Crypto firms’ open letter urges top US colleges to teach DeFi

Twenty-one crypto organizations have signed an open letter urging US colleges to incorporate decentralized finance into their curricula, arguing that there will be massive demand for crypto talent on Wall Street.

“Our purpose with this letter is simple: to respectfully urge higher education institutions across the United States to further integrate digital assets, blockchain, and decentralized finance into their business and legal curricula,” the open letter reads, which was published on Wednesday.

The campaign was spearheaded by decentralized protocol aggregator 1Inch, with signatories including the Solana Policy Institute, Blockchain Association, DeFi Education Fund and crypto platforms like Aave, MyEtherWallet, Delphi Digital and Messari.

While 1Inch acknowledged that DeFi is taught in some schools, it argued that current curricula treat it mostly as theoretical, and that students should gain a more practical understanding of a “critical part of the global financial ecosystem.”

“It is wrong to think, as some do, that DeFi and crypto technologies lack practical uses or are somehow deviant to the public good,” 1Inch said, pointing out that stablecoins eliminate cross-border payment friction, lending protocols offer yield opportunities for investors and tokenized assets enable trading around the clock.

“The theoretical phase is over. Ideas have already become infrastructure.”

In comments to Cointelegraph, 1Inch said it is pushing for more DeFi courses to be taught in the classroom because opportunities have expanded beyond developer roles to those in more business and legal roles.

“It’s no longer just hoodies; it’s suits and ties too,” 1Inch said, noting that Wall Street firms like Goldman Sachs and PwC are on the lookout for crypto talent beyond the tech-savvy programmers.

“The aim is to build on top of these greater DeFi understanding and practical knowledge, not just among the developers of tomorrow but CEOs and CLOs.”

The open letter asks for more “foundational education” in blockchain architecture and DeFi as a core module rather than as an elective course, with the course material touching on everything from automated market makers and liquidity provision to decentralized autonomous organizations and smart contract risks.

1Inch also suggested that students engage with DeFi systems directly to “gain a real-world understanding of how DeFi works.”

The biggest Wall Street firms are seeking DeFi experts

BlackRock, Fidelity Investments, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley were recently seen putting out job advertisements for DeFi-related roles.

This has also been reflected in Google search statistics, said 1Inch, showing that Google search volume for “Blockchain jobs” grew 84% between 2024 and 2026.

More specialized roles are accelerating even faster, with “DeFi Developer Jobs” increasing nearly 270% to 246,000 results, 1Inch said.

Google search data obtained by 1Inch on certain crypto-related job searches. Source: 1Inch

Related: Columbia professor says NYSE tokenization plan reads like ‘vaporware’

DeFi has had limited exposure to some US Ivy League colleges in the past.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology ran an “MIT Digital Currency Experiment” in 2014, which involved distributing Bitcoin (BTC) to students, while it later offered courses touching on blockchain ethics and distributed ledger technology.

Harvard’s extension school also offers a blockchain innovation course, while Texas A&M offered a “Bitcoin Protocol” course to business and engineering students in 2023.

On Tuesday, Bitcoin bull Michael Saylor said the Florida Department of Education approved Saylor Academy — a non-profit education platform — to operate as Saylor University.

Saylor Academy is now Saylor University.

The Florida Department of Education has granted @saylordotorg university status—marking a major milestone in our mission to provide free, world-class higher education for all.pic.twitter.com/SbimeofUkQ

— Michael Saylor (@saylor) March 17, 2026

The move enables students to receive tuition-free master’s degrees, which include programs that teach about Bitcoin and blockchain technology.

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