
In this course, you will learn the mathematical foundations of distributed consensus as well as how to construct consensus protocols and prove them secure. We will motivate distributed consensus with a modern narrative, and yet we will cover the classical theoretical foundations of consensus. We will cover both classical, permissioned consensus protocols, as well as modern,permissionless consensus protocols such as Bitcoin.



Learn the mathematical foundations of distributed consensus as well as how to construct consensus protocols and prove them secure.

Foundations of Distributed Consensus and Blockchains


After Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin dropped out of college and launched Bitcoin Magazine, he wrote the Ethereum white paper, which proposed an open source protocol that would take what Bitcoin did for money and do it for everything else: contracts, social networks, and sharing economies. Now, less than a decade later, his idea is valued at about half a trillion dollars, and it is the foundation for the weird new world of NFT artworks, virtual real estate, and decentralized autonomous organizations.

This book is a collection of essays including "On Free Speech," which creates a whole new standard for free speech and how to protect it; "Prediction Markets: Tales from the Election," in which Buterin bets on the Trump-Biden election before and after it was decided, and how the prediction markets help explain the political situation today where so many believe Trump won; and the last essay in the book, "Crypto Cities," where Buterin observes the beginnings already in motion of a future where cities governed through blockchain better serve the public good than governing political institutions do today.

Understanding and engaging with Buterin's ideas will be of growing importance as the consequences of his invention continue to unfold and inspire debate worldwide.


The Making of Ethereum and the Philosophy of Blockchains

Proof of Stake


This is a book for those who want to understand Ethereum 2.0 – Ethereum on proof of stake – at a technical level. What does it do? How does it work? Why is it like this?

Who am I writing for? For people like me! People who enjoy understanding how things work. But more than that, who like to know why things are the way they are.

Although I am an Eth2 staker, and an Ethereum user, I am not writing primarily for stakers or users here. Some of the generic material on Staking may be relevant (once I have written it), but you will find better help in places like the excellent Ethstaker community.

The scope of the book concerns (what I consider to be) the Ethereum 2.0 protocol. Ethereum 2.0 has become a less well-defined term recently. But for me, it broadly includes,

- all things proof of stake and the beacon chain,
- the process of The Merge at which Ethereum 1.0 moves to proof of stake,
- in-protocol data sharding, and
- an array of potential future enhancements.

I will not be covering any of the historic Ethereum 1.0 protocol, except as it touches upon The Merge. The Mastering Ethereum book is an excellent resource, and there is no point in duplicating it. Although roll-ups and other so-called layer 2 solutions have rapidly become part of the overall Ethereum 2.0 narrative, they are by definition not in-protocol, and I will not be covering them here. I will not be discussing, DeFi, DAOs, NFTs, or any of the wonderful things that can be built on top of this amazing technology.

A technical handbook on Ethereum's move to proof of stake and beyond.

Upgrading Ethereum


Ethereum has reached one of its long awaited milestones — The Merge!

It was truly momentous. After 7 long long years, the Ethereum community managed to replace proof of work with a proof of stake consensus protocol. The immediate impact is reducing the network’s energy consumption by a whopping 99.95% and 0.02% of global electricity usage.

Hooray!

There are also many other technical benefits to celebrate the upgrade, but the benefits are lost to most of the community. It is time — especially now that proof of stake is protecting hundreds of billions of dollars — to write more accessible material on how it works, why it is important, and what exciting features await us. 

A series of articles to help explain the proof of stake protocol for researchers, developers, and users interested in the tech

#pos

Newsletter