Blockchains and Distributed Ledgers

BDL: Resource List

mcorey — Wed, 02 Aug 2023 12:00:28 +0000

BDL: Resource List mcorey Wed, 02/08/2023 - 13:00

(Note: The following are not mandatory for passing the course; however, they can help you understand the concepts and answer questions.)

Study material includes notes and papers, such as:

Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System, Satoshi Nakamoto
Ethereum Whitepaper, Vitalik Buterin
The Bitcoin Backbone Protocol: Analysis and Applications, Juan Garay, Aggelos Kiayias, Nikos Leonardos
SoK: Research Perspectives and Challenges for Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies, Bonneau J, Miller A, Clark J, Narayanan A, Kroll JA, Felten EW
SoK: A Consensus Taxonomy in the Blockchain Era, Juan A. Garay, Aggelos Kiayias

More such material is available at: https://github.com/decrypto-org/blockchain-papers

Although not a prerequisite for taking the course, a relevant overview book, with a freely available preprint, which you may find interesting is:

"Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies", Princeton, Arvind Narayanan, Joseph Bonneau, Edward Felten, Andrew Miller, Steven Goldfede

For a more deep dive on the cryptographic primitives used in the course (such as hash functions and digital signatures), you may refer to "Introduction to Modern Cryptography" by Jonathan Katz and Yehuda Lindell (available via DiscoverEd).

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BDL: Course Contacts

flittlet — Tue, 18 Jul 2023 14:08:35 +0000

BDL: Course Contacts flittlet Tue, 18/07/2023 - 15:08

Questions about the course should be asked at a first instance at the piazza of the course. You can ask public questions, or private to the lecturers and TAs.

Contacts:

(Course Organiser, Lecturer) Petros Wallden petros.wallden@ed.ac.uk

(Lecturer) Michele Ciampi michele.ciampi@ed.ac.uk

(Lecturer) Dimitris Karakostas D.Karakostas@ed.ac.uk

(Course Secretary) Yesica Marco Azorin ymarcoa@ed.ac.uk

(Teaching Assistants) Konstantinos Brazitikos, Xinshu Ma, Christina Ovezik, Amirreza Sarencheh, Yu Shen, Yu Xia

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BDL: Assessment

flittlet — Tue, 18 Jul 2023 14:08:32 +0000

BDL: Assessment flittlet Tue, 18/07/2023 - 15:08

The course has an exam that counts 70% and a single coursework that counts for 30%.

The coursework was released on 18th October and the submission deadline is 12:00 on the 15th November 2023:

Details for the assignment's submission can be found at the Learn page of the course.

Marking scheme

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BDL: Schedule

flittlet — Tue, 18 Jul 2023 14:08:31 +0000

BDL: Schedule flittlet Tue, 18/07/2023 - 15:08

Week	Commencing	Lectures	Slides	Milestones
1	20-Sep-2023	Introduction to blockchains and distributed ledgers	Admin Lecture 1
2	27-Sep-2023	Blockchain-related data structures	Lecture 2
3	04-Oct-2023	A blockchain as a platform and introduction to Ethereum	Lecture 3
4	11-Oct-2023	Pitfalls and security vulnerabilities in smart contracts	Lecture 4
5	18-Oct-2023	The consensus problem	Lecture 5	Coursework description
6	25-Oct-2023	Byzantine fault tolerance, permissionless vs. permissioned ledgers	Lecture 6
7	01-Nov-2023	Economics, game theory, and incentives	Lecture 7
8	08-Nov-2023	Anonymity and privacy, P2P networking, wallets	Lecture 8
9	15-Nov-2023	Secure Multiparty Computation	Lecture 9
10	22-Nov-2023	Post-quantum security and Blockchain applications	Lecture 10
11	29-Nov-2023	Summary and overview, student questions

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BDL: Past Recordings

flittlet — Tue, 18 Jul 2023 14:08:31 +0000

BDL: Past Recordings flittlet Tue, 18/07/2023 - 15:08

Recordings from previous years are available here:

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BDL: Reading Material

flittlet — Tue, 18 Jul 2023 14:08:30 +0000

BDL: Reading Material flittlet Tue, 18/07/2023 - 15:08

The first and main source are the lecture slides that are uploaded at the schedule .

Reading material from previous years are available at the following repositories but are perhaps outdated: https://github.com/Blockchain-Technology-Lab/bdl-course; https://github.com/dimkarakostas/blockchaincourse

Further reading and references are given resource list

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BDL: Course Materials

flittlet — Tue, 18 Jul 2023 14:08:30 +0000

BDL: Course Materials flittlet Tue, 18/07/2023 - 15:08

Lecture Recordings

All lecture recordings should be accessed via Learn; you will need to log in using your EASE account. (Learn provides you with access to any lecture recordings available for this course. You will need to select the "lecture recording" link once, before you can access any direct links to a lecture recording.)

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BDL: Blockchains and Distributed Ledgers

flittlet — Tue, 18 Jul 2023 14:08:30 +0000

BDL: Blockchains and Distributed Ledgers flittlet Tue, 18/07/2023 - 15:08

Welcome to Blockchains and Distributed Ledgers

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this course, you should be able to:

1. explain and Analyze protocols and systems involving multiple participants and their security properties.

2. demonstrate the ability to think critically about cybersecurity.

3. program smart contracts as part of scalable information technology services.

4. analyse and evaluate smart contract code utilizing basic cryptographic primitives such as digital signatures and hash functions.

Course Outline

The concept of blockchain will be covered in detail together with the supporting cryptographic technology. Questions that will be covered is why it works and what problems can it solve.

Syllabus:

Introduction to blockchains and distributed ledgers, hashes, and digital signatures.
Blockchain-related data structures.
A blockchain as a platform and introduction to Ethereum.
Smart contract programming, pitfalls, and security vulnerabilities.
The consensus problem.
Byzantine Fault Tolerance and permissionless vs. permissioned ledgers.
Game theoretical and economic aspects of distributed ledgers.
Networks, wallets, and anonymity and privacy in blockchain protocols.
Secure Multiplarty Computation.
Blockchain applications and legal aspects.
Summary and overview with student questions.

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