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- School of Science
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School of Engineering
- Undergraduate major in Mechanical Engineering
- Undergraduate major in Systems and Control Engineering
- Undergraduate major in Electrical and Electronic Engineering
- Undergraduate major in Information and Communications Engineering
- Undergraduate major in Industrial Engineering and Economics
- Common courses
- School of Materials and Chemical Technology
- School of Computing
- School of Life Science and Technology
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- 工学院，物質理工学院，環境・社会理工学院共通科目
- Liberal arts and basic science courses
- First-Year Courses
- School of Science
- School of Engineering
- School of Materials and Chemical Technology
- School of Computing
- School of Life Science and Technology
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School of Environment and Society
- Department of Architecture and Building Engineering
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
- Department of Transdisciplinary Science and Engineering
- Department of Social and Human Sciences
- Department of Innovation Science
- Graduate major in Technology and Innovation Management
- Common courses
- Liberal arts and basic science courses
- Academic unit or major
- Graduate major in Mathematical and Computing Science
- Instructor(s)
- Rebello Larangeira Junior Mario Tanaka Keisuke
- Class Format
- Lecture (ZOOM)
- Media-enhanced courses
- Day/Period(Room No.)
- Tue5-6(W831) Fri5-6(W831)
- Group
- -
- Course number
- MCS.T415
- Credits
- 2
- Academic year
- 2020
- Offered quarter
- 1Q
- Syllabus updated
- 2020/9/18
- Lecture notes updated
- -
- Language used
- English
- Access Index
-
Course description and aims
Cryptocurrency, as the newest term is used, is a old dream for engineers and researchers, in particular, cryptographers. In the old days several other terms were also coined, as for example, electronic cash and digital money, however is that the most successful term, and piece of engineering, is what we see nowadays in the news: Cryptocurrency.
In this course, students will learn history, theory, and practice of cryptocurrencies: components of cryptocurrency including wallets, mining, blockchain, and ledgers, and also cryptographic primitives including security models, commitments, secret sharing, and zero knowledge proofs.
Student learning outcomes
By the end of this course, students will be able to understand:
1) History, theory, and design of cryptocurrencies
2) Practical description of cryptocurrencies
3) Components of cryptocurrency and cryptographic primitives.
Keywords
cryptocurrency, blockchain, cryptography, information security, distributed system, bitcoin
Competencies that will be developed
| ✔ Specialist skills | Intercultural skills | Communication skills | ✔ Critical thinking skills | ✔ Practical and/or problem-solving skills |
Class flow
Each class offers a standard type of lecture.
Course schedule/Required learning
| Course schedule | Required learning | |
|---|---|---|
| Class 1 | Overview and Security Models | Understand the contents of the course and the concept of provable security for cryptographic systems |
| Class 2 | History of Cryptocurrencies, Brief Description of Bitcoin | Understand basic cryptocurrency concepts, the history of cryptographic money and the general structure of the Bitcoin system |
| Class 3 | Bitcoin Building Blocks | Understand basic cryptographic tools like hash function, digital signatures, Merkle-tree, and have a general understanding of ledger, blockchain and mining |
| Class 4 | Blockchain and Ledger | Understand the structure of the blockchain and its properties |
| Class 5 | Provably Security | Understand the concept of provable security for cryptographic systems |
| Class 6 | Hash and Commitment | Understand the concept of commitment, its security definition and constructions based on hash functions, Merkle-trees and algebraic computational problems |
| Class 7 | Signature (1) | Understand the definitions and the security of signature |
| Class 8 | Signature (2) | Understand some concrete construction of fully secure signature |
| Class 9 | Consensus | Understand the history of consensus, the different versions and basic definitions, and its relation to cryptocurrencies |
| Class 10 | Zero Knowledge Proof | Understand the concept of proof of knowledge and zero knowledge, as well as simple constructions of zero knowledge proofs of knowledge for discrete logarithm relations |
| Class 11 | Mining | Understand the advantages, the disadvantages, and the attacks of mining |
| Class 12 | Wallets | Understand the different types of wallet |
| Class 13 | Smart Contracts | Understand basic definitions, the Bitcoin script language and the Ethereum smart contract platform |
| Class 14 | Advanced Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Applications | Understand the basic privacy notions for cryptocurrency systems and the applications to privacy preserving smart contracts and credential systems |
Out-of-Class Study Time (Preparation and Review)
To enhance effective learning, students are encouraged to spend approximately 100 minutes preparing for class and another 100 minutes reviewing class content afterwards (including assignments) for each class.
They should do so by referring to textbooks and other course material.
Textbook(s)
Textbooks will not be used in this course.
Reference books, course materials, etc.
References will be announced in classes.
Assessment criteria and methods
It will consist of two reports during the course. The first will be delivered by the end of Lecture 7, and the second by the end of Lecture 14.
Related courses
- MCS.T213 ： Introduction to Algorithms and Data Structures
- MCS.T214 ： Theory of Automata and Languages
- MCS.T323 ： Theory of Computation
- MCS.T406 ： Distributed Systems
- XCO.T473 ： Foundation of Cybersecurity
Prerequisites (i.e., required knowledge, skills, courses, etc.)
None. However, the knowledge on the basic notions of computer science can help students to understand the contents of the course smoothly.
