(01710217): Blockchain Technology and Application (Spring 2024)

Time: Tuesday 14:00-17:00

Location: 3201, Teaching Building, Daxing

Class web site: https://huipingsun.github.io/bct202402

Class live: No

Instructor: Huiping Sun (sunhp(at)ss.pku.edu.cn)

TA: Jinjue Zhou

Course Description

This course offers a comprehensive exploration of key aspects within blockchain technology.

From a technical standpoint, we delve into the origins, concepts, and the current state of blockchain technology. We provide an in-depth explanation of fundamental algorithms, encompassing cryptography, peer-to-peer networks, and smart contracts. Additionally, we introduce prominent platforms and critical mechanisms, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, IPFS, Consortium blockchain, Solidity, Scalability, Sharding, LightClient, and more.

On the non-technical front, we examine the real-world applications, ongoing projects, community dynamics, and the legal landscape surrounding blockchain technology. Furthermore, we introduce concepts like DApp, Web3, DeFi, and discuss the challenges, problems, and future trends shaping the trajectory of blockchain technology.

For hands-on experience, this course includes a series of blockchain experiments and projects, providing practical insights into how blockchain operates.

Course Textbook and Reference

Zhong Chen and Huiping Sun. Blockchain Overview (Chinese). Posts & Telecommunications Press. 2024.06.[Textbook]
Imran Bashir. Mastering Blockchain - A Technical Reference Guide to the Inner Workings of Blockchain, from Cryptography to DeFi and NFTs, 4th Edition. PACKT. 2023.
Andreas M.Antonopoulos，David A. Harding. Mastering Bitcoin, 3rd Edition. O'Reily. 2023.
Andreas M.Antonopoulos, Gavin Wood. Mastering Ethereum. O'Reily. 2018.
Avind Narayanan etc. Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies: A Comprehensive Introduction. Princeton University Press. 2016.

Course Schedule

Date	Topics	Readings
February 21	00. Course Overview [Slides]	No
February 21	01. Blockchain Technology Overview [Slides]	Mastering Blockchain (4th Edition). Charpter 1: Blockchain 101. Thomas Stackpole, What is Web3?. Harvard Business Review. 2022.05. Shashank Mohan Jain, A Brief Introduction to Web3: Decentralized Web Fundamentals for App Development. Charpter 1: Decentralization and Web3. APRESS, 2023. Shashank Mohan Jain, A Brief Introduction to Web3: Decentralized Web Fundamentals for App Development. Charpter 2: Blockchain. APRESS, 2023. Satoshi Nakamoto. Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System. 2008. [Homework]
February 28	02. Blockchain Cryptography [Slides]	Mastering Blockchain (4th Edition). Charpter 3: Symmetric. Mastering Blockchain (4th Edition). Charpter 4: Asymmetric. William Stallings, Cryptography and Network Security: Principles and Practice, Global Edition, 8th edition. Pearson. 2023 OpenSSL [Homework]
March 06	03. Blockchain Network [Slides]	Mastering Bitcoin (3rd Edition). Charpter 10: The Bitcoin Network. Guihai Chen, etc. Peer-to-Peer Network: Structure， Application and Design (in Chinese). Tsinghua University Press. 2007 Yanan Liu, etc.OverlapShard: Overlap-based Sharding Mechanism. The 26th IEEE Symposium on Computers and Communications (ISCC'2021). Meilin Lv,, etc.ESUM: An Efficient UTXO Schedule Model. The 4th IEEE International Conference on Blockchain and Cryptocurrency (ICBC'2022). Maya Dotan, etc. Survey on Blockchain Networking: Context, State-of-the-Art, Challenges. ACM Computing Surveys. 2021. [Homework] Bingru Si, etc. Survey on Blockchain Network (in Chinese). Journal of Software. 2023. [Homework]
March 13	04. Bitcoin I [Slides]	Mastering Blockchain (4th Edition). Charpter 6: Bitcoin Architecture. Mastering Blockchain (4th Edition). Charpter 7: Bitcoin in Practice. Mastering Bitcoin (3nd Edition). Charpter 1: Introduction. Mastering Bitcoin (3nd Edition). Charpter 2: How Bitcoin Works. Mastering Bitcoin (3nd Edition). Charpter 4: Keys and Addresses. Mastering Bitcoin (3nd Edition). Charpter 5: Wallets Recovery. Mastering Bitcoin (3nd Edition). Charpter 6: Transactions. Mastering Bitcoin (3nd Edition). Charpter 11: The Blockchain. Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies: A Comprehensive Introduction. Charpter 3: Mechanics of Bitcoin. Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies: A Comprehensive Introduction. Charpter 4: How to Store and Use Bitcoins. Bitcoin.org . 2024. Bitcoin Developer Guides @ Bitcoin.org. 2024. [Homework]
March 20	05. Bitcoin II [Slides ]	TBD
March 27	06. Blockchain Consensus [Slides ]	TBD
April 03	07. Blockchain Contract [Slides]	TBD
April 10	08. Ethereum I [Slides]	TBD
April 17	09. Ethereum II [Slides]	TBD
April 24	10. Consortium Blockchain [Slides]	TBD
May 08	11. Blockchain Scalability [Slides]	TBD
May 15	12. Blockchain Challenges [Slides]	TBD
May 22	13. Blockchain Application [Slides]	TBD
May 29	14. Blockchain UseCases [Slides]	TBD
June 05	15. Blockchain Future [Slides]	TBD
June 12	16. Project Presentations [Slides]	No

Course Grading

The grading scheme is as follows:

60% Readings + Quizzers + Presentations
40% Project

Course Projects

TBD

(01710217): Blockchain Technology and Application (Spring 2024)

Course Description

Course Textbook and Reference

Course Schedule

Date

Topics

Readings

Course Grading

Course Projects

Course References

Course History