NGEN 520 Foundations of Blockchain

Blockchain technology is recognized worldwide as a serious disruptive force in both the history of money and in ledger technology. In a short period of time, hundreds of thousands of blockchains have emerged to cater to multiple problems whether they are monetary, business, economic, social, or even political problems. It brings forth serious issues of governance as well as the need to reorganize multiple enterprises like state entities, corporations, banks, court systems, etc. This course introduces the student to the significance of this paradigm shift with broad coverage of important changes and the agents of the change. It explores origins of Bitcoin, technical details of underlying blockchain technology, elements of cryptography, supportive technologies, predominant concepts of distributed computing, and emerging layering of internet protocols and their role in new wealth systems.