The CFA Exam Is Getting a Crypto Section Next Year

The notoriously difficult Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Program exams are about to get that much tougher.

Dubbed "the most brutal exam in the world of finance" by Business Insider, the three-part test covering several different areas of finance – all with a heavy focus on ethics – is about to add topics on cryptocurrencies and blockchain as examinable material in August 2019.

According to Bloomberg, Stephen Horan, the managing director for general education and curriculum for the CFA Institute overseeing CFA exams, said on the matter:

"We saw the field [of crypto] advancing more quickly than other fields and we also saw it as more durable… This is not a passing fad."

Cryptocurrencies and blockchain will be part of a new CFA curriculum section dubbed "Fintech in Investment Management" alongside other topics in emerging financial technology such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and automated trading.

CFA exams are said to attract over 100,000 people from around the globe with less than half of all examinees failing the first round of testing. Since the start of the program back in 1963, some 150,000 have been accredited as CFA "charterholders" having successfully completed the three levels of testing.

These changes to CFA exams come in light of past announcements by complementary institutions announcing new work in the crypto space.

Back in February, the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Association boasted the creation of new advisory boards consisting of "cryptocurrency experts," while the Digital Currency Council several years prior launched their own professional accreditation program for financial advisors looking to specialize in cryptocurrency and blockchain technology.

Test writing image via Shutterstock