Overview
This seminar introduces students to the latest research trends in the field of blockchains. The seminar covers the basics of blockchain technology, including motivation for decentralized currency, establishing trust between multiple parties using consensus algorithms, and smart contracts as a means to establish decentralized computation. It also covers security issues arising in blockchains and smart contracts as well as automated techniques for detecting vulnerabilities using programming language techniques.
The objectives of this seminar are twofold:
- learning about the blockchain platform, a prominent technology receiving a lot of attention in computer science and economy and
- learning to convey and present complex and technical concepts in simple terms, and in particular identifying the core idea underlying the technicalities.
The seminar is carried out as a set of presentatins (2 each lecture) chosen from a set of available papers (available below). The grade is determined as a function of the presentation, handling questions and answers, and participation.
