to tackle different business problems with the help of blockchain technology.
The framework for a blockchain-based strategy will be addressed, and the challenges that exist within a business context. Finally, the blockchain power applications like bitcoin and other token related initiatives are explored. The section below highlights the modules that are offered in the course.
Module 1: An introduction to Blockchain technology
Module 2: Bitcoin and the Curse of the Double –Spending Problem
Module 3: Costless Verification: Blockchain Technology and the Last mile problem
Module 4: Bootstrapping Network Effects Through Blockchain Technology and Cryptoeconomics
Module 5: Using Tokens to Design New Types of Digital Platforms
Module 6: The Future of Blockchain Technology, AI and Digital Privacy
Duration:Â 6 weeks excluding orientation (online).
4. Blockchain Specialization –Â The State University of New York – Coursera
This online blockchain certification course is offered by The State University of New York (SUNY). It is a specialization course on the Coursera e-learning platform. The curriculum covers essential topics on cryptographic underpinnings of blockchain technology to enable the decentralized applications on a private Ethereum blockchain platform.
The course is ideal for programmers and designers who are involved in developing and implementing blockchain applications in their professional space. The course is also beneficial for individuals willing to understand the potential of blockchain.
The course is designed jointly by SUNY and the University of Buffalo that have decades of experience and a strong alumni network across the globe. The course is suitable for building a solid foundation of blockchain. The modules available in this course are as follows.
Course 1: Blockchain Basics
Course 2: Smart Contracts
Course 3: Decentralized Applications
Course 4: Blockchain Platforms
Duration: 16 weeks
Rating: 4.6/5
5. Professional Certificate in Blockchain Fundamentals – Berkeley University of California – edX
The blockchain technology course will enable a learner to synthesize their blockchain solutions. An in-depth understanding of the technologies involving Bitcoin and the real-life implementation of Bitcoin applications.
The key concepts of Ethereum, smart contracts, distributed ledger technology are being covered in detail. The enterprise-level blockchain implementations, scaling issues of blockchain, and possible solutions are explored thoroughly. Finally, the regulations of cryptocurrencies and the implications for anonymity are covered in the course.
Duration: 3 months
Rating: 4.6/5
6. Blockchain A-Z: Learn How to Build Your First Blockchain – Udemy
This online blockchain certification course focuses on key concepts of blockchain while providing practical training concerning cryptocurrency and blockchain. It is offered on the Udemy platform.
The course offers a hands-on experience with a follow-along approach that will guide the learners through each line of code. The course is beneficial for gaining practical experience in the field of blockchain.
Prerequisite: No prior experience required.
Duration: 14.5 hours
Rating: 4.6/5
7. Blockchain Developer Nanodegree Certification – Udacity
The course is offered on the Udacity platform. The fundamentals of the blockchain platform, creating of own blockchain, securing a digital asset using blockchain identity are some of the concepts that are explored in this course. The modules of the course are as follows.
Blockchain Fundamentals
Ethereum Smart Contracts, Tokens and Dapps
Blockchain Architecture
Dapp with autonomous smart contracts and oracles
Capstone
Prerequisite: Learners must be comfortable with object-oriented programming, and experience with developing web apps in JavaScript.
Duration: 4 months
Rating: 4.7/5
8. Blockchain and Cryptocurrency – Stanford University
The course offers the basics of blockchain technology and how it works. The concepts of how cryptocurrency is created, transacted, and stored are discussed in-depth. Furthermore, the potential applications for blockchain, pitfalls of the technology and the challenges of digital currency, how securities are defined in the US and a look at the possible innovation in blockchain technology is the most highlighted concepts in the entirety of the course.
The course is offered by Stanford and the participants are required to score a minimum of 85% to pass the exam. The certification is available on successful completion of the final exam.
Duration: 60-day access begins upon payment of the fee.
9. Blockchain Certification Training Course – Simplilearn
The course introduces Bitcoin, Hyperledger, Ethereum, and multi-chain blockchain platforms. The learners will gain hands-on experience on tools like Ganache, Truffle, Meta Mask, and Geth to build blockchain applications. The learners will also get insights into setting up a private blockchain network using Hyperledger composer and deploy smart contracts with the use of Ethereum. The course is offered on Simplilearn.
Prerequisite: Technical background is a must with prior knowledge of Linux fundamentals, Node.js and JavaScript are desirable.
Duration: 48 hours of blended learning (self-paced)
Rating: 4.7/5
10. Blockchain Specialization – UCI – Coursera
The specialization course is offered by UCI on Coursera. The fundamentals of blockchain technology and its components are taught in this course. An introduction of how applications make use of blockchain technology for decentralized and peer-to-peer transaction processes.
Throughout the course, the learners will have hands-on practice using blockchain elements such as cryptography and hashing, and several others. The course requires the purchase of two books for the assignments. The available modules under this course are as follows.
Course 1: The Blockchain
Course 2: Cryptography and Hashing Overview
Course 3: The Merkle Tree and Cryptocurrencies
Course 4: The Blockchain System
Duration: 4 months approximately
Rating: 4.5/5
11. Blockchain and Bitcoin Fundamentals – Udemy
The course is among the bestselling courses on Udemy. An award-winning instructor named George Levy has authored the course. The course provides detailed concepts on digital tokens, blockchain smart contracts, cryptocurrency, and networks. There are some aspects of bitcoin mining that have been integrated into the content.
Pre-requisites: No prior knowledge required
Level: Beginner
Duration: 3 hours
Rating: 4.5/5
12. Become a Blockchain Developer and Ethereum and Solidity – Udemy
A highly-preferred course on Udemy. The course will provide a basic understanding of blockchain and the distributed and decentralized applications. The fundamentals of the Solidity smart contracts language will be introduced in the course. A learner will be well-equipped to hand distributed applications, and create and deploy a blockchain project from scratch.
There will be an overview of how to write a contract and test them as well. The combination of the tools to achieve a consistent development environment is covered. Finally, the usage of Truffle and its framework and unit test smart contracts is explored in the course.
Level: Intermediate-Advanced
Duration: 17 hours approximately
Rating: 4.5/5
13. Blockchain in Business – Columbia Business School
The blockchain program offered by Columbia Business School consists of six modules. Module one will cover technical foundations with concepts of distributed consensus, hash functions, and cryptography.
The second module provides an introduction to Bitcoin. The next section focuses on Bitcoin uses and links with blockchain and transaction fees. The fourth module provides an in-depth look into ethereum, smart contracts, and tokens.
The final two modules focus on applications of blockchain, governance challenges, opportunities, and enterprise blockchain by IBM. Furthermore, a look at the future of blockchain and its uses for executive decision making.
Duration: 2 months
Rating: 4.6/5
14. Free Blockchain Course – LinkedIn Learning
These courses are available on LinkedIn Learning with a variety of options ranging from the basics to the most advanced courses on blockchain. The concepts of bitcoin mining, cryptography, distributed applications, and smart contracts are covered in detail.
The bitcoin courses are offered by renowned professionals in the field of blockchain and are active members of the learning platform on LinkedIn. These courses also include well-known international speakers of this domain.
Rating: 4.5/5
15. Blockchain and FinTech: Basics, Applications, and Limitations – edX
The course is a popular course on Blockchain on the edX platform. It is offered by The University of Hong Kong. The design rationale behind blockchain and the technical components of blockchain are among the key concepts in this course.
The differences between existing blockchain platforms and the suitable applications for blockchain are discussed in this program. The limitations of the technology and issues in the existing blockchain technologies are covered along with a look at some of the negative impacts in the context of blockchain.
Duration: 6 weeks
Rating: 4.5/5
16. Blockchain Revolution Specialization – Coursera
This course is perhaps the most highly rated course available on the Coursera platform for blockchain technology. The course is offered by INSEAD. The course covers the seven design principles that are crucial for the blockchain revolution.
The key components of blockchain such as hash, public-key cryptography, cryptoasset, smart contracts Dapp are among the major topics covered in this course. The challenges of implementing blockchain and important use-cases are also provided along with access to ground-breaking research that is made available for learners from the Blockchain Research Institute.
Duration: 5 months
Level: Beginner
Prerequisite: No prior experience is required.
Rating: 4.7/5
17. Professional Certificate in Blockchain for Business – edX
The course describes business blockchain and distributed ledger technologies. The impact of blockchain and the use cases are highlighted in this course. The course also introduces the Hyperledger concepts and use cases related to it. The course is offered by Linux Foundation on the edX online platform.
18. Blockchain Technologies and Applications for Business – Berkley ExecEd
The course is provided by Berkley ExecEd. It is among the most prestigious institutions to offer a course on blockchain technology. The course will be taught by UC Berkeley’s faculty and industry leaders associated with them.
The course dives into the applications of blockchain for business and society. Several use-cases are covered across industries such as finance, healthcare, supply chain management, and consumer products. The learners will get access to discussion boards, join faculties for live sessions, interviews with industry experts. The modules of the course are listed below.
Module 1: Overview of Blockchain Technology
Module 2: The Cryptocurrency Network
Module 3: Strategic Applications of Blockchain Technology in Existing Businesses
Module 4: Entrepreneurial Ventures Using Blockchain
Module 5: Regulatory and Policy Considerations of Blockchain Technology
Module 6: Blockchain for Good
Module 7: Privacy and Risks in Using Blockchain Technology
Module 8: Future of Blockchain Technology
There will be a provision of technical workshops that will introduce the learners to tools and applications and a hands-on experience guided by Berkeley faculty.
Duration: 2 months
Rating: 4.5/5
19. Blockchain for Business: The New Industrial Revolution – Udemy
This blockchain program on Udemy is a new addition to the platform. The learners can get familiar with concepts on blockchain and its potential, build a solid foundation of concepts like mining, decentralized consensus, smart contracts, etc.
The opportunities in blockchain and the changing business landscape and important concepts on crypto assets and implementation of blockchain technology are covered. Finally, a look into the new paradigm and frameworks of blockchain is discussed in-depth in this course.
Prerequisite: No prior experience needed
Duration: 6 hours (self-paced)
Rating: 4.4/5
20. Hyperledger Sawtooth for Application Developers – edX
The course is offered by Linux Foundation on the edX platform. The program will allow learners to gain insight into concepts of blockchain structure and process flow, transactions, blocks, hashes and signing, permissions, and consensus algorithms.
There is in-depth content on Hyperledger Sawtooth basics and the principles of application design and development for the relevant platform. The learners will be able to create a full-featured application using Hyperledger Sawtooth and troubleshoot an application.
Prerequisite: The course requires learners to have programming experience, possibly in Python and JavaScript. Some basics of the ZeroMQ messaging library is helpful.
Level: Intermediate
Duration: 14 weeks
21. Blockchain Business Models – Coursera
The course is offered by Duke University on the Coursera platform. The course comprises the following modules.
Week 1: Blockchain Overview and Cryptographic Hashing
Week 2: Blockchain Encryption and Signatures and Bitcoin and other Blockchains
Week 3: Using Blockchain and Consensus
Week 4: Value of Cryptoapplications and The Regulatory Environment and Future of Fintech
The course is focused on providing an advanced understanding of blockchain technologies, deploying blockchain technologies in a business situation, and the know-how of selecting specific blockchain technology that has more chances of success. Finally, a look into the risks of this technology.
Duration: 12 hours
Level: Intermediate
Rating: 4.7/5
22. Certified Blockchain Developer – Blockchain Council
The course is offered by a well-known institution, namely the Blockchain Council. The course is among the most highly valued online blockchain certification courses. The program covers key topics on blockchain including an overview of blockchain and the traditional technologies associated with it.
Other topics that are being explored in this program are consensus, public vs private blockchain, multichain concepts in detail, Ethereum, Hyperledger, Stellar, and Corda. The certificate is highly recognized in the profession.
Duration: 8 hours (self-paced)
23. Blockchain Principles and Practices – Pluralsight
This course is available on the Pluralsight platform for blockchain. The course explores the principles and practices under the blockchain. The fundamentals and data structures and algorithms that are essential for blockchain has been covered thoroughly.
The learners will be able to build their blockchain based on the working examples provided throughout the course. The storing of data on a blockchain, multiple transactions in a block using Merkle trees will be taught, and how to make the blockchain tamper-proof are some of the important concepts covered in this course.
Level: Intermediate
Duration: 2 hours 42 minutes
Rating; 5/5/(on Pluralsight)
24. Certified Enterprise Blockchain Professional – 101 Blockchains
A comprehensive online training program on the blockchain is offered by 101 Blockchains. The course covers the core concepts of blockchain technology along with exposure to the blockchain ecosystem.
The learners will be able to understand blockchain implementation and the best tools that are available for blockchain. The modules under this course are as follows.
Module 1: Blockchain Technology Fundamentals
Module 2: Enterprise Blockchain Platforms
Module 3: Blockchain in Trade Finance
Module 4: Blockchain Applications
Module 5: Blockchain Use Cases
Duration: 4 weeks (self-paced)
Rating: 4.8/5 (Trustpilot)
25. Fintech: Innovation and Transformation in Financial Services – NUS Business School
The course is available on the Emeritus platform that is offered by NUS Business School. It is among several prestigious institutions across the globe.
The course will cover topics on emerging financial technologies, handling transactions using Fintech innovations. There are industry oriented use-cases as well. The content of the modules is as follows.
Module 1: Fintech: Introduction and Overview
Module 2: A Framework for Fintech Innovation
Module 3: Fintech Innovations: Cryptocurrencies and Smart Contracts
Module 4: Fintech Innovations: Stablecoins and Enterprise Blockchain
Module 5: ML and AI Strategies for Fintech
Module 6: Fintech Applications: Alternative Lending and Payments
Module 7: Fintech Regulations: Risks and Challenges
Module 8: Unlocking Opportunities in Fintech
Duration: 2 months (online)
Conclusion
As the trend of emerging technologies continues to evolve, it is in the best interest of professionals to level up their skills to keep updated with the current technology market requirements.
Blockchain professionals and developers are among the most sought after experts in the IT industry today. However, it is crucial to find a certificate course that has industrial recognition. The article highlighted some of the most popular choices for blockchain courses that are offered online.
All the aspirants and professionals looking to deep dive into the field of blockchain must make use of the listed course as per their skills and understanding of the technology and embark on the journey of this highly popular career choice.
