Getting into Blockchain is hard!

Blockchain jumps at you from almost every FinTech publication, economic newspaper, industry blog and even mainstream news.

The Hype is massive, but few commentators, journalists and analysts actually understand blockchain technology in depth. The conversation is, in most places, riddled with fundamental misconceptions.

So, where can you start?

How does it work? What is a smart contract? Why is everyone so excited about DAOs? And what does all of this have to do with cryptocurrencies?

We have been spending a lot of time and effort to develop an in-depth course for technical decision makers and CTOs.

About This Course

This online course teaches technical decision makers and CTOs the basics of blockchain technology.

This course is aimed at experienced technical stakeholders, introducing everything needed to understand the technology, smart contracts and both technical and social frameworks relating to the technology.

The course goes into the underlying theory of blockchain, covers Bitcoin, Ethereum and Hyperledger in depth and provides an overview of many other protocols both in public and managed networks.

Support & Interaction

For the duration of the course participants will be provided with a high level support by instructors. Participants are able to collaborate and exchange experiences within their learning group through different communication channels on slack.

Certification

B9lab awards certificates to participants who show very strong ability and understanding during the course. The pass mark is fairly high and requires an average of 80% or more. Successful participants receive a certificate that is verified on the Ethereum platform.

You can see how that looks like in the B9lab Certificate Center.

Exam and Timeline

At the end of the course, participants can decide on the date of their exam within a 12 week window.

Requirements

We need you to have a recent computer with at least 8 GB of RAM and 50 GB of free hard-disk space. It may be a MacOS, a Windows or a Linux computer. You may get away with just 4GB of RAM only if your computer is running Ubuntu.

Recommended experience

You should have a good technical understanding of how computers work and have done systems analysis and architectural planning before.

You do not need any programming experience.

Workload

We estimate that you will have to spend ~40 hours on the whole course, if you are planning to take the certificate route.

Course Syllabus

Module 1 - Blockchain Theory

Introduction to the world of blockchain

Experimenting with Ethereum

Blockchain Definitions

Cryptography Fundamentals

Blockchain Attributes

Blockchain as a database

Blockchain as a distributed ledger

Introduction to consensus algorithms: Proof of Work

Module 2 - Blockchain Theory - Public Networks

Blockchain Development History

Introduction to Bitcoin infrastructure

Evolution of Bitcoin: Derivative Protocols

Blockchain as a distributed computer

Introduction to Game Theory and Economic Incentives

Optional Practice Track: Preparing VM

Module 3 - Blockchain Theory - Public Networks

Smart Contract Theory

Smart Contract Implementation

Legal Dimensions of Smart Contracts

Optional Practice Track: Deploying a Smart Contract on Ethereum

Module 4 - Blockchain Theory - Public Networks

The Blockchain Public Protocol Landscape

More public protocols: Case Studies Ripple Litecoin Monero Dash Steem NEM Bitshares Zcash

RSK and other distributed computing platform

Optional Practice Track: Experimenting with ZCash

Module 5 - Business Strategy - Managed Networks

Introduction to managed networks

Blockchain Business Strategy Primer

Example use cases

Consortia

The protocol landscape of managed networks

Module 6 - Technical Analysis - Managed Networks

What are managed networks?

Why Managed Networks?

Introduction to Hyperledger Deploy and run Chaincode



Module 7 - Managed Networks

Business Case Analysis Capital Markets Financial Services Government Regulation Legal Publishing

Introduction to Monax

Module 8 - Technical Analysis - Decentralised Systems

Considerations for building blockchain capabilities

Concepts of decentralisation Neutrality Decentralisation Immutability

Social Impact considerations

Social, community, political and technical trends

Important areas of R&D focus

Module 9 - Preparation & Exam