Blockchain 101: an overview and deep dive

Blockchain, Bitcoin, Ethereum... chances are you've heard about those, have a friend who invested or even dabbled with the technology yourself.
In any case, blockchain has taken the world by storm and we're here with the 6 o'clock weather report.

We'll start off by understanding the motivation for cryptocurrencies, the story of their inception and the manner in which they work today.
We'll also get a bit more technical and inspect the actual blockchain and how it works under the hood.

An introduction to Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin was once again in the headlines at the end of 2017 when its price reached $20,000.
We will try to understand this mysterious coin, what is it good for, and why people are willing to pay so much for it.
This talk will touch on lots of general concepts and will be a tad technical. It will address both positive and negative points of view, in order to provide the audience with a basic understanding of Bitcoin technology and offer a jumping point for further independent research at home.

Pavel 'PK' Kaminsky - entrepreneur, sport enthusiast and technologist (not necessarily in that order) . He's also CTO of BloxTax (https://www.bloxtax.co.il/) and partners with Dev.IL's Uri Shaked to work on many projects, including SocialStream, Comments and Memebot. More info at http://www.pavel-kaminsky.com

Bitcoin: behind the scenes
Bitcoin, and other blockchain-based cryptocurrencies become a popular topic of discussion in both tech and financial forums. However, the design principles of blockchain-based cryptocurrencies, which are extremely fascinating, are rarely spoken of. In this talk, we’ll review the motivation for decentralized cryptocurrencies, explore the challenges of implementation and review their design. The talk does not assume any prior knowledge.

Asaf Nadler is a senior security researcher at Akamai Technologies. He is currently pursuing a PhD in Information Systems Engineering at Ben Gurion University of the Negev. His research interests span both machine learning and computer network security.

We will meet for coffee & cookies at 18:00 and begin the lectures at 18:30 sharp.

We'll grab some beers @ Goomba after the meetup! 🍻

🚗 Parking 🚗:
You can either park outside (grey sidewalks everywhere) or inside the building's underground parking - the cost is 18₪ for the entire stay (and you can even pay with Pango!)

🎥 This event will be recorded 🎥:
You will be able to see the lectures in our YouTube channel: http://bit.ly/devil-youtube - don't forget to click "Subscribe" :)