Blockchain and Digital Assets for Finance Training Course

Duration 10 days 20 modules · 65 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Treasury managers, Finance managers and others
Fee from USD 2,200 KSh 190,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 9 Nov 2026 Course code SD-FT-029

Before you join: Participants should understand core finance processes, including payments, treasury, financial reporting, controls or risk management.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Finance teams increasingly face decisions involving tokenised deposits, stablecoins, cryptoassets, digital-asset custody, blockchain-based settlement and tokenised securities. These decisions affect treasury, payments, accounting, risk, compliance, audit and product teams. Poorly framed proposals can expose an organisation to custody losses, sanctions breaches, unreliable valuations, weak controls or accounting errors. Sound analysis requires more than understanding cryptocurrency terminology; it requires disciplined financial, operational and regulatory assessment.

This course explains how distributed-ledger systems work and where they create credible finance use cases. Participants assess public and permissioned networks, wallets, private keys, consensus mechanisms, smart contracts, stablecoin reserve models and tokenisation structures. They apply FATF guidance, Travel Rule obligations, sanctions-screening controls, IFRS accounting considerations, valuation approaches and custody-control design. The course also examines payment, treasury, trade-finance and capital-markets cases, separating viable operating models from proposals that lack a clear business case or control framework.

Teaching combines short technical briefings with finance-led cases, group analysis, control-design work and decision simulations. Participants build work products from the first week, including a use-case assessment, risk register, accounting analysis, custody-control checklist and implementation roadmap. The final capstone brings these materials together into a digital-assets proposal for a realistic finance function, reviewed against commercial, regulatory, accounting and operational criteria.

The course suits finance professionals who need to assess, govern, account for, audit or implement digital-asset activity without becoming blockchain developers. It is particularly relevant where finance teams are evaluating payment innovation, tokenised assets, institutional custody, stablecoin settlement or exposure to cryptoasset markets.

What you will be able to do

  • Assess blockchain use cases using business-case, control and operating-model criteria
  • Distinguish public, private and permissioned ledger architectures for finance applications
  • Evaluate digital-asset custody models, wallet controls and private-key management procedures
  • Apply FATF Travel Rule, sanctions and AML control requirements to digital-asset flows
  • Prepare accounting and valuation assessments for common cryptoasset and tokenised-asset holdings
  • Design risk registers and control matrices for digital-asset payment, custody and trading activities
  • Compare stablecoin, tokenised-deposit and central-bank digital-currency payment models
  • Present a governed digital-assets implementation proposal with financial and risk analysis

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Assess digital-asset proposals without relying solely on technology specialists
  • Contribute informed finance input to blockchain and tokenisation initiatives
  • Identify custody, valuation and compliance issues before project approval
  • Build credible digital-assets business cases and control requirements
  • Strengthen readiness for treasury, finance-risk and fintech transformation roles

For your organisation

  • Better challenge of digital-asset vendors, product proposals and implementation assumptions
  • Earlier identification of AML, sanctions, custody and operational-risk exposures
  • More consistent accounting and valuation treatment for cryptoasset holdings
  • Clearer decisions on stablecoin, tokenised-deposit and blockchain payment initiatives
  • Practical governance artefacts for controlled digital-assets pilots and services

Course modules

20 modules over 10 days

Participants can classify major digital-asset activities and identify their finance-function implications.

  • Digital assets classified by rights, issuer, transferability and settlement method
  • Cryptoassets, stablecoins, tokenised deposits and securities compared for finance teams
  • Finance-function impacts mapped across treasury, accounting, controls and reporting
  • Transaction lifecycle traced from wallet instruction through ledger confirmation
  • Permissioned and public networks distinguished using governance and access criteria
  • Business-case hypotheses tested against cost, risk, liquidity and control requirements

Participants can explain ledger architecture choices in terms relevant to finance and control teams.

  • Distributed ledger components: nodes, blocks, hashes, signatures and state
  • Consensus mechanisms compared: proof-of-stake, proof-of-work and Byzantine fault tolerance
  • Finality, settlement timing and reversal limits assessed for payment processes
  • Public-chain transparency balanced against confidentiality and data-protection obligations
  • Permission models defined for consortium, private and public blockchain arrangements
  • Architecture selection matrix built from volume, privacy, control and interoperability needs

Participants can evaluate wallet designs and private-key controls for institutional use.

  • Wallet types compared: custodial, non-custodial, hot and cold storage
  • Private-key lifecycle mapped from generation through backup, rotation and destruction
  • Multi-signature approval structures designed for treasury payment authorisation
  • Hardware security modules assessed for institutional key-storage requirements
  • Seed phrases treated as critical credentials within access-control procedures
  • Transaction signing separated from transaction broadcasting and ledger validation

Participants can design a custody control framework for digital-asset holdings and transfers.

  • Custody models compared: self-custody, third-party custody and qualified custody
  • Segregation of client assets tested through wallet and ledger evidence
  • Control matrix drafted for initiation, approval, signing and reconciliation
  • Key-person dependency reduced through documented recovery and succession procedures
  • Custodian due diligence covers solvency, insurance, controls and legal ownership
  • Daily reconciliations match blockchain balances, custodian records and general ledger

Participants can assess smart-contract use cases, dependencies and control risks.

  • Smart-contract execution explained through deterministic code and on-chain state changes
  • Oracles assessed as control dependencies for external prices and events
  • Code audit findings translated into financial, operational and legal risks
  • Upgradeability and administrator keys evaluated within governance design
  • Escrow, collateral and automated-payment use cases tested against process requirements
  • Failure scenarios mapped for bugs, oracle errors and permission misuse

Participants can compare digital-money instruments for payment and treasury decisions.

  • Fiat-backed stablecoin reserve structures analysed using attestation and redemption terms
  • Algorithmic stablecoin mechanisms assessed for price-stability and liquidity risks
  • Tokenised deposits distinguished from e-money, stablecoins and bank deposits
  • Central-bank digital currency models examined for wholesale settlement purposes
  • Redemption rights, insolvency treatment and reserve custody reviewed systematically
  • Treasury decision criteria applied to settlement asset selection

Participants can assess payment flows using digital assets and blockchain settlement rails.

  • Payment-flow map built from payer wallet through beneficiary settlement confirmation
  • Atomic settlement compared with correspondent banking and card-payment processes
  • Settlement finality analysed alongside liquidity, credit and operational exposures
  • Cross-border payment costs separated into network, foreign-exchange and compliance components
  • Exception handling defined for failed transfers, wrong addresses and disputes
  • Payment use-case scorecard created for speed, cost, control and adoption

Participants can evaluate tokenisation proposals for assets, cash flows and ownership rights.

  • Tokenisation structure links legal ownership, token rights and transfer restrictions
  • Tokenised bonds assessed for issuance, coupon payment and settlement design
  • Fund units and private-market assets examined for investor eligibility controls
  • Real-world asset claims tested against custody, valuation and enforceability evidence
  • Fractional ownership evaluated for liquidity, governance and investor-protection implications
  • Tokenisation business case distinguishes digitisation benefits from blockchain-specific benefits

Participants can prepare an accounting assessment for common digital-asset arrangements.

  • Accounting analysis starts with contractual rights, control and economic substance
  • IFRS treatment considered for intangible assets, inventories and financial instruments
  • Stablecoin classification tested against contractual redemption and issuer obligations
  • Tokenised securities assessed using financial-instrument recognition and measurement requirements
  • Impairment, fair-value and foreign-currency questions identified for reporting policies
  • Disclosure checklist addresses holdings, valuation methods, risks and material judgements

Participants can develop valuation and liquidity-risk analyses for digital-asset positions.

  • Principal-market evidence assessed for quoted-price selection and fair-value hierarchy
  • Price sources validated for volume, reliability, timing and market integrity
  • Liquidity analysis considers depth, concentration, lockups and redemption windows
  • Valuation adjustment framework addresses spreads, stale prices and market disruption
  • Stress scenarios test price gaps, stablecoin depegs and exchange outages
  • Position limits linked to liquidity capacity, volatility and risk appetite

Participants can apply financial-crime controls to digital-asset transaction flows.

  • FATF risk-based approach applied to virtual-asset service-provider activities
  • Travel Rule data requirements mapped across originator and beneficiary transfers
  • Wallet screening distinguishes sanctioned addresses, exposure and transaction counterparties
  • Know-your-customer controls connect wallet ownership with customer-risk profiles
  • Blockchain analytics alerts investigated through documented escalation and disposition procedures
  • Sanctions-control design addresses blocking, rejection, reporting and record retention

Participants can identify operational and cyber risks within digital-asset operating models.

  • Operational-risk register covers people, process, systems, vendors and external events
  • NIST Cybersecurity Framework functions mapped to digital-asset control requirements
  • Attack scenarios examine phishing, key theft, bridge exploits and ransomware
  • Business-continuity plans address custodian outages, chain congestion and market closure
  • Incident response playbooks define containment, evidence capture, notification and recovery
  • Third-party risk assessment reviews subcontractors, concentration and service-level commitments

Participants can establish governance arrangements for controlled digital-asset activity.

  • Three-lines model assigns ownership, oversight and independent-assurance responsibilities
  • Digital-asset policy defines permitted activities, limits, approvals and prohibited practices
  • Risk appetite statements specify exposure, counterparty, liquidity and custody tolerances
  • Delegated authorities govern wallet creation, transfers and emergency interventions
  • Control self-assessment tests design effectiveness and evidence availability
  • Management information pack tracks balances, exceptions, losses and key risk indicators

Participants can plan audit work over digital-asset records, controls and third parties.

  • Audit universe identifies custody, trading, payments, accounting and vendor processes
  • Blockchain transaction evidence traced using addresses, hashes and timestamps
  • Proof-of-reserves claims assessed against liabilities, ownership and control evidence
  • Walkthroughs test end-to-end initiation, approval, settlement and reconciliation controls
  • Sampling approach targets high-value transfers, exceptions and privileged-access events
  • Audit findings written with criteria, cause, risk and corrective action

Participants can assess exchanges, brokers, custodians and other digital-asset counterparties.

  • Market participants mapped across issuers, exchanges, brokers, custodians and validators
  • Exchange due diligence reviews licensing, asset segregation, liquidity and governance
  • Counterparty credit assessment considers reserves, capital, legal structure and disclosures
  • Execution models compared: agency, principal, over-the-counter and electronic venues
  • Conflicts of interest identified in market making, custody and token issuance
  • Counterparty scorecard ranks financial strength, controls, service and legal protections

Participants can evaluate decentralised-finance exposure without assuming traditional intermediaries.

  • Decentralised-finance protocols explained through pools, governance tokens and automated market makers
  • Lending protocols assessed for collateral, liquidation and smart-contract risk
  • Liquidity pools examined for impermanent loss, concentration and pricing dynamics
  • Protocol governance evaluated through voting rights, administrators and upgrade controls
  • Wrapped assets analysed for bridge, custodian and redemption dependencies
  • Institutional exposure limits set using legal, operational and market-risk criteria

Participants can assess digital-asset options within treasury policy and liquidity processes.

  • Treasury use cases prioritised for intragroup transfers, settlement and collateral movement
  • Cash-position reporting incorporates wallet balances, custodian accounts and pending transfers
  • Liquidity buffers adjusted for redemption delays, market stress and operational constraints
  • Foreign-exchange exposure measured for stablecoin, cryptoasset and tokenised-cash positions
  • Treasury policy sets approved assets, counterparties, limits and escalation thresholds
  • Funding scenarios compare traditional rails with tokenised settlement alternatives

Participants can create an implementation plan for a controlled digital-assets initiative.

  • Target operating model defines roles, processes, systems, controls and service providers
  • Requirements catalogue separates mandatory controls from desirable product capabilities
  • Vendor request-for-proposal criteria cover security, integrations, reporting and exit arrangements
  • Pilot scope limits products, users, transaction values and approved counterparties
  • Implementation roadmap sequences legal, tax, technology, control and training workstreams
  • Go-live readiness assessment verifies approvals, testing, reconciliations and incident procedures

Participants can build a financially grounded case for or against a digital-assets initiative.

  • Problem statement quantifies current costs, delays, errors and control weaknesses
  • Options appraisal compares process redesign, conventional technology and distributed-ledger solutions
  • Financial model estimates implementation costs, run costs, benefits and break-even
  • Benefits assumptions tested through volumes, adoption rates and transaction-cost evidence
  • Risk-adjusted decision criteria include legal uncertainty, operational loss and reputational exposure
  • Investment committee paper states recommendation, conditions, owners and decision gates

Participants can build, review and present a complete governed digital-assets proposal for a finance function.

  • Select a defined payment, treasury, custody or tokenisation business problem
  • Build transaction-flow, operating-model and control-matrix documentation for the proposed service
  • Prepare accounting, valuation, liquidity and financial-crime impact assessments
  • Quantify costs, benefits, risks, assumptions and decision-gate requirements
  • Review proposal against governance, policy, auditability and resilience criteria
  • Present recommendation, implementation roadmap and management-information requirements to stakeholders

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Digital-assets use-case assessment template
  2. Custody and wallet control matrix
  3. Cryptoasset accounting assessment checklist
  4. FATF Travel Rule control map
  5. Digital-assets risk register and heat map
  6. Governed implementation business-case pack

Who should attend

  • Treasury managers — assessing stablecoins, tokenised deposits and digital-asset liquidity implications
  • Finance managers — determining accounting, valuation, reporting and control requirements
  • Risk and compliance managers — designing AML, sanctions, custody and governance controls
  • Internal auditors — testing digital-asset processes, evidence trails and key controls
  • Payments and transaction-banking professionals — evaluating blockchain settlement and payment propositions
  • Finance transformation leaders — building credible business cases and implementation plans

Skills and tools covered

Digital-asset assessmentCustody control designBlockchain risk managementCryptoasset accountingTokenisation analysisFinancial crime controls

Tools and standards

FATF Travel Rule, NIST Cybersecurity Framework, IFRS Accounting Standards, Three Lines Model

How the course runs

Training methodology

The instructor uses short briefings to establish technical and financial concepts, followed by sector cases from banking, treasury, payments, capital markets and corporate finance. Participants analyse transaction flows, compare operating models, map controls, review accounting scenarios and test decisions through group simulations. Facilitated discussions focus on assumptions, evidence and trade-offs rather than promotional claims. Each participant develops practical materials during the course and refines them through peer review, instructor feedback and structured application planning.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should understand core finance processes, including payments, treasury, financial reporting, controls or risk management. Familiarity with basic accounting concepts, financial statements and regulated financial services is useful. Participants should be comfortable reading process maps, discussing operational risks and interpreting a business case. Prior experience with blockchain, cryptocurrencies, coding, cryptography or smart-contract development is not required. The course explains technical concepts at the level needed to make finance, control and governance decisions.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

You should understand core finance, treasury, accounting, risk, compliance or audit processes. You do not need coding skills, prior cryptocurrency trading experience or technical blockchain knowledge.

Bring a laptop for reviewing cases, templates and your own application ideas. If permitted by your employer, bring a current digital-assets proposal, payment problem or control issue to use in planning discussions.

It is designed for finance professionals who assess, control, account for, audit or sponsor digital-asset activity. Treasury, finance control, payments, risk, compliance, audit and transformation roles will find direct application.

This course focuses on financial decisions, operating models, controls, accounting, regulation and implementation governance. It explains the technology needed for informed oversight but does not teach programming or smart-contract development.

Participants leave with decision and control materials that can support a pilot, vendor review, policy update, audit review or investment proposal. The methods apply to stablecoins, tokenised deposits, cryptoasset custody, tokenisation and blockchain payments.

Each day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. The first part establishes architecture, products and finance fundamentals; the later part develops controls, accounting, governance, implementation planning and a final capstone proposal.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.