24 September 2016

Bitcoin Course Textbook

In the previous post, Bitcoin Course on Youtube, I noted,
'If you just want the lectures, simply subscribe to this channel. In this lecture (click the time to jump to the section): [...]' The 'jump to sections' correspond to the section headings of the first chapter of the course textbook.

The course textbook, 'Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies' by Arvind Narayanan et al (Draft — Feb 9, 2016), doesn't include a table of contents, so I created one myself. It can also be used as a general guide to the Youtube lectures, to locate the lecture on a a specific section.

Chapter 1: Introduction to Cryptography & Cryptocurrencies
1.1 Cryptographic Hash Functions
1.2 Hash Pointers and Data Structures
1.3 Digital Signatures
1.4 Public Keys as Identities
1.5 A Simple Cryptocurrency [GoofyCoin]

Chapter 2: How Bitcoin Achieves Decentralization
2.1 Centralization vs. Decentralization
2.2 Distributed consensus
2.3 Consensus without identity using a block chain
2.4 Incentives and proof of work
2.5 Putting it all together [Cost of mining; Getting a cryptocurrency off the ground; 51-percent attack]

Chapter 3: Mechanics of Bitcoin
3.1 Bitcoin transactions
3.2 Bitcoin Scripts
3.3 Applications of Bitcoin scripts
3.4 Bitcoin blocks
3.5 The Bitcoin network
3.6 Limitations and improvements

Chapter 4: How to Store and Use Bitcoins
4.1 Simple Local Storage
4.2 Hot and Cold Storage
4.3 Splitting and Sharing Keys
4.4 Online Wallets and Exchanges
4.5 Payment Services
4.6 Transaction Fees
4.7 Currency Exchange Markets

Chapter 5: Bitcoin Mining
5.1 The task of Bitcoin miners
5.2 Mining Hardware
5.3 Energy consumption and ecology
5.4 Mining pools

Chapter 6: Bitcoin and Anonymity
6.1 Anonymity Basics
6.2 How to De-anonymize Bitcoin
6.3 Mixing
6.4 Decentralized Mixing
6.5 Zerocoin and Zerocash

Chapter 7: Community, Politics, and Regulation
7.1: Consensus in Bitcoin
7.2: Bitcoin Core Software
7.3: Stakeholders: Who's in Charge?
7.4: Roots of Bitcoin [Cypherpunk and digital cash; Satoshi Nakamoto]
7.5: Governments Notice Bitcoin
7.6: Anti Money-Laundering
7.7: Regulation
7.8: New York's BitLicense Proposal

Chapter 8: Alternative Mining Puzzles
8.1 Essential Puzzle Requirements
8.2 ASIC-resistant puzzles
8.3 Proof-Of-Useful-Work
8.4 Nonoutsourceable Puzzles
8.5 Proof-of-Stake and Virtual Mining

Chapter 9: Bitcoin as a Platform
9.1 Bitcoin as an Append-Only Log
9.2 Bitcoins as “Smart Property”
9.3 Secure Multi-Party Lotteries in Bitcoin
9.4 Bitcoin as Public Randomness Source
9.5 Prediction Markets and Real World Data Feeds

Chapter 10: Altcoins and the Cryptocurrency Ecosystem
10.1 Altcoins: History and Motivation
10.2 A Few Altcoins in Detail [Namecoin; Litecoin; Peercoin; Dogecoin]
10.3 Relationship Between Bitcoin and Altcoins
10.4 Merge Mining
10.5 Atomic Cross-chain Swaps
10.6 Bitcoin-Backed Altcoins, “Side Chains”
10.7 Ethereum and Smart Contracts

Chapter 11: Decentralized Institutions: The Future of Bitcoin?
11.1 The Block Chain as a Vehicle for Decentralization
11.2 Routes to Block Chain Integration
11.3 Template for Decentralization
11.4 When is Decentralization a Good Idea?

Many chapters also have an additional section for 'Further Reading' and/or 'Exercises'. Some months after I first posted about the Online Bitcoin Course (March 2016), the course textbook appeared on Amazon.com: Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies: A Comprehensive Introduction, (Hardcover - 19 July 2016). Recommended!

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