Blockchain Scalability and its Foundations in Distributed Systems

Instructor: Vincent Gramoli

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5 modules

Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.

120 reviews

Beginner level

Recommended experience

1 week to complete

at 10 hours a week

Flexible schedule

Learn at your own pace

5 modules

Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.

120 reviews

Beginner level

Recommended experience

1 week to complete

at 10 hours a week

Flexible schedule

Learn at your own pace

Skills you'll gain

Details to know

Shareable certificate

Add to your LinkedIn profile

Assessments

6 assignments

Taught in English

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There are 5 modules in this course

Blockchain promises to disrupt industries once it will be efficient at large scale. In this course, you will learn how to make blockchain scale. You will learn about the foundational problem of distributed computing, consensus, that is key to create blocks securely. By illustrating limitations of mainstream blockchains, this course will indicate how to improve the technology in terms of security and efficiency.

This week, we will start our exploration of the blockchain and its relation to distributed computing. In particular, we will learn the basics on blockchain abstraction and the importance of consensus between machines in order to mitigate the risks of having an attacker spend the same asset twice - an undesirable situation called 'double-spending'.

What's included

7 videos4 readings1 assignment1 discussion prompt

7 videos Total 29 minutes

Introduction to the course 4 minutes
Introduction to Module 1 1 minute
History of blockchain 6 minutes
What is blockchain? 6 minutes
Double spending 4 minutes
Module 1 conclusion 1 minute
An interview with Christian Cachin - Cryptography and quantum computing 8 minutes

4 readings Total 40 minutes

How to navigate the MOOC 10 minutes
Overview of assessments and activities 10 minutes
Module 1 further readings 10 minutes
Podcast interviews with Christian Cachin 10 minutes

1 assignment Total 30 minutes

Module 1 quiz 30 minutes

1 discussion prompt Total 15 minutes

Introduce yourself 15 minutes

This week we will learn how classic blockchains try to solve consensus. We will look at the failures and delays blockchain systems must consider, and how these events may prevent machines from reaching consensus.

What's included

10 videos2 readings1 assignment1 discussion prompt

10 videos Total 41 minutes

Introduction to Module 2 1 minute
The 2 types of failures 4 minutes
The 3 properties of the consensus problem 3 minutes
Impossibility of consensus 6 minutes
Proof of work and the importance of miners 6 minutes
Resolving forks 6 minutes
51% attacks and network delay 5 minutes
GHOST protocol 5 minutes
Module 2 conclusion 1 minute
An interview with Christian Cachin - Hyperledger Fabric version 0.6 to 1.x 4 minutes

2 readings Total 30 minutes

Essential reading: From blockchain consensus back to Byzantine consensus 20 minutes
Module 2 further readings 10 minutes

1 assignment Total 30 minutes

Module 2 quiz 30 minutes

1 discussion prompt Total 15 minutes

Can blockchain work without solving consensus? 15 minutes

This week, we will investigate how to solve the consensus problem. To do this, we will first investigate how to solve consensus when failures cannot occur in the network. Later on, we will learn how to solve consensus when processes may fail, first through crash failures and then when processes can behave arbitrarily.

What's included

7 videos1 reading1 assignment1 discussion prompt

7 videos Total 23 minutes

Introduction to Module 3 1 minute
Consensus without failures 5 minutes
Consensus with crash failures 5 minutes
Consensus with Byzantine failures 2 minutes
Byzantine tolerant consensus 6 minutes
Module 3 conclusion 1 minute
An interview with Christian Cachin - A prototype of Fabric with BFTSMaRt Byzantine consensus 3 minutes

1 reading Total 10 minutes

Module 3 further readings 10 minutes

1 assignment Total 30 minutes

Module 3 quiz 30 minutes

1 discussion prompt Total 15 minutes

The malicious student 15 minutes

This week, we will investigate how delays in the network can impact the security of the blockchain. We will illustrate this using network attacks that allow hackers to steal digital assets in the past and that every blockchain designer should be aware of.

What's included

6 videos4 readings1 assignment1 discussion prompt

6 videos Total 22 minutes

Introduction to Module 4 1 minute
Beyond synchrony 4 minutes
The Balance Attack 4 minutes
Double spending in Ethereum 4 minutes
Module 4 conclusion 2 minutes
An interview with Christian Cachin - Evaluating different blockchain systems 7 minutes

4 readings Total 65 minutes

The 8 fallacies of distributed systems 20 minutes
Essential reading: The Balance Attack 20 minutes
Essential reading: Double-spending in Ethereum 15 minutes
Module 4 further readings 10 minutes

1 assignment Total 30 minutes

Module 4 quiz 30 minutes

1 discussion prompt Total 15 minutes

Is Ethereum secure? 15 minutes

This week, we will explore how to design a scalable and secure blockchain algorithm. What makes a blockchain algorithm scalable and secure? To be secure, we need a consensus algorithm that works over the Internet and is not affected by unexpected communication delays. To be scalable, we need to get rid of the bottlenecks.

What's included

9 videos5 readings2 assignments2 discussion prompts

9 videos Total 29 minutes

Introduction to Module 5 1 minute
Consensus without synchrony 3 minutes
Leveraging bandwidth 4 minutes
Set Byzantine Consensus problem 4 minutes
Democratic Byzantine Fault Tolerance 7 minutes
The Red Belly Blockchain 5 minutes
Module 5 conclusion 1 minute
An interview with Christian Cachin - What if Byzantine participants keep sending invalid requests? 2 minutes
Summary of course 1 minute

5 readings Total 75 minutes

Essential reading: DBFT 15 minutes
Essential reading: Evaluating the Red Belly Blockchain 20 minutes
Preview talk at IEEE S&P 2021 10 minutes
Module 5 further readings 10 minutes
Scalability Panel Discussion 20 minutes

2 assignments Total 90 minutes

Module 5 quiz 30 minutes
End of course quiz 60 minutes

2 discussion prompts Total 30 minutes

Scalability of blockchain 15 minutes
Take home messages 15 minutes

Instructor

Instructor ratings

(50 ratings)

Vincent Gramoli

The University of Sydney

1 Course 13,603 learners

Offered by

The University of Sydney

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Reviewed on Jun 18, 2023

Some practical aspects through simulation/ emiulation could have been included to provide more benefits to learners.

Reviewed on Jul 18, 2022

The foundational elements of this course were indeed useful, however the wk3 dive into symbols and algorithms through me for a bit of a loop. Got there in the end.

Reviewed on Jun 20, 2022

While it is a great learning experience, I would recomend adding some further details / explaination on algorithms, specially EIG, DBFT, BCA and BVBA in video format.

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