Cryptocurrencies, blockchains, and smart contracts
Fall 2023
The course covers all aspects of blockchains and cryptocurrencies, including distributed consensus, smart contracts, economics, scalability, and applications. We will focus on Bitcoin and Ethereum as case studies.
Administrative
| CS251 Lectures: | Monday, Wednesday: 3-4:20pm, Nvidia Aud. |
| Sections: | Friday: 2:30-3:20pm, Building 160 Room 319. |
| Discussion board: | Ed Discussions. |
| Final exam: | Dec. 12, 9 - 11:30am, Nvidia Aud. |
Final Exam
The final is an in-class exam that will take place on Dec. 12, 9-11:30am at the Nvidia Aud. in the Huang building. Please let the TAs know if you cannot make it to the exam in person.
The exam format will be similar to that in previous years. Sample exams from previous years are provided below. You may use your laptop during the exam as long as the WiFi is turned off.
Previous final exams: [2023] [2022] [2021] [2020] [2019] [2018]
Homeworks and Projects
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Project #1: Merkle trees in Python
Assignment:
[instructions]
[starter code]
Due: Wed, Oct. 4, 2023, via Gradescope (code: 7DVJKY)
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Homework #1:
[pdf]
Due: Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023, via Gradescope
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Project #2: Perform Bitcoin transactions using python-bitcoinlib
Assignment:
[instructions]
[starter code]
Due: Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023, via Gradescope
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Homework #2:
[pdf]
Due: Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2023, via Gradescope
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Project #3: An Ethereum payment app
Assignment:
[instructions]
[starter code]
Due: Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2023, via Gradescope
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Homework #3:
[pdf]
Due: Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023, via Gradescope
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Project #4: Building a decentralized exchange (DEX)
Assignment:
[instructions]
[starter code]
Due: Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023, via Gradescope
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Homework #4:
[pdf]
Due: Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023, via Gradescope
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Course calendar
Lecture recordings
Video cameras located in the back of the room will capture the instructor presentations in this course. For your convenience, you can access these recordings by logging into the course Canvas site. These recordings might be reused in other Stanford courses, viewed by other Stanford students, faculty, or staff, or used for other education and research purposes. Note that while the cameras are positioned with the intention of recording only the instructor, occasionally a part of your image or voice might be incidentally captured. If you have questions, please contact a member of the teaching team.