Undergraduate Course: Blockchains and Distributed Ledgers (INFR11144)
Course Outline
| School | School of Informatics |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Year 4 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 10 |
ECTS Credits | 5 |
| Summary | Blockchain technology and distributed ledgers have been hailed as a turning point in scaling information technology services at a global level. Although the digital currency Bitcoin is the best-known Blockchain application today, the technology is set to play a much broader role in cyber security.
This course is an introduction to blockchain systems and distributed ledgers, the relevant cryptographic tools and smart contracts programming. |
| Course description |
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:
1. Introduction to blockchain. What is a distributed ledger. Transactions. Digital Signatures.
2. The consensus layer. Basic Properties. Proof of Work.
3. Robust Transaction Ledgers. Properties and Objectives. Permissioned, permissionless ledgers.
4. Privacy Issues. Anonymity, Pseudonymity, Unlinkability. Zero-Knowledge Proofs.
5. Scalability Issues. Byzantine agreement protocols.
6. Blockchain as a platform. Smart Contracts.
7. Secure multiparty computation techniques and their application to blockchain protocols.
8. Alternative techniques to proof of work for blockchain protocols, proof of stake/space.
9. Game theoretic analysis of blockchain protocols.
10. Blockchain use cases, applications, and policy issues.
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Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | This course is available to visiting students. |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
|
| Academic year 2024/25, Available to all students (SV1)
|
Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
100
(
Lecture Hours 20,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
78 )
|
| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
70 %,
Coursework
30 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
|
| Additional Information (Assessment) |
70% Exam
30% coursework |
| Feedback |
Not entered |
| Exam Information |
| Exam Diet |
Paper Name |
Hours & Minutes |
|
| Main Exam Diet S1 (December) | Blockchains and Distributed Ledgers (INFR11144) | 2:120 | |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- explain and Analyze protocols and systems involving multiple participants and their security properties.
- demonstrate the ability to think critically about cybersecurity.
- program smart contracts as part of scalable information technology services.
- analyse and evaluate smart contract code utilizing basic cryptographic primitives such as digital signatures and hash functions.
|
Reading List
Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies by Arvind Narayanan, Joseph Bonneau, Edward Felten, Andrew Miller, Steven Goldfeder. http://bitcoinbook.cs.princeton.edu
The Bitcoin Backbone Protocol: Analysis and Applications, Juan Garay and Aggelos Kiayias and Nikos Leonardos. https://eprint.iacr.org/2014/765 |
Additional Information
| Course URL |
https://opencourse.inf.ed.ac.uk/bdl |
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Familiarity with cryptography, cyber security, decentralized systems, databases, open source software. |
| Keywords | Bitcoin,Distributed Systems,Cryptography,BDL |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof Aggelos Kiayias
Tel: (031 6)50 5129
Email: akiayias@inf.ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Yesica Marco Azorin
Tel: (0131 6)50 5194
Email: ymarcoa@ed.ac.uk |
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