COS 495: Web3 - Blockchains, Cryptocurrencies, and Decentralization

Spring 2022

General Information

J.P. Singh
Robert S. Fish
Samyak Gupta

Instructors

J.P. Singh (jps at cs dot princeton dot edu) (office hours: by appointment)
Robert S. Fish (rfish at cs dot princeton dot edu) (office hours: Wednesdays at 5:00pm in Corwin 037)

Graduate TA

Samyak Gupta (samyakg at princeton dot edu) (office hours: by appointment)

UCAs

Aleka Milojevic
Luke Shannon
Nicholas Hovsmith
Rohan Jinturkar

Required Books

Pritzker, Yan. Inventing Bitcoin. 2019.

Recommended Books

Narayanan, A., Bonneau, J., Felten, E., Miller, A., and Goldfeder, S. Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies. 2016.
Voshmgir, S. Token Economy. 2019.
Ammous, S. The Bitcoin Standard. 2018.

Meeting time and place

Wednesday 1:30-4:20PM, Robertson Hall 002.
Attendance is required. No more than one absence will be permitted.

Discussions

Discussions take place on our Ed board.
We'll use Canvas as well.

Further Help

The TAs will be assisting in completing assignments one and two. Professor Fish will be assisting with the midterm report and final project. In lieu of regular precepts, office hours will be available for assistance.

Description

This course serves as an introduction to the fast-developing world of Web3, focused on the applications of blockchains, cryptocurrencies, and decentralization through technology.

Students will learn about blockchains and the decentralization of trust and power through technology, launch a cryptocurrency token, and build an application on a blockchain. We will also discuss applications, ethical implications, and policy questions around decentralization.

Weekly meetings may include a topical lecture, a guest speaker, and a class discussion. In some weeks students may be asked to prepare and give a presentation or a short talk.

Grading

  1. Component Points
  2. Class Participation 60
  3. Class Reflections 10 each
    1. Drop four lowest
  4. Assignments 140
    1. Assignment 1 40
    2. Assignment 2 100
  5. Presentation 100
  6. Project 350
    1. Midterm Proposal 100
    2. Final Deliverable 250

Lateness

The penalty for late work is 10% per day late. Three "late day penalty waivers" are given to each student. In a group assignment, all members of a group will need to use a late day waiver if work is turned in late (or receive a penalty).

No work can be turned in after Dean's Date.

Schedule

Make sure you do the readings and assignments before the class next by which they are listed.

Readings are essential to this class. Without them you will be lost in the class discussions. Treat them as seriously as any other assignment.

In addition, there will be a short class reflection due after each session. These are due on Friday following the Wednesday session at 11:59pm (but we recommend that you do them shortly after each session). You should write about the lecture given that week or, if there was a guest speaker, the talk given by that speaker. Each writeup should be one page in length. It should include:

  1. A key message that you found interesting and not so obvious that you took away from the talk.
  2. Something in the talk that you disagreed with, or you feel is controversial, and why.

The schedule is subject to change.

    1. Date
    2. Session
    1. Jan 26
    2. Introduction to Web3 and Decentralization
    1. Feb 02
    2. History of Money | Blockchains and Bitcoin

      Guest Speaker: Muneeb Ali

      Read: Inventing Bitcoin (book)
    1. Feb 09
    2. Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies I

      Guest Speaker: Muneeb Ali

      Turn In: Assignment One (on canvas)

      Read: Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies ch.1

      Recommended: "But how does Bitcoin work?" by Grant Sanderson (3blue1brown)
    1. Feb 16
    2. Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies II

      Read: Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies ch.2

      Recommended: Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies ch.3

      Recommended: Defining the Web3 Stack
    1. Feb 23
    2. Smart Contracts

      Guest Speaker: Emilie Choi

      Recommended: Smart contracts in Ethereum

      Recommended: Learning Solidity

      Recommended: Ethereum Whitepaper
    1. Mar 02
    2. Wallets and Custody

      Guest Speaker: Wences Casares

      Turn In: Assignment Two (on canvas)

      Recommended: Bitcoin Wallets developer guide

      Recommended: Defining the Web3 Stack
    1. Mar 09
    2. Spring Recess
    1. Mar 16
    2. Wallets

      Guest Speaker: Max Branzburg

      Guest Speaker: Ouriel O'Hayun

      Read: Wallets Devguide

      Recommended: Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies ch.4
    1. Mar 23
    2. DeFi & Stablecoins

      Guest Speaker: Morgan Beller

      Guest Speaker: Tycho Onnasch

      Turn In: Midterm Report

      Read: Decentralized Finance: On Blockchain- and Smart Contract-Based Financial Markets

      Read: Stablecoins: The quest for a low- volatility cryptocurrency

      Recommended: Stability in Volatile Markets
    1. Mar 30
    2. Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs)

      Guest Speaker: Jake Sally

      Read: Technical Deep Dive Into and Implementation of Non-Fungible Tokens in a Practical Setting

      Read: NFTs, explained

      Recommended: Ethereum NFTs

      Recommended: 2021 NFT Year in Review

      Recommended: Altpress
    1. Apr 06
    2. Identity, Anonymity, and Pseudonymity

      Guest Speaker: Nader al-Naji
    1. Apr 13
    2. Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs)

      Guest Speaker: Ron Boger

      Guest Speaker: Ori Shimony

      Read: The Future of Work is Not Corporate — It’s DAOs and Crypto Networks

      Read: How to Solana — Chapter 5: DAOs & Governance

      Recommended: Report of Investigation Pursuant to Section 21(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934: The DAO
    1. Apr 20
    2. Policy and Regulation
    1. Apr 27
    2. Reading Week; reserve class time for potential invited speaker
    1. May 03
    2. Dean's Date

      Turn In: Final Project

Interesting Readings

Why it's too early to get excited about Web3

Papers and Articles

Nakamoto, S. "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System," 2008.
Chaum, D. "Security without Identification: Transaction Systems to Make Big Brother Obsolete," Communications of the ACM, 28(70), 1985.

Websites

Open Zeppelin (reusable smart contracts that could be helpful for final projects)
US Security and Exchange Commission on Initial Coin Offerings

Tutorials

Stacks NFT Tutorial (Clarity)

Frequently Asked Questions

May I partner with someone?
In some circumstances, yes. We will let you know when partnering is appropriate.

Will taking this course enable me to accumulate a crypto fortune?
A wise person once said that the quickest way to a $1 million fortune was to start with a $5 million fortune and then trade speculatively.