Introduction to Blockchain

MODULE 1

Blockchain Foundations: Introduction

• Discover the technology underpinning blockchain
• Understand the structure of blockchain
• Explore the scope of the blockchain industry by analyzing the scale of investment in the industry, key stakeholders, and the evolution of the industry landscape.

MODULE 2

Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies:

• Introduction of blockchain foundations and key technology enablers
• Discussion of market disruptions caused by blockchain on key industries
• Development of basic understanding of cryptocurrencies (e.g., Bitcoin)

MODULE 3

Consensus Mechanisms & Trustless Value Transfer:

• Explore how blockchain is powering new payment rail and cryptocurrencies
• Storage of land title registries, and new mechanisms for trading, settlement, and clearing.
• Investigate key strategic challenges and opportunities in these areas, and work with a group to analyze the scope, scale, and trajectory of the market for your own blockchain business strategy.
• Install Ethereum Wallet on your smartphone, buy some Ether and execution of a live transaction

MODULE 4

Smart Contracts:

• Discover how blockchain is enabling new forms of management and organization through decentralized applications, smart contracts, and new frameworks for identity and data sharing, and assess industry regulation and competitive analyses.
• Introduction to the main elements of the Ethereum protocol and Blockchain, as well as that key role that his technology has played in the emergence of smart contracts.
• Introduction to Solidity, the Turing‑complete programming language that is underlying the Ethereum network.

MODULE 5

Privacy & Anonymity:

• Introduction to privacy and anonymity concepts
• Discussion of key privacy network technology (e.g. TOR router)
• Introduction of zero-knowledge proofs and the concept of homomorphic encryption for data sharing

MODULE 6:

Blockchain Cryptography (Part 1):

• Introduction to classic ciphers and early encryption mechanism
• Demonstration of symmetric encryption mechanisms and exploration of key shortcomings of this method
• Introduction of cryptographic hashing and its applicability to blockchain technology operations

MODULE 7

Blockchain Cryptography (Part 2):

• Introduction of asymmetric key cryptography and its revolutionary properties for blockchain and beyond
• Discussion of the technical foundations of digital signatures and their underlying mechanisms

MODULE 8

Real-world Applications

• Discussion of the latest real-world applications of blockchain technology
• Review of use case history and frameworks for blockchain uses within the industry

MODULE 9‑12

• POC Implementation: application of agile principles, patterns and practices to build a smart contract proof‑of‑concept that runs on the Ethereum blockchain.
• Utilize open source tools like SSH, GIT, Docker & more.
• Implement and deploy a minimum viable product (smart contracts).