Siirry suoraan sisältöön

Cryptocurrencies, Digital Currencies for the Future? (3 op)

Toteutuksen tunnus: TX00DU21-3001

Toteutuksen perustiedot


Ilmoittautumisaika

02.05.2019 - 18.08.2019

Ajoitus

19.08.2019 - 23.08.2019

Opintopistemäärä

3 op

Toteutustapa

Lähiopetus

Yksikkö

ICT ja tuotantotalous

Toimipiste

Leiritie 1

Opetuskielet

  • Englanti

Paikat

0 - 30

Koulutus

  • Degree Programme in Information Technology
  • Tieto- ja viestintätekniikan tutkinto-ohjelma

Opettaja

  • Antti Piironen
  • Harald Drillenburg

Ryhmät

  • ICTSUMMER
    ICT Summer School

Tavoitteet

In 2008, Satoshi Nakomoto (a pseudonym for a yet unknown person) published a whitepaper on a new technology useful in creating a fully distributed currency: the bitcoin. This technology has since slowly matured, and can be expected to stay. It is relevant to many people in the fields of information technology and finance to understand the technology and its consequences. However, because of the multitude of alternate crypto coins and ideas on useful features, deciding the way to move forwards is far from easy.

This course aims at giving the student insight into the technology and how to use it. At the end, the group will draw the proverbial crystal ball and try to take a peek into the future of this technology, or rather this stack of related technologies.
Specifically, after successfully completing this course, the student will be able to:
• Set up the infrastructure necessary to use and mine crypto currencies.
• Find relevant literature for specific crypto coins and blockchain technologies.
• Evaluate the viability of a technology based on blockchain.
• Express his (her) vision on the future of this technology stack.

Sisältö

Session 1: introduction to blockchain. History, encryption techniques, mechanisms and protocols. Discussing Proof of Work, Stake and Excellence. Specific routes to relevant literature.

Session 2: using and mining cryptocurrencies. Setting up the technical infrastructure. Mining single node or using a mining pool. The ASICS problem.

Session 3: features in crypto. Covering a number of different crypto coins having interesting features, such as master nodes, witnesses and smart contracts.

Session 4: economics behind crypto. How to determine the viability of a crypto coin. Recognizing scams. Mechanisms determining the value (price) of a crypto coin. Exchanges and trading.

Session 5: the future of crypto. Current issues and possible solutions. What would it take to make a crypto widely accepted, and what to make it fit for the future? The ideal cryptocurrency.

Arviointiasteikko

0-5

Arviointimenetelmät ja arvioinnin perusteet

In order to receive the credits for this course, students need to demonstrate three things:
1. Ability to use and mine crypto coins it. This is done by sending a few different coins to addresses given by the teacher. The coins need to be freshly mined, not bought on an exchange. The basic infrastructure for this assignment is set up during the first two days and finalized on day 3.
For this purpose, a few coins easily mined and worth very little are selected.
2. Understanding of the technique and features implemented in current crypto coins and
3. Insight into the economic principles influencing crypto currencies.
Items 2 and 3 are demonstrated by writing a paper. This paper needs to have the following elements:
1. Introduction (200 – 500 words)
2. General principles of blockchain (300 – 1000 words)
a. Merkle Patricia Tree
b. Encryption
c. Blocks and the Block Chain
3. Features of several crypto coins (1500 + words)
a. Original idea of Bitcoin
b. Limitations in bitcoin
c. Added functionality in altcoins (example: smart contracts)
d. Attempts to solve the limitations (example: witnesses)
4. Economic principles governing crypto (300 – 600 words)
a. Econometrics
b. Marketing / sociology
5. The ideal crypto currency (500 – 2500 words)
6. The Future (200 – 500 words)
a. Where will this go?
7. References to relevant literature used
Sending the coins is marked Pass/ Fail. The paper is graded Fail/ Pass/ Excellent, where the deciding criteria for getting an Excellent are bullet points 5 and 6. The amount of words given is indicative, not prescriptive; the paper is expected to be between about 6 and 18 pages excluding pictures.
Both assignment need to be at least Pass in order to receive the credits. When passing both, the final grade is equal to the grade for the paper.

Esitietovaatimukset

Students need to have some background in information technology, preferably with an introductory course in programming. They also need mathematics at a level making them admissible to a technical programme. Because of this, the course will be primarily suited for students in computer sciences and students in econometrics who took classes in programming or software development.