Bitcoin courses
- Bitcoin and Blockchain Technology, April-June 2022
Department of Mathematics, University of Milan (La Statale) - Bitcoin and Cryptoasset, September-December 2022
Département of Finance, ESSEC Business School
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- Internet Money
- Bitcoin Transactions
- About Money
- Private Money and the Centralization Dilemma
- The Double Spending Problem
- Bitcoin as Digital Gold
- Bitcoin as Investment Asset
- Financial Services
- Hash Functions
slides- Hash Functions and Their Properties
- Puzzle Friendliness and Partial Hash Inversion
- Hash–based Data Structures
- Blockchain, Mining, and Distributed Consensus
slides- Simplified Digital Coin
- Distributed Consensus
- Proof-of-Work (PoW)
- Mining
- P2P Network
- Protocol Governance
- Discrete Logarithm Problem on Finite Fields and Elliptic Curves
slides- Elliptic Curves and The Discrete Logarithm Problem
- Discrete Logarithm Problem on Finite Cyclic Groups
- Modular Arithmetic
- Finite Fields
- Discrete Logarithm Problem on Elliptic Curves Over Finite Fields
- Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA)
(slides- Asymmetric Cryptography on Elliptic Curves
- Digital Signature Protocol
- Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm
- ECDSA and Beyond
slides
- Elliptic Curve Efficient Computations
- Schnorr Signature Algorithm (BIP340)
- Diffie-Hellman
- Symmetric Cryptography
- Encryption Using AES
- Addresses, WIFs, and Bitcoin Message Signing
slides- Base58 Encoding
- P2PKH Addresses and Wallet Import Formats
- Bitcoin Message Signing
- Transactions and Scripts
slides- TxIns, TxOs, and UTxOs
- Bitcoin Script Language
- Standard Transaction Scripts
- Signatures Types and Smart Contracts
- Blocks
- Transactions and Blocks
slides- Transaction Serializazion
- Blocks
- Block Header
- Timestamping and the OpenTimestamps Protocol
slides- Blockchain Immutability
- Timestamping
- The OpenTimestamps standard
- Use Cases
- Wallets and Custody
slides- Key Management and UTxO Database Access
- Wallets as Collection of Keys
- Custody
- Deterministic Key Chains
slides- Deterministic Key-pair Hash-chains
- Hierarchical Deterministic Key-pair Hash-chains: BIP32
- Extending BIP32: BIP43, BIP44, and SLIP32
- Mnemonic Phrases: BIP39 and Electrum
- Beyond Bitcoin: Between Hype and Reality
slides- Other Cryptocurrencies
- Smart Contracts
- Initial Coin Offering
- Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT)
- Decentralized Finance (DeFi)
- Traditional Finance for Crypto Assets
- Blockchain Without Bitcoin
- Distributed Ledger Technology
- Financial Products and Services
- The Cryptocurrency Frontier in Monetary Engineering
slides and video- Cash, eMoney, Central Bank Money, and eCash
- Stable Coins
- Hayek Money: Elastic Non-discretionary Policy
- Hayek Money: Dual Asset Ledger and Proof-of-Payment
Bitcoin: oro digitale per nuovi standard monetari
Hayek Money: The Cryptocurrency Price Stability Solution
Guest Speakers
- Digital Signature and Digital Identity: From RSA to eIDAS
with Emanuele Cisbani
slides - New trends in FinTech: Blockchain and AI
with Filippo Annunziata
slides - Regulation on Markets in Cryptoassets (MiCA)
with Andrea Conso
slides - The Tax Aspects of Crypto-Assets
with Francesco Avella
slides - Le misure di prevenzione dei reati finanziari in ambito crypto-asset
with Vito Barbera
slides - CBDC e Euro digitale
with Francesca Mattassoglio
slides
Python library
btclib.org github.com/btclib-org/btclib
Python scripts, Excel spreadsheets, and regtest lab material
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