Welcome to the final week, with two contrasting lectures. Lecture 11 is on where Bitcoin could be going. The use of Bitcoin technology for decentralizing property, markets, and so on has been hailed as a recipe for economic and political disruption. We'll look at the technological underpinnings of these proposals and the potential impact on society.

In lecture 12, a bonus lecture, we’ll look at the history of cryptocurrencies. There were nearly a hundred cryptographic payment systems that came before Bitcoin, almost all of which failed. We’ll look at where the ideas in Bitcoin come from and what it takes for complex technical innovations to be successfully commercialized. This story will give you an appreciation of how remarkable it is that we finally have a real, working payment mechanism that’s native to the Internet.

Cheers 
Arvind Narayanan

Fri 16 Oct 2015 3:00 PM CEST

This week we continue with lectures 9 and 10. One of the most exciting things about Bitcoin technology is its potential to support applications other than currency. In lecture 9 we'll study several of these and study the properties of Bitcoin that makes this possible.

Hundreds of altcoins, or alternative cryptocurrencies, have been started, either to fix Bitcoin's perceived flaws or to pursue different goals and properties. In lecture 10 we'll look at everything that goes into an altcoin and how they interact with Bitcoin.

Cheers
Arvind Narayanan

Fri 9 Oct 2015 3:00 PM CEST

In lecture 7 this week we'll look at all the ways that the world of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency technology touches the world of people. We'll discuss the community, politics within Bitcoin and the way that Bitcoin interacts with politics, and law enforcement and regulation issues.

For the remainder of the course we turn our attention to how Bitcoin could be different and it can be extended. We’ll start with mining: not everyone is happy about its energy consumption and the fact that it requires specialized hardware. So in lecture 8 we'll look at how mining can be re-designed in alternative cryptocurrencies.

Cheers
Arvind Narayanan

Fri 2 Oct 2015 3:00 PM CEST

This week is all about Bitcoin anonymity. This is another meaty topic, so there’s only one lecture this week.

Is Bitcoin anonymous? What does that statement even mean—can we define it rigorously? We'll learn about the various ways to improve Bitcoin's anonymity and privacy and learn about Bitcoin's role in Silk Road and other hidden marketplaces.

Cheers
Arvind Narayanan

Fri 25 Sep 2015 3:00 PM CEST

This week we continue with two more lectures. In Lecture 4 on how to store and use bitcoins, we’ll explore how using Bitcoins works in practice: different ways of storing Bitcoin keys, security measures, and various types of services that allow you to trade and transact with bitcoins.

We already know that Bitcoin relies crucially on mining, which is the topic of Lecture 5. We'll tackle questions like: Who are the miners? How did they get into this? How do they operate? What's the business model like for miners? What impact do they have on the environment?

Cheers
Arvind Narayanan

Fri 18 Sep 2015 3:00 PM CEST

This week we'll look at the mechanics of Bitcoin, that is, we'll learn how the individual components of the Bitcoin protocol make the whole system tick: transactions, scripts, blocks, and the peer-to-peer network.

There is only one lecture this week since there is a lot going on in this lecture.

Cheers
Arvind Narayanan

Fri 11 Sep 2015 3:00 PM CEST

Welcome to the MOOC on Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies where we cut through the hype and get to the core of what makes Bitcoin unique. We're excited to offer this course focusing on the science behind Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.

We'll release new videos Friday of each week. This week, your main tasks are to watch lectures 1 and 2 and to complete the embedded quizzes. Those of you who prefer to download the lectures can complete the standalone quizzes instead (the questions are the same). 

We also encourage you to read the book chapters that closely follow the lectures. For technically complex explanations, you may find it helpful to use the text and go at your own pace. The chapters also have exercises and links for further reading at the end.

Learning about Bitcoin is more fun if you play with the software yourself and explore websites that display the block chain. At bitcoin.org you'll find all the links and info you need for this.

Cheers
Arvind Narayanan

Fri 4 Sep 2015 3:00 PM CEST