1. Lecture 1 – Blockchain fundamentals
1.1. Distributed Ledger
1.1.1. decentralization
1.1.1.1. replication via consensus
1.1.2. ledger writing technology
1.1.2.1. Transaction Transparency – broadcasting transactions to all nodes
1.1.2.2. Immutability
1.1.2.3. timestamp server
1.2. Consensus mechanisms
1.2.1. proof of work (POW)
1.2.2. proof of stake (POS)
1.2.3. Byzantine Fault Tolerance
1.2.4. forking
1.2.5. Security against double spending
1.3. cryptography
1.3.1. public key encryption
1.3.1.1. Privacy and Anonymity
1.3.2. digital signatures
1.3.2.1. Bitcoin as a chain of digital signatures
2. Lecture 2 – Ethereum Basics
2.1. Tracking Balances in ETH vs BTC network
2.1.1. UTXO
2.1.2. Account based
2.1.3. Account based model vs UTXO for Smart Contracts
2.2. POW vs POS
2.2.1. Environmental impact
2.2.2. Centralization risks
2.2.3. Validators vs Miners
2.2.3.1. Proof-of-authority
2.2.4. Difference in incentives
2.2.5. forking
2.3. Smart Contracts
2.3.1. Solidity fundamentals (basic structure, storage scope, data types, etc.)
2.3.2. Smart contract use cases
3. Lecture 3 – Smart Contracts + Tokenization
3.1. Smart Contracts
3.1.1. Autonomous (self-executing code)
3.1.2. Security
3.1.3. Ethereum environment
3.2. Tokens
3.2.1. Types of tokens
3.2.1.1. Utility (e.g payment of services)
3.2.1.2. Governance (e.g voting rights)
3.2.1.3. Security
3.2.1.4. Platform
3.2.1.5. Transactional
3.2.2. NFTs
3.2.3. Benefits of Tokenization
3.3. Ethereum Standards
3.3.1. Rules and guidelines for tokens on the network
3.3.2. Bridging interoperability between applications/other chains
3.3.3. Token compatibility (e.g with wallets)
3.3.4. Ease of development (measure by time to market)
4. Lecture 9 – Scalability Solutions
4.1. Layer 1 Solutions (Enhancements to the base protocol)
4.1.1. Consensus algo (POS, dPOS, PBFT)
4.1.2. Protocol enhancements (increasing block size, reducing block time)
4.1.3. Data structures optimization (GHOST, DAGs, SegWit)
4.1.4. Sharding (splitting the main blockchain network into smaller, manageable parts)
4.2. Layer 2 Solutions (Off-chain solutions)
4.2.1. State Channels (Lightning network)
4.2.2. Sidechains
4.2.3. Rollups (bundling transactions off-chain)
4.3. Challenges with Interoperability
4.3.1. maintaining interoperability with main chain and side chains
5. Lecture 6 – dApps
5.1. Oracles
5.1.1. Input oracles (fetches data off-chain for the blockchain)
5.1.2. Output oracles (send commands to off-chain systems that trigger them to execute certain actions)
5.1.3. Importance of trusted oracles
5.2. Use cases
5.2.1. Tokenization of IP (patents, copyright, trademarks); potential use of NFTs
5.2.2. Token-as-a-license for software licensing
5.2.3. Track & Trace in supply chain management
5.3. dApps vs Traditional web apps
5.3.1. Communication: Traditional: HTTP dApps: wallets, JSON-RPC, IPFS
6. Lecture 7 – Cryptocurrencies
6.1. Economic theories for money
6.1.1. Chartalist: The state controls the value of money
6.1.2. Metallist: Money’s value derives from its intrinsic worth
6.1.3. Cryptocurrencies have elements of both. Chartalist: e.g meme coins driven by social and cultural trends Metallist: e.g Intrinsic value of digital gold – Bitcoin
6.2. Stable digital currencies
6.2.1. Stablecoin
6.2.1.1. fiat-backed (Tether)
6.2.1.2. crypto-backed
6.2.1.3. algo-backed (e.g Terra LUNA)
6.2.2. CBDC
6.2.2.1. Retail (Used by individuals for daily transactions)
6.2.2.2. Wholesale (Used by financial institutions)
6.3. NFT workflow
6.3.1. Minting process
6.3.2. Challenges
7. Lecture 4 – Ethereum Ecosystem Components
7.1. ENS
7.1.1. Forward lookup (ERC137): domain name -> address
7.1.2. Reverse lookup (ERC181): address -> domain name
7.1.3. Registry contract
7.1.4. Resolver contract
7.2. Types of Wallets
7.2.1. Custodial (managed by 3rd party) vs Non Custodial (uses manage own public/private key)
7.2.2. Hot vs cold wallet
7.2.2.1. Security concerns + precautions
7.2.2.2. Convenience
7.3. Smart Contract Design Patterns
7.3.1. Authorization (ownership, access restriction)
7.3.2. Action and Control (State machine, commit and reveal)
7.3.3. Lifecycle (mortal, auto deprecation)
7.3.4. Maintenance (data segregation, satellite)
7.3.5. Security (mutex, emergency stop, speed bump, rate limit, balance limit)
8. Lecture 8 – Blockchain Protocols
8.1. Storage and Computation
8.1.1. On chain storage (e.g metadata, hashes of raw data)
8.1.2. Off chain (e.g IPFS)
8.2. Blockchain Scope
8.2.1. public blockchain
8.2.2. private blockchain
8.2.3. consortium blockchain
8.3. Blockchain Trilemma – blockchain systems can only have at most 2/3 properties
8.3.1. Decentralization
8.3.2. Scalability
8.3.3. Security
8.3.4. Alternate chain data structures and their pros & cons