Bitcoin and Blockchain Technology
- February-April 2021
Department of Law, University of Milano-Bicocca - May-June 2021
Department of Mathematics, University of Milan (La Statale) - October-December 2021
Department of Statistics and Quantitative Methods, University of Milano-Bicocca - October-December 2021
Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (Brescia)
Please refer to the page dedicated to your university, if available above.
These courses are for the students of those universities; anyone else, please consider https://dgi.io/workshop.
Learning objectives
The course is about bitcoin and the associated blockchain technology.
Starting from a computationally focused approach to elliptic curves over finite fields and presenting the discrete logarithm problem as the cornerstone of public-key cryptography, bitcoin is introduced as ingenious breakthrough innovation.
Its game theory, computer science (distributed systems, distributed consensus), and monetary theory elements are examined in the attempt to properly convey the interdisciplinarity of the topic and appreciate its relevance.
Technical and programming elements about digital signatures, blockchain, Merkle tree, addresses, transactions, and timestamping are also provided to assess features and limits of the Bitcoin protocol.
Prerequisites
There are no strict prerequisites, even if a computer science mindset and some familiarity with algebra and finance might help to appreciate the course. While a rigorous formal approach is almost impossible in a course touching on so many and so different knowledge areas, intellectual curiosity is stimulated about the interplay between maths, cryptography, economic incentives, technology, monetary theory, and politics.
Contents
- Cash, Electronic Money, Central Bank Money, eCash
- Internet Money
- Bitcoin Transactions
- About Money
- Private Money and the Centralization Dilemma
- The Double Spending Problem
- Bitcoin as Digital Gold
- Bitcoin as Investment Asset
- Bitcoin Financial Services
- Discrete Logarithm Problem on Finite Cyclic Groups
- Modular Arithmetic
- Finite Fields
- Elliptic Curves Over Real Numbers
- DLP on Elliptic Curves Over Finite Fields
- Hash Functions
- Partial Hash Inversion
- Hash Pointer Data Structures: Blockchain and Merkle Tree
- Design of A Simplified Digital Currency
- Distributed Consensus
- Mining
- P2P Network
- Protocol Governance
- Elliptic curve digital signature algorithm
- Elliptic curve Schnorr signature algorithm: Mu(lti)Sig(nature), threshold signature, batch verification
- Addresses and WIFs
- Hierarchical deterministic wallets: BIP32, BIP43, BIP44
- Mnemonic phrase: BIP39 and Electrum
- TxIns, TxOs, UTxO, nLockTime
- Bitcoin script language
- Transactions
- Blocks
- Wallets and Bitcoin Core
- Testnet, regtest, and wallet workshop
- Money and innovation: monetary and token engineering
- Hayek money and dual asset ledger money
- Blockchain beyond bitcoin
- Finance and blockchain
- Timestamping, notarization, and anchoring
- Smart contracts
- Distributed ledger technology
Teaching method
- Slide based lessons with associated bibliography
- Python 3 programming assignments and technology assignments
- Workshop labs on Bitcoin Core, Electrum, and OpenTimestamps
Teaching language
Italian or English, the latter if foreign students are present.
Lessons
Assistant lecturer: Paolo Mazzocchi.
- Bitcoin as Digital Gold
slides - Hash Functions
slides
Blockchain, Mining, and Distributed Consensus
slides - Discrete Logarithm Problem on Finite Fields and Elliptic Curves
slides - Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm
Schnorr Signature Algorithm
Optimization of The Elliptic Curve Scalar Multiplication
slides - Addresses, WIFs, and Bitcoin Message Signing
slides - Transactions and Scripts
slides - Timestamping and the OpenTimestamps Protocol
slides - Wallets and Deterministic Key Chains
slides - Beyond Bitcoin: Between Hype and Reality
slides - The Cryptocurrency Frontier in Monetary Engineering
slides
Bitcoin: oro digitale per nuovi standard monetari
Hayek Money: The Cryptocurrency Price Stability Solution
Python library
https://btclib.org
https://github.com/btclib-org/btclib
Python scripts, Excel spreadsheets, and regtest lab material
https://github.com/btclib-org/bbt
Introductory reading
- Ferdinando M. Ametrano,
“Bitcoin: oro digitale, finanza e tulipani”,
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gecm0uT43tl8d4WFYNs9H_v3p70PPfPmQITR4GxSWkE
Technology references
- Satoshi Nakamoto,
“Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System” (2008),
https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf - Andreas M. Antonopoulos,
“Mastering Bitcoin: Programming the Open Blockchain” (2nd edition, 2017),
Oreilly & Associates Inc, 978-1491954386,
https://github.com/bitcoinbook/bitcoinbook - Jimmy Song,
“Programming Bitcoin: Learn How to Program Bitcoin from Scratch” (2020)
Oreilly & Associates Inc, 978-1492031499,
https://github.com/jimmysong/programmingbitcoin - A. Narayanan, et al.,
“Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies: A Comprehensive Introduction” (2016),
Princeton University Press, 978-0691171692,
https://www.coursera.org/learn/cryptocurrency, https://bitcoinbook.cs.princeton.edu, https://bitcoinbook.cs.princeton.edu, https://www.lopp.net/pdf/princeton_bitcoin_book.pdf - Pedro Franco,
“Understanding Bitcoin: Cryptography, Engineering and Economics” (2014),
Wiley, 978-1119019169 - Ferdinando M. Ametrano,
“Bitcoin, Blockchain, and Distributed Ledgers: Between Hype and Reality” (2017),
https://ssrn.com/abstract=2832249 - Roger Wattenhofer,
“Blockchain Science: Distributed Ledger Technology” (3rd edition, 2020),
Independently published, 978-1793471734
Cryptography references
- Christof Paar, Jan Pelzl,
“Understanding Cryptography”,
Springer, 978-3642041006 https://toc.cryptobook.us//, https://wiki.crypto.rub.de/Buch/en/slides.php, https://youtube.com/channel/UC1usFRN4LCMcfIV7UjHNuQg/videos - Dan Boneh,
“A Graduate Course in Applied Cryptography”,
Stanford University
https://www.coursera.org/learn/crypto, - Lawrence C. Washington,
“Elliptic Curves: Number Theory And Cryptography” (2008),
Chapman and Hall, 978-1420071467 - Standards for Efficient Cryptography Group
SEC 1: Elliptic Curve Cryptography, March 2009. Version 2.0.
https://www.secg.org/sec1-v2.pdf - Standards for Efficient Cryptography Group
SEC 2: Recommended Elliptic Curve Domain Parameters, March 2009. Version 2.0.
https://www.secg.org/sec2-v2.pdf - Guidelines for Efficient Cryptography
GEC 2: Test Vectors for SEC 1, September 1999. Version 0.3.
http://read.pudn.com/downloads168/doc/772358/TestVectorsforSEC%201-gec2.pdf
Monetary theory references
- Friedrich A. Hayek,
“Denationalisation of Money: The Argument Refined”,
https://mises.org/library/denationalisation-money-argument-refined - Saifedean Ammous,
“The Bitcoin Standard: The Decentralized Alternative to Central Banking” (2018),
Wiley, 978-1119473862 - Ferdinando M. Ametrano,
“Hayek Money: The Cryptocurrency Price Stability Solution” (2014),
https://ssrn.com/abstract=2425270 - Robert Sams,
“A Note on Cryptocurrency Stabilisation: Seigniorage Shares” (2015),
https://github.com/rmsams/stablecoins/blob/master/paper.pdf - Ferdinando M. Ametrano,
“Bitcoin: oro digitale per nuovi standard monetari” (2020),
published in “Dal sesterzio al bitcoin”, Rubettino Editore (edited by Angelo Miglietta, and Alberto Mingardi)
https://bit.ly/2NQg9VJ