Topic: Princeton 'Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies' Course Discussion Topic (Read 444 times)

They really seem to be covering almost everything there is to bitcoin. Will probably be watching some of the lectures on Anonymity and the Regulation part. Thanks for posting this.

Seems like an interesting offering as it starts tomorrow
I wonder how many forum members will sign up but props for starting a discussion topic out of the course.

Princeton is offering a free online course about bitcoin and it starts tomorrow (as of writing; September 4th - October 22nd).  This topic will be a way for those of us enrolled to discuss class material as we progress through the course, and perhaps request help if something is confusing.    
 
https://www.coursera.org/course/bitcointech?utm_medium=email&utm_source=other&utm_campaign=notifications.auto.VU_eblI1EeWSdxIbzhXKXw  

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About the Course

To really understand what is special about Bitcoin, we need to understand how it works at a technical level. We’ll address the important questions about Bitcoin, such as:

How does Bitcoin work? What makes Bitcoin different? How secure are your Bitcoins? How anonymous are Bitcoin users? What determines the price of Bitcoins? Can cryptocurrencies be regulated? What might the future hold?

After this course, you’ll know everything you need to be able to separate fact from fiction when reading claims about Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. You’ll have the conceptual foundations you need to engineer secure software that interacts with the Bitcoin network. And you’ll be able to integrate ideas from Bitcoin in your own projects.

Course Lecturers:
Arvind Narayanan, Princeton University
Joseph Bonneau, Princeton University
Edward Felten, Princeton University
Andrew Miller, University of Maryland
  

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Course Syllabus

Intro to Crypto and Cryptocurrencies

• Cryptographic Hash Functions
• Hash Pointers and Data Structures
• Digital Signatures
• Public Keys as Identities
• Simple Cryptocurrencies

How Bitcoin Achieves Decentralization

• Centralization vs. decentralization
• Distributed consensus
• Consensus without identity: the block chain
• Incentives and proof of work
• Putting it all together

Mechanics of Bitcoin

• Bitcoin transactions
• Bitcoin scripts
• Applications of Bitcoin scripts
• Bitcoin blocks
• The Bitcoin network
• Limitations & improvements

How to Store and Use Bitcoins

• Simple Local Storage
• How to Store and Use Bitcoins
• Secret Keys
• Hot and Cold Storage
• Splitting and Sharing Keys
• Online Wallets and Exchanges
• Payment Services
• Transaction Fees
• Currency Exchange Markets

Bitcoin mining

• The task of Bitcoin miners
• Mining hardware
• Energy consumption & ecology
• Mining pools
• Mining incentives and strategies

Bitcoin and anonymity

• Anonymity basics
• Overview of Bitcoin deanonymization
• Mixing
• Decentralized mixing
• Zerocoin and Zerocash
• Tor and the Silk Road

Community, Politics, and Regulation

• Consensus in Bitcoin
• Bitcoin Core Software
• Stakeholders : Who’s in Charge?
• Roots of Bitcoin
• Governments Notice Bitcoin
• Anti Money-Laundering Regulation
• New York’s BitLicense Proposal

Alternative Mining Puzzles

• Essential Puzzle Requirements
• ASIC Resistant Puzzles
• Proof-of-useful-work
• Nonoutsourceable Puzzles
• Proof-of-Stake

Bitcoin as a platform

• Bitcoin as an append-only log
• Bitcoins as “smart property”
• Secure multi-party lotteries in Bitcoin
• Bitcoin as randomness source
• Prediction markets & real-world data feeds

Altcoins and the Cryptocurrency Ecosystem

• Short History of Altcoins
• Interaction between Bitcoin and altcoins
• Lifecycle of an Altcoin
• Bitcoin-Backed Altcoins, “Side Chains”

The future of Bitcoin?

• The block chain as a vehicle for decentralization
• Routes to decentralization
• What can we decentralize?
• When is decentralization a good idea?

 
  

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Recommended Background

An introductory computer science class (such as CS 101) is required.

Basic programming experience as well as some knowledge of data structures and algorithms (linked lists, sorting, searching...) are strongly recommended.

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Suggested Readings

There is no required reading for this class. As the lectures progress, we'll provide links to more in-depth material for students who want to dig deeper.

The lectures for this course are also being published as a textbook. Drafts of several chapters are currently available (each corresponds to a lecture):

Chapter 1: Introduction to Cryptography & Cryptocurrencies: https://drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id=0B4-bDFu_72BeRnNqTkFUcGRkcm8
Chapter 2: How Bitcoin Achieves Decentralization: https://drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id=0B4-bDFu_72BeZnJRTTRRcHdibVk
Chapter 3: Mechanics of Bitcoin: https://drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id=0B4-bDFu_72Bea2R0cHB5SFI1VGc
Chapter 4: How to Store and Use Bitcoins: https://drive.google.com/uc?id=0B4-bDFu_72Beb1UtS0pzbl9ILTg&export=download
Chapter 5: Bitcoin Mining: https://drive.google.com/uc?id=0B4-bDFu_72Beelkxd3VlbXoyd0E&export=download
Chapter 7: Community, Politics, and Regulation: https://drive.google.com/uc?id=0B4-bDFu_72Bed2ZGZi16eFh5b0k&export=download  
  

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Course Format

The class will consist of lecture videos broken up into 5-7 segments, each 10-15 minutes in length. Each segment contains 1 or 2 integrated quiz questions.

There will also be standalone homeworks that are not part of video lectures.