Library
This page provides students with useful resources to read and learn about specific blockchain concepts. The library's diversity highlights the multidisciplinary nature of blockchain technology.
CRYPTOGRAPHY
Bitcoin's Origins
Bitcoin's Academic Pedigree -- Arvind Narayanan and Jeremy Clark
Hashcash: A Denial-of-Service Counter-Measure -- Adam Back
A Cypherpunk's Manifesto -- Eric Hughes
Attacks
51% attack explanation -- Bitcoin StackExchange
The P+ Epsilon Attack -- Vitalik Buterin Blog Post
Long-Range Attacks -- Vitalik Buterin Blog Post
Demystifying Incentives in the Consensus Computer -- Paper by Loi Luu,..
Crypton -- Library documenting relevant cryptography attack vectors
Fundamentals
Basics of Hash Functions -- Consensys on Medium
Public Key Cryptography -- Stack Exchange explanation
How does a Merkle Tree work? -- Quora
Zero Knowledge
ZK-Snarks Under the Hood -- Vitalik Buterin on Medium
zkSNARKs in a Nutshell -- Christian Reitweßner
Homomorphic Encryption
Very Casual Introduction to FHE -- Blog Post by Matthew Green
Data Availability and Erasure Coding
Comprehensive Review of Data Availability Problem -- Ethereum Foundation
Secret Sharing and Erasure Coding -- Vitalik Buterin Blog Post
Network Layer
Whisper: Communication Protocol for Dapps (github)
Anonymous Connections and Onion Routing (paper)
Dandelion: Redesigning the Bitcoin Network for Anonymity (Paper)
bloXroute: A Scalable Trustless Blockchain Distribution Network (Paper)
Atomic Swaps
Atomic On-Chain ETH to Off-Chain BTC Swap -- Jason Wong Medium Post
ECONOMICS & GOVERNANCE
Proof of Work (PoW)
Bitcoin Whitepaper -- Satoshi Nakamoto
Ethereum Whitepaper -- Vitalik Buterin
Ethereum Yellow Paper -- Gavin Wood
Ethereum Security Audit -- Least Authority
Electricity Usage for Proof of Work
Electricity consumed by major blockchains -- Blog Post Estimate (8/26/18)
Gravity I -- LaurentMT medium post
Proof of Stake (PoS)
Nothing-At-Stake Problem -- Ethereum StackExchange explanation
Cryptoeconomics in Casper -- Presentation by Jon Choi
A Proof of Stake Design Philosophy -- Vitalik Buterin blog post
The Triangle of Harm -- Casper's incentivization philosophy
Proof of Stake -- Talk at Cryptoeconomicon
Proof of Stake with Casper -- Talk by Vlad Zamfir
The History of Casper -- Vlad Zamfir
Ethereum Casper 101 -- Jon Choi
On Stake -- Vitalik Buterin blog post
Proof of Stake FAQ -- Ethereum wiki
Light Clients and Proof of Stake -- Vitalik Buterin blog post
Weak Subjectivity -- Vitalik Buterin blog post
Cryptocurrencies without Proof of Work -- Bentov, Gabizon, Mizrahi Paper
Slasher, Ghost, and Other Developments in Proof of Stake -- Ethereum blog
Safety under Dynamic Validator Sets -- Vitalik Buterin Medium Post
Validator Shuffling Algorithm for Ethereum (Github)
Formal methods on another Casper -- Yoichi Blog Post
Cryptoeconomics
Introduction to Cryptoeconomics -- Vitalik Buterin Talk
What is Cryptoeconomics? -- Vlad Zamfir Talk
Ethereum Design Rationale -- Github
Griefing Factors -- Vitalik's Blog
State of Cryptoeconomics -- Vlad Zamfir
Making Sense of Cryptoeconomics -- Josh Stark
Basic Fundamentals of Cryptoeconomics -- Blockchannel
Intro to Cryptoeconomics -- Karl Floersch Talk at Devcon 3
Mechanism Design
Incentive Loops -- David Hoffman Medium Post
Wikipedia for Mechanism Design
On Anti-Pre-Revelation Games -- Vitalik Buterin Blog Post
Blockchain and Smart Contract Mechanism Design -- Vitalik Buterin Talk in Malta
Blockchain Oracles
Blockchain Oracles -- Aeternity Medium Post
Fault Attribution
The Problem of Censorship -- Vitalik Buterin Blog Post
Minimal Slashing Conditions -- Vitalik Buterin on Medium
Permissionless Governance
An Intro to Futarchy -- Vitalik Buterin
Tezos Whitepaper: A Self-Amending Ledger
Hard Forks, Soft Forks, Defaults and Coercion -- Vitalik Buterin Blog Post
Metcalfe's Law, Externalities and Ecosystem Splits -- Vitalik Buterin Blog Post
Monetary Policy
On Inflation, Transaction Fees and Cryptocurrency Monetary Policy -- Vitalik Buterin blog post
Cantillon Effect: Central Banks increase Inequality (article); tweet by Nick Szabo
PRIVACY
Privacy on the Blockchain -- Vitalik Buterin on Ethereum's Blog
SCALING
Layer 1 vs. Layer 2 innovation on Ethereum -- Vitalik Buterin Blog Post
Lightning Analogy to TCP/IP stack -- Melik Manukyan
Sharding
Ethereum Sharding Doc -- Vlad Zamfir
Ethereum Sharding: Overview and Finality -- Hsiao-Wei Wang on Medium
Sharding AMA -- Vlad Zamfir
State Channels
State Channels Explanation -- Jeff Coleman
Layer 2 Scaling Overview -- Josh Stark
Network Effects in Generalized State Channels -- Michael Nolivos Medium Post
Sidechains
Blockstream: Enabling Blockchain Innovations with Pegged Sidechains -- many good authors
Cosmos -- A Network of Distributed Ledgers (Paper)
Tendermint
Original Paper -- Jae Kwon
how to reduce distributed algorithms expressed as asynchronous code down to an equivalent asynchronous round representation (Paper) and Tweet
Plasma
Paper -- Joseph Poon and Vitalik Buterin
Plasma in 10 Minutes -- Anthony Akentiev
Truebit
The Marketplace for Verifiable Computation -- Sina Habibian
Paper -- Jason Teusch and Christian Reitweßner
Token Engineering
Token Sale Models
Gnosis Token Launch -- Dutch Auction Application for Gnosis ('no-sis')
Analysis of Token Sale Models -- Vitalik Buterin Blog Post
Long-Term Cryptocurrency Distribution Models -- Vitalik Buterin Blog Post
Token Design
How Does REP Work -- Augur Report
Introducing the Gnosis Tokens (GNO) -- Gnosis Blog Post
Applications of Security Deposits and Prediction Markets -- Vitalik Blog Post
SchellingCoin -- Vitalik Buterin Blog Post
Token Bonding Curves
Bonding Curves Explained -- Justin Goro Medium Post
Token Bonding Curves in Practice -- Paul Haas Medium Post
Token Curated Registries (TCRs)
Token Curated Registry (TCR) Design Patterns -- Matt Lockyer Medium Post
The Layered TCR -- Trent McConaghy Medium Post
Stablecoins
Stablecoins -- talk at Cryptoeconomicon
The Search for a Stable Cryptocurrency -- Vitalik Buterin Blog Post
The Dai Stablecoin System -- Dai github explainer
Hayek and Stablecoins -- Qiao Wang
Cryptocurrency Stabilization -- Research by Robert Sams on seignorage shares
EDUCATION
Cryptoeconomics.study by Karl Floersche
Blockchain Research Papers by Decrypto
Macro Trends for the Space
Adoption of Public Blockchains -- Matt Lockyer
Education in Blockchain -- Matt Lockyer
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