The 2nd offering of the course ended on March 15 2021. The next opening is planned for Spring 2023.

This course provides a comprehensive survey of topics relevant to Blockchain technology and to the ecosystem surrounding it, starting from the basics of cryptography to the related economics and game theory premises. A solid understanding of Blockchain fundamentals is established by decomposing one of the most prominent Blockchain based systems - Bitcoin and building it from the bottom up. The course is organized in two parts: 1) a series of lectures to understand the basics; 2) a set of student presentations to critically review related topics in the literature and lead in-depth discussion on research visions to further the technology.

The course also surveys preceding technologies for digital currency and explains the relationship between crypto-currencies and Blockchains in order to build the full picture of the ecosystem surrounding blockchain technology. Participants in the course will be required to reflect on the arrangement of the different techniques, rules, and guidelines that form Blockchain and suggest possible extensions to the technology from their own research domains. Student presentations with in-depth discussions will be organized around specific topics relevant to Blockchains and their application under different domains.