The Basics of Blockchain: Ethereum, Bitcoin, & More

TED Speaker Bettina Warburg connects the dots between the business, economics, and technology of Blockchain.

Created byTom Serres, Bettina Warburg, Dr Bill

Last updated 9/2018

English

What you'll learn

Define Blockchain Technology, in your own words
Understand how Blockchain could potentially impact your business and industry.
Explain Blockchain Technology to your clients, friends, and business colleagues
Set a strategy to prepare your business or your clients for the emerging Decentralized Economy
Join a community of economists, business leaders, entrepreneurs, and technologists that are shaping this technology as we speak.
Identify which aspects of Blockchain Technology seem most important and relevant to you
Walk away with a strong foundation in where blockchain is going, what it does, and how to prepare for it

Course content

6 sections • 51 lectures • 3h 17m total length

Welcome to the course!2:16
Tom and Bettina introduce themselves as your guides to blockchain on this course. You do not need any additional skills or expertise to get started!
What will you learn in this course?2:23
We approach blockchain from three perspectives: economics, technology, and technology. But first, we'll cover some of the blockchain basics!
What is a Blockchain?2:31
There are many ways people try to describe what a blockchain is. In this lecture, we give you a basic functional definition to hold onto throughout the rest of the course.
What is a block?1:05
You may be wondering what a block in a blockchain holds. This lecture covers the mechanics of how blocks hold data and are chained together to form a chronology of events in the network.
What is a registry of transactions?1:29
In this lecture we break down one of definitional parts of a blockchain -- a registry of transactions.
What do we mean by peer-to-peer?1:10
In this lecture we break down another of the definitional parts of a blockchain -- peer-to-peer networks.
Recap of the definition of Blockchain1:17
Hopefully you have your feet wet by now. But here's a quick recap of the functional definition we started the section with to keep it top of mind.
What are some traits of a Blockchain?5:54
Adding to the functional definition of blockchain, we go through four key traits of blockchains. These traits: permissionless, transparent, immutable, and secure, give blockchains more special capabilities.
Section 1 Exam

A flashback to the 1990s1:42
Imagine it's 1994. In this section we take you back to the early days of mainstream internet adoption, to help you think about the same early days of the blockchain space.
From tribes to platforms3:04
Our economic history is all about lowering our uncertainty about one another so that we can trade. We did this as tribes, and we still do it today -- online. Usually, institutions have helped lower this uncertainty. This is the basis of a field called New Institutional Economics.
Lowering our dependence on institutions3:49
We don't necessarily need institutions -- middlemen -- to do business. With blockchain, we have a new way to lower uncertainty, through machine trust. We can write rules and have them executed on a blockchain without interference.
An example of the new firm4:41
Recap: the nexus of (smart) contracts1:58
What is a smart contract? Gavin Wood gives us examples of smart contracts -- using the idea of checks.
Section 2 Exam

The origin of Bitcoin and Blockchain4:36
How did Bitcoin emerge and what's next? This lecture covers the early history and pipeline of blockchain innovation.
What is the Ethereum network?7:36
Moving beyond Bitcoin, Tom explains the Ethereum network and its purpose as a giant decentralized world computer.
The technology stack of Blockchain3:49
The decentralized economy will change how we create and trade value. In this lecture, Tom covers how the technology stack fits into the evolving decentralized economy.
How is the technology evolving?7:40
Where is blockchain technology headed? There are several themes that are emerging as important, one of which is solving for scalability. Moving away from Proof of Work may be one of the ways to scale.
Section 3 Exam

Imagining new business ideas of blockchain1:23
Tracking food, conflict diamonds and minerals, or other goods, can be done on a blockchain to keep records of provenance and certification during a product's life.
How identity will change with blockchain5:33
Along with asset tracking, identity is an emerging business opportunity in the blockchain space. This could help organizations meet Know-Your-Customer (KYC) regulations, and other current identity burdens.
Beyond blockchain for people2:48
The Internet of Things is the third business case we think is important. This lecture explores how machines, not just humans, might use blockchain going forward.
The changing world of supply chains3:13
Supply chains are a way to bring all these use case ideas together. They track assets, they require some identification, and they incorporate sensors and other IoT devices.
Recap: Business to Business0:49
Technology is either invisible or beautiful: right now blockchains are more invisible than beautiful, since they are still early in consumer adoption. It may be easier to pursue a business to business strategy.
Section 4 Exam

Gavin Wood (Part 1): Co-Founder of Ethereum & Co-Founder of Parity Technologies3:07
Meet Gavin Wood, co-founder of the Ethereum Network, and Co-founder of Parity Technologies. In this video, Gavin offers up his own definition of blockchain technology.
Gavin Wood (Part 2): Co-Founder of Ethereum & Co-Founder of Parity Technologies4:04
In this video, Gavin Wood describes smart contracts and where they are most useful. He uses the analogy of checks to help solidify the idea of smart contracts.
Gavin Wood (Part 3): Co-Founder of Ethereum & Co-Founder of Parity Technologies3:05
Gavin Wood gives us a glimpse into how he thinks about business opportunity and value creation as it relates to blockchain.
Gavin Wood (Part 4): Co-Founder of Ethereum & Co-Founder of Parity Technologies1:59
Gavin Wood gives us a sense of how the nature of business will move toward decentralized activity. We moved from a postal system to email. This is the kind of shift we are headed toward.
Gavin Wood (Part 5): Co-Founder of Ethereum & Co-Founder of Parity Technologies3:24
Gavin Wood talks about the technology stack of the blockchain space. Computers love working numbers, so he starts with those functions.
Gavin Wood (Part 6): Co-Founder of Ethereum & Co-Founder of Parity Technologies2:17
Gavin Wood and his team at Parity work on many parts of current blockchain technology. One opportunity in the coming years is to create interoperability between private and public blockchains (which form camps in the blockchain community).
Gavin Wood (Part 7): Co-Founder of Ethereum & Co-Founder of Parity Technologies2:17
What are some glaring challenges to seeing services built on a blockchain? Gavin Wood talks about how our legacy systems might be the biggest hurdle to change.
Dominic Williams (Part 1): Founder & Chief Scientist at Dfinity Network10:13
Dominic Williams is President and Chief Scientist at Dfinity. Dominic goes into some of the ideas around traditional consensus protocols, Proof of Work, and some of the difficulties with this system.
Dominic Williams (Part 2): Founder & Chief Scientist at Dfinity Network10:04
In this video, Dominic Williams covers some of the history of consensus algorithms, what protocols are, Byzantine Fault Tolerant Protocols and more!
Dominic Williams (Part 3): Founder & Chief Scientist at Dfinity Network7:16
In this video, Dominic Williams talks to us about the software stack for blockchains, including client implementations, smart contracts, and virtual computers.
Dominic Williams (Part 4): Founder & Chief Scientist at Dfinity Network9:40
Dominic Williams describes Proof of Stake, the random selection of stakeholders, and how Dfinity works.
Dr. Sarah Meiklejohn (Part 1): Expert in Blockchain Cryptography and Security2:55
Sarah Mieklejohn is a security researcher and cryptography expert. In this video, Sarah describes a definition of blockchain and some of its properties.
Dr. Sarah Meiklejohn (Part 2): Expert in Blockchain Cryptography and Security1:46
What kinds of transactions will happen on a blockchain? In this video, Sarah Meiklejohn talks through Bitcoin and the Certificate Transparency Project as examples.
Dr. Sarah Meiklejohn (Part 3): Expert in Blockchain Cryptography and Security2:30
In this video, Sarah Meiklejohn talks through an example of a smart contract.
Dr. Sarah Meiklejohn (Part 4): Expert in Blockchain Cryptography and Security7:26
How should we think about the differences between permissioned versus permissionless chains? Sarah Meiklejohn describes the read and write capabilities to help us understand.
Dr. Sarah Meiklejohn (Part 5): Expert in Blockchain Cryptography and Security1:09
In this video, Sarah Meiklejohn talks about where we might see blockchain implemented first.
Dr. Sarah Meiklejohn (Part 6): Expert in Blockchain Cryptography and Security3:27
In this video, Sarah Meiklejohn talks about identity and privacy as related to blockchain.
Dr. Jutta Steiner (Part 1): Co-founder & CEO of Parity Technologies0:56
Jutta Steiner, Co-founder and CEO of Parity Technologies talks to Tom about what a blockchain is today.
Dr. Jutta Steiner (Part 2): Co-founder & CEO of Parity Technologies2:15
In this video, Jutta Steiner describes an example of a smart contract: a mutli-sig wallet.
Dr. Jutta Steiner (Part 3): Co-founder & CEO of Parity Technologies2:20
Blockchains solved the "double spend problem," and Jutta Steiner explains why this was important.
Dr. Jutta Steiner (Part 4): Co-founder & CEO of Parity Technologies2:29
What is gas and how is it calculated? Jutta Steiner helps explain.
Dr. Jutta Steiner (Part 5): Co-founder & CEO of Parity Technologies7:46
What is visible on a blockchain? In this video, Jutta Steiner distinguishes between what is visible on a blockchain today versus how privacy will work in the future.
Dr. Jutta Steiner (Part 6): Co-founder & CEO of Parity Technologies3:45
What will the future look like? Jutta Steiner describes the possibilities for using blockchains in supply chain and more.
Vlad Zamfir (Part 1): Researcher at the Ethereum Foundation8:14
Vlad Zamfir is a researcher at the Ethereum Foundation. He is one of the creators of Casper and continues to pursue advances in cryptoeconomics. In this video, Vlad talks to Bettina about how economic modeling plays into "Cryptoeconomics."
Vlad Zamfir (Part 2): Researcher at the Ethereum Foundation3:19
In this video Vlad Zamfir discusses topics around the economics of protocols, and more broadly across the blockchain space.
Vlad Zamfir (Part 3): Researcher at the Ethereum Foundation8:21
In this video, Vlad Zamfir goes into his research on Casper for the Ethereum Foundation, as well as Proof of Work and Proof of Stake.
Vlad Zamfir (Part 4): Researcher at the Ethereum Foundation1:52
How many validators do you need in a proof of stake mechanism? Vlad Zamfir goes into detail.
Vlad Zamfir (Part 5): Researcher at the Ethereum Foundation8:00
Here, Vlad Zamfir discusses attacking blockchains at the protocol level.

Requirements

A basic understanding of the internet.
There are no technical requirements. All you need is an open mind, and curiosity about the economics, business, and technology that make blockchain interesting for the future.

Description

You have probably heard about Blockchain, Ethereum, Smart Contracts, and Bitcoin in various news articles and business settings, or seen Bettina Warburg's TED Talk on Blockchain, but you may not yet understand the technology or its economic and business implications. Animal Ventures founders Tom Serres and Bettina Warburg are entrepreneurs building enterprise-level blockchain applications for Fortune 100 clients, and are thought leaders in communicating with all audiences about this emerging technology via media tutorials as seen on TED and WIRED Magazine.

Animal Ventures has given talks, workshops, and built enterprise-ready blockchain applications all over the world, and has worked hard helping numerous companies such as Merck & Co., Credit Suisse, VMWare, FedEx, SAP, Abbot Downing, T. Rowe Price, The Advisory Board Group, Baker Tilly International, KPMG, Deloitte, IBM, The Financial Times, AEW, and many others better understand the strategic implications of this technology and worked to bring many of these ideas to life.

Bettina Warburg's TED Talk on Blockchain Technology has been seen by over 4 Million viewers, and growing. It's the #1 TED Talk on Blockchain Technology. Recently, Tom Serres and Bettina Warburg released their flagship white-paper on the future of Supply Chain Technology called Asset Chains: A Blockchain-enable Future of Supply Chain and Transportation Logistics. It is a culmination of nearly two years of research. You will receive, free with this course, a digital copy of this 70-page white-paper when enrolling in the class. The foreword for Asset Chains is provided by our good friend Don Tapscott, author of The Blockchain Revolution.

This course is designed to take you through the basics of blockchain technology, and is intended for students who are looking to build a solid foundation in understanding Blockchain. We offer context for blockchain, and unpack the ideas that will open up the most important opportunities around this new technology.

Specifically, we cover:

What is a blockchain?
What are the relevant traits of a blockchain?
What is the technology stack for a blockchain?
What are smart contracts?
What are the differences between Bitcoin and Ethereum?
What are some key principles about blockchain relevant to economics, technology and business?
Key use cases to consider: Asset tracking, Machine Learning, Identity and The Internet of Things
Where is this technology headed?

Bonus materials included with the course:

The Animal Ventures white-paper Asset Chains: A Blockchain-enable Future of Supply Chain and Transportation Logistics
A Glossary covering the most important concepts and terms relevant to blockchain so that you can review them at your own pace.
A set of infographics that structure the principles covered in the course around economics and technology changes.
Expert video interviews with Dominic Williams, one of the first investors in Ethereum and Founder of the Dfinity Network, Vlad Zamfir, Blockchain Researcher and Creator of Casper, and Gavin Wood, one of the founders of the Ethereum Network and founder of Parity Technologies, and others...

Who this course is for:

Corporate Executives looking to connect corporate strategy to blockchain technology
Government Employees and Executives looking to better connect policy to Blockchain Tech
High school & college students trying to figure out their path for the future
Supply Chain Managers who want to better understand the future landscape of Autonomous and Decentralized Supply Chains.
CEO's, Boards, and Senior VP's who need a quick 90 minute win to more deeply educate themselves
Entrepreneurs looking for something new
Consultants and Professional Service Providers
Technology Enthusiasts
Anyone looking to better prepare for long term career potential in the future

The Basics of Blockchain: Ethereum, Bitcoin, & More

What you'll learn

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Course content

Blockchain Overview8 lectures • 18min

The Economics of Blockchain5 lectures • 15min

The Technology of Blockchain4 lectures • 24min

The Business of Blockchain5 lectures • 14min

Farewell and stay involved!1 lecture • 1min

Optional Bonus Interviews28 lectures • 2hr 6min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: