FREE 10-week MSc-level Cryptocurrencies course (Computer Science) for Devs!

Please note: you must register on Eventbrite to attend this event. If you have previously registered there is no need to register again as we already have you on the list:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/free-10-week-msc-level-cryptocurrencies-course-comp-science-developers-tickets-55283625813

For the next 10 weeks, we invite the London dev commnity & students to attend free lectures about Distributed Ledgers & Cryptocurrencies at King's College London.

All lecture material is developed by the instructors for the MSc Computer Science (module: 7CCSMDLC) that is already taught at King's College London.

The course will run every Tuesday evening (7pm-9pm) at King's College London. Room will be disclosed to anyone who signs up and are selected to attend the bootcamp.

Instructors?
Patrick McCorry is an Assistant Professor at King's College London. His focus is cryptocurrencies, smart contracts, cryptography and decentralised systems. Patrick is the UK’s first PhD graduate in Cryptocurrencies and his work has recently appeared at Devcon3 & 4, Scaling Bitcoin 2017, Breaking Bitcoin 2017 and BPASE 2018 alongside numerous academic venues. More information can be found at https://nms.kcl.ac.uk/patrick.mccorry/

Luke Riley is a Research Associate at King's College London. He is a member of the EPSRC funded "Voting Over Ledger Technology" project, which explores the different ways that distributed ledger technology can be used in voting and decentralised governance systems. He is the principal investigator of the EPSRC Impact "Improving Delegated Proof of Stake Consensus Protocol" project, which is focused on investigating the properties of the approval voting system contained within it. Additionally he has a background in multi-agent systems, cooperative game theory and communication protocols

Sergi Delgado Segura is a Research Associate at UCL (and previously at UIUC with Andrew Miller). He graduated with his PhD from Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) under the supervision of Jordi Herrera-Joancomartí and Guillermo Navarro-Arribas. His research (including his entire PhD) focused on the network layer of cryptocurrencies and how to achieve privacy in Bitcoin. His work has previously appeared at Scaling Bitcoin 2018 and the Master Workshop: Layer 1 alongside numerous academic venues. More information can be found at https://srgi.me

Course Abstract:
This free 10 week course focuses on cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology which combines applied cryptography, software engineering, distributed systems, mechanism design and game-theory. It is the first example of a self-sustaining peer-to-peer network that can reach consensus about a series of events on a global scale without the assistance (or support) of any global institution or intermediary. The first application of a global consensus network was Bitcoin, a peer-to-peer electronic cash system, but it has since been taken further by several new projects including Ethereum to support the execution of global programs (‘smart contracts’). Throughout the course, we’ll study how something like Bitcoin can work, the implications (and beauty) of self-enforcing smart contracts, and focus on bringing all students up to date with state-of-the-art research in this emerging (and exciting) area.

Provisional Schedule:
Week 1 - Introduction to Cryptocurrencies
Week 2 - Structure of the blockchain, transactions and how cryptography plays a role
Week 3 - Network Layer and Information Propagation
Week 4 - Breaking Smart Contracts
Week 5 - Scaling On-chain Transactions
Week 6 - Nature of Money and the landscape for Bitcoin to succeed
Week 7 - Legal Issues around smart contracts and the blockchain
Week 8 - Scaling via Off-chain Transactions (or so-called Layer 2)
Week 9 - Financial Privacy on the blockchain
Week 10 - Student Presentations - YOU!

Prerequisites:

• You must have a good programming/development background.
• Ideally a BSc in Computer Science, although not required.