Module overview

Module 1 — Financial System Fundamentals

What functions a financial system performs — and which of them DeFi reorganizes.

Financial intermediaries · Capital and money markets · Clearing, settlement, custody · Liquidity and price formation · Counterparties and risk transfer

• What functions a financial system performs
• Counterparties and settlement
• Where a price comes from

Module 2 — Blockchain Fundamentals

How a distributed ledger makes transactions binding — and what that does not cover.

Blocks, transactions, addresses · Keys and wallets · Consensus and validators · Gas and finality · Layer 1, layer 2, bridges

• The distributed ledger
• Keys, wallets and custody
• Gas, layer 2 and bridges
• Who determines the order

Module 3 — Smart Contracts

Programs with state and permissions — including upgrade paths, admin keys and external dependencies.

State, functions, events · Permissions and admin keys · Upgradeability and proxy contracts · Oracles and contract dependencies · Limits of enforceability

• What a smart contract is — and is not
• Admin rights, upgrades and timelocks
• What a contract cannot enforce

Module 4 — DeFi Fundamentals

What separates DeFi from CeFi: composability, open infrastructure, programmable incentives.

CeFi vs. DeFi · Composability · The DeFi stack · Governance and incentives

• Telling CeFi and DeFi apart
• Composability: the property that cuts both ways
• The stack and the incentives

Module 5 — DeFi Market Structure

The market segments — DEX, lending, stablecoins, staking, derivatives — and what each is actually paid for.

DEX and AMM · Lending and borrowing · Stablecoins · Staking, liquid staking, restaking · Derivatives and yield markets

• The market segments and what they are paid for
• Stablecoins: who holds the backing?
• Staking, liquid staking, restaking

Module 6 — DeFi Data Literacy

Every metric along the same seven steps: definition, formula, source, interpretation, limitations, risk, institutional relevance.

TVL, volume, fees, revenue · Users and active addresses · Utilization, supply, collateral · Market cap, FDV, emissions

• Reading TVL — and what TVL does not measure
• Decomposing APY: base, reward, assumption
• Reading user counts and utilization

Module 7 — Protocol Analysis

Examining a protocol in the same fifteen steps every time — from identity to institutional relevance.

Identity, purpose, architecture · Users, markets, revenue · Token and governance · Dependencies and security

• Examining a protocol in the same order every time
• Reading a risk assessment — and this platform's flag points
• Examining revenue and the business model

Module 8 — Tokenomics

Supply, distribution, vesting, emissions — and whether a token captures value at all.

Circulating vs. maximum supply · Vesting and unlocks · Emissions and dilution · Value capture

• Tokenomics: supply, distribution, value capture
• Reading the emission schedule

Module 9 — Liquidity Analysis

Why TVL is not liquidity — depth, slippage, concentration and exit liquidity.

TVL vs. actual liquidity · Depth and slippage · Concentration and LP structure · Liquidity migration

• Liquidity is not TVL
• Computing slippage instead of guessing it
• Who provides the liquidity — and for how long

Module 10 — On-Chain Analysis

What addresses, flows and holder distributions show — and where interpretation begins.

Address and transaction analysis · Holder distribution · Token and exchange flows · Anomalies and evidence

• On-chain analysis: what addresses evidence
• Reading flows: exchanges, treasury, bridges
• Reading holder distribution

Module 11 — DEX Analysis

AMM mechanics, LP economics, price impact, MEV — and how much of it reaches the fees.

Constant product and concentrated liquidity · LP economics · Price impact and arbitrage · MEV

• DEX mechanics: what a liquidity provider lives on
• MEV and execution quality

Module 12 — Lending Analysis

Collateral, utilization, rate models, liquidation — and how bad debt arises.

LTV and health factor · Utilization and the rate curve · Liquidation and bad debt · Oracle dependence

• Lending markets: utilization, LTV, liquidation
• The rate model and market parameters

Module 13 — Smart Contract Risk

Failure classes, upgrade and admin risk — and why the existence of an audit does not mean a protocol is safe.

Logic and access-control failures · Upgrade and proxy risk · Economic exploits · Limits of audits

• Smart contract risk: the failure classes
• Actually checking upgrade and proxy rights
• When nothing breaks

Module 14 — Economic Risk

Leverage, reflexivity, incentive dependency and liquidation cascades.

Leverage and reflexivity · Yield sustainability · Liquidity spirals · Maturity transformation

• Economic risk: when the mechanism amplifies itself
• Measuring leverage, including the hidden kind
• Maturity transformation and liquidity spirals

Module 15 — Market Risk

Volatility, correlation, drawdown, tail risk and market concentration.

Volatility and correlation · Drawdown and tail risk · Basis risk · Price impact on exit

• Market risk: volatility, correlation, tail
• Building scenarios instead of quoting metrics
• Basis risk: when the hedge misses

Module 16 — Stablecoin Analysis

Issuer, reserve, redemption, peg mechanism — under normal conditions and under stress.

Issuer and reserve · Redemption rights · Peg mechanism · Stress scenarios

• Stress-testing a stablecoin
• Checking reserve and attestation

Module 17 — Oracle Risk

Where a protocol's prices come from — and what happens when that source is wrong.

Oracle types and sources · Update frequency · Manipulation and flash loans · Fallback mechanisms

• Oracle risk: where the price comes from
• Documenting the oracle architecture
• What it would cost to move the price

Module 18 — Governance Risk

Who can actually change a protocol, how fast, and with how much warning.

Voting concentration and quorum · Timelocks · Multisig and emergency powers · Governance capture

• Governance risk: who can change the rules
• Reading and assessing governance proposals

Module 19 — Composability & Systemic Risk

Direct, indirect and dependency exposure along a chain of protocols.

Dependency chains · Contagion · Cascading failure · Correlated risk

• Systemic risk along a chain
• Building a dependency map

Module 20 — Institutional DeFi

Custody, execution, settlement, collateral and operational risk from an institutional perspective.

Custody and execution · Settlement and collateral · Operational and technology risk · Legal structure

• What an institution has to settle first
• Legal structure and operating risk

Module 21 — Banking Analysis

The same data, read along a bank's own risk taxonomy.

Market, credit and liquidity risk · Operational and technology risk · Counterparty risk · Compliance and reputational risk

• The same data, read as a bank
• Counterparty and compliance risk from a bank's perspective

Module 22 — Insurance Analysis

Protocol risk as an underwriting question: aggregation, scenario, risk transfer.

Event and protocol risk · Concentration and aggregation · Underwriting and claims · Risk transfer

• The insurance view: defining the event
• Aggregation and risk transfer

Module 23 — Asset Management

Position sizing, diversification, correlation and stress testing in a portfolio context.

Exposure and position sizing · Correlation and concentration · Valuation · Investment committee

• Asset management: position size before return
• Position sizing and the investment committee
• What a position is valued at

Module 24 — Regulatory Analysis

Not “is DeFi regulated”, but: which activity, which entity, which jurisdiction, which framework.

Activity, entity, jurisdiction · MiCA and CASP · Token classification · Open perimeter questions

• The regulatory examination chain
• Examining a token's classification