COMP6451 Cryptocurrency and Distributed Ledger Technologies
Course Information for Session 1 2024

(The present document is available online at http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs6451).

Staff

NameRolelocationphoneemail
Ron van der Meydenlecturer-in-charge Office 217F, CSE (K17)9385 6922R.VanderMeyden@unsw.edu.au

Class Times

This course will be taught in "flipped classroom" mode. Pre-recorded lectures will be made available online. In-person discusion sessions on each week's material will be held

Thu 14:00 - 16:00 ColomboThB
Each week, you should view the week's recorded lectures and read the assigned reading before this live session.

Lectures will run weeks 1-5 and 7-10. This course has no tutorials

Course Content

All course content including lectures, readings and assessements will be distributed via the Course Moodle page.

Course Objectives

The course aims to develop an understanding of the requirements for electronic payment systems and how these requirements are realised using distributed ledger technologies. The technical ideas to be understood include the key cryptographic constructs, economic incentive mechanisms and distributed algorithms underpinning cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. The concept of smart contract will be introduced, and the course aims to develop a basic facility with programming smart contracts on one cryptocurrency platform. The course also aims to introduce students to the broader context of the range of alternate designs for distributed ledger technologies, the range of potential applications for these technologies, and the socio-economic, ethical and legal dimensions of their use.

Course Overview by Keywords

Cryptocurrency, Blockchain, Distributed Ledger Technology, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Smart Contracts, Cryptography, Distributed Systems

Lectures

Official lecture slides and readings for the 2024 offering will be distributed via the course Moodle site. For an impression of the course content, see the slides from offerings up to 2023 here: COMP6451 Lecture Slides (prior offerings)

Syllabus


The course uses lectures and individual work to develop an understanding of the requirements for electronic payment systems and the realisation of these requirements using distributed ledger technologies. A programming exercise on the Ethereum platform is used to give hands on experience with a particular cryptocurrency platform and the concept of smart contracts. The intended student body for the course is computer science students and the focus of the course is primarily technical, but it includes components relating to the ethical, socio-economic and legal context for these technologies. The broader scope for application of these technologies is addressed via lectures and an individual research assignment that will give students scope to explore applications of personal interest.

Learning Outcomes

Graduate Attributes

This course address the following elements of the UNSW graduate attributes:

Prerequisites and Follow-Ons

Prequisites: COMP2521 or COMP9024

Text Book

The required textbook for this course is Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies: A Comprehensive Introduction Andrew Miller, Arvind Narayanan, Edward Felten, Joseph Bonneau, and Steven Goldfeder. Princeton University Press 2016.

Additional notes are made available on the course Moodle page.

Consultations

Time will be allocated during lectures for ad hoc questions concerning the course contents. (Any difficulties that you have in understanding the content are likely to be shared by other students, who may also benefit from the answers given.)

The lecturer will be available immediately after lectures for consultation, but may schedule an appointment for issues requiring extended discussion. You may also schedule an appointment by email request.

Assessment Summary

The final mark is determined as the sum of the marks for the assessable components of the course:

You can inspect the current state of your mark record by using Moodle.

All marks must be finalised by the end of stuvac. If you think there is a problem with any of your marks then you need to advise us by emailing us within two weeks of the mark being released, and, in all cases before the end of stuvac. No marks will be changed after the end of stuvac.

Late Penalties

Late homework submissions will be penalised by reducing the maximum mark attainable for the assignment by the standard UNSW penalty of 5% per day late, for up to 5 days. Submissions that are more than 5 days late will not be accepted. If you have any valid grounds for failure to submit homework, you should submit an official request for special consideration through the UNSW central process (not by email to the lecturer).

Student Conduct

The Student Code of Conduct (Information, Policy) sets out what the University expects from students as members of the UNSW community. As well as the learning, teaching and research environment, the University aims to provide an environment that enables students to achieve their full potential and to provide an experience consistent with the University's values and guiding principles. A condition of enrolment is that students inform themselves of the University's rules and policies affecting them, and conduct themselves accordingly.

In particular, students have the responsibility to observe standards of equity and respect in dealing with every member of the University community. This applies to all activities on UNSW premises and all external activities related to study and research. This includes behaviour in person as well as behaviour on social media, for example Facebook groups set up for the purpose of discussing UNSW courses or course work. Behaviour that is considered in breach of the Student Code Policy as discriminatory, sexually inappropriate, bullying, harassing, invading another's privacy or causing any person to fear for their personal safety is serious misconduct and can lead to severe penalties, including suspension or exclusion from UNSW.

If you have any concerns, you may raise them with your lecturer, or approach the School Ethics Officer, Grievance Officer, or one of the student representatives.

Plagiarism is defined as using the words or ideas of others and presenting them as your own. UNSW and CSE treat plagiarism as academic misconduct, which means that it carries penalties as severe as being excluded from further study at UNSW. There are several on-line sources to help you understand what plagiarism is and how it is dealt with at UNSW:

Make sure that you read and understand these. Ignorance is not accepted as an excuse for plagiarism. In particular, you are also responsible that your assignment files are not accessible by anyone but you by setting the correct permissions in your CSE directory and code repository, if using. Note also that plagiarism includes paying or asking another person to do a piece of work for you and then submitting it as your own work.

UNSW has an ongoing commitment to fostering a culture of learning informed by academic integrity. All UNSW staff and students have a responsibility to adhere to this principle of academic integrity. Plagiarism undermines academic integrity and is not tolerated at UNSW. Plagiarism at UNSW is defined as using the words or ideas of others and passing them off as your own.

If you haven't done so yet, please take the time to read the full text of

The pages below describe the policies and procedures in more detail:

You should also read the following page which describes your rights and responsibilities in the CSE context:

You are allowed in this course to confer with other students to clarify the statement of a problem and discuss general approaches to the solution of related problems, but the solutions submitted should be solely the work of the individual.

Use of Artificial Intelligence

Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence tools such as ChatGPT to produce written submissions, in whole or in part, is not permitted in this course. You may also not use automatic translation tools to translate text written in another language to English before submission. Note that use of automatic translation tools is likely to create a suspicion that you have used generative AI. In assessing your work, we may use tools to help detect use of AI, and will conduct an investigation following the plagiarism procedure if we suspect that you have used generative AI. It is highly recommended that you retain copies of your working, e.g., notes and preliminary drafts, that can help to prove that the work is your own. You may use grammar and spelling assistance tools to help improve written material.

Keeping Informed and Staying in Touch

Important information concerning this course may be communicated via the following media. Students are responsible for regularly checking these channels for communications.

Course Evaluation and Development

The course previously ran in Summer 2018-19 with a small group of students. Iterations for larger classes in 2021-2023, were taught online, leading to the development of pre-recorded lectures. These will be improved and extended in the current iteration, based on feedback from 2021-2023 students. The field is in an early state of development and highly dynamic, so revisions to this course may be frequent.