The Continuing Education Unit at the College of Nursing, University of Baghdad, organized an awareness-raising and specialized workshop titled “Digital Currencies… Challenges and Risks to Society,” presented by Assistant Professor Hussein Hassan Aziz and attended by a number of faculty members, staff, and students.
The workshop highlighted the concept of digital currencies and explained how they work in a simplified manner for non-specialists, while reviewing the most well-known of these currencies—most notably Bitcoin—and how they are traded and mined. The lecture also focused on raising participants’ financial and digital literacy to help them avoid falling into the trap of unsafe speculation, sharp price fluctuations, and the resulting severe economic losses.
The workshop addressed the psychological and social repercussions of unanticipated financial losses, particularly among young people, and reviewed cybercrimes associated with this field—such as financial fraud, hacking, and cyber extortion—supported by realistic global statistics and figures illustrating the scale of risks posed by these transactions.
The workshop also featured an in-depth discussion of the security and political implications related to money laundering and the routing of financial transfers outside formal banking frameworks, in addition to clarifying Islamic jurisprudential and legal positions regarding the use and trading of digital currencies, thereby ensuring the protection of individuals and society and providing a comprehensive and integrated perspective on this contemporary phenomenon.
This workshop aligns with the Sustainable Development Goals that the University of Baghdad seeks to advance, particularly Goal 4 (Quality Education) through the dissemination of modern digital and financial culture and knowledge, Goal 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth) by raising public awareness of the risks of unsafe financial transactions and protecting people’s economic resources, as well as Goal 16 (Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions) by reducing cybercrime and combating illicit financial flows and money laundering.
