HS24
Important dates: (always check https://unterricht.ost.ch)
- Lecture dates: 16.09.2024 - 20.12.2024
- Exam sessions: 13.01.2025 - 31.01.2025
Blockchain (BlCh)
The lectures will be pre-recorded. The lecture videos will up uploaded before the lecture on Tuesday at 08:10. The length of the videos will be ~60 minutes (2 x 30 min. lectures) divided into segments. The news segment (~10 min) will cover news around the topics blockchain and distributed systems and are not part of the exam. It should serve as on overview of current topics in this field.
| Nr | Date | Topics |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | 17.09.2024 | Admin (lecture and challenge task), Repetition DSy (part 1) - no exercises |
| 02 | 24.09.2024 | Repetition DSy (part 2), Introduction Blockchain, Ethereum Components / Architecture |
| 03 | 01.10.2024 | Solidity |
| 04 | 08.10.2024 | 1st hand-in, Fungible Tokens, Stablecoins |
| 05 | 15.10.2024 | DeFi, DEX |
| 06 | 22.10.2024 | DAO, Non-Fungible Tokens |
| 07 | 29.10.2024 | 2nd hand-in, Wallets and Seed Phrases, POAP |
| 08 | 05.11.2024 | HTLCs, Cross-chain Atomic Swaps, Payment Channels, DAI |
| 09 | 12.11.2024 | Algorithms/Mechanisms for Fully Distributed Systems |
| 10 | 19.11.2024 | 3rd hand-in, Sui, Holochain |
| 11 | 26.11.2024 | Interview, Exam Preparation |
| 12 | 03.12.2024 | Final hand-in, Challenge Task Presentations, part 1 |
| 13 | 10.12.2024 | Challenge Task Presentations, part 2 |
| 14 | 17.12.2024 | Q&A and Challenge Task Award Winner Announcement - no exercises |
(those are preliminary topics, may be subject to change)
Online/Offline Lectures & Exercises
The Blockchain (BlCh) lecture will pre-recorded. I will be present in the lecture room 1.209 from 08:10 - 14:50. If you have not watched the lectures, you can watch it in the lecture (08:10 - 09:50). During exercises (10:10 - 11:50 and 13:10 - 14:50), you can work on your blockchain project (challenge task). You do not need to be present on Tuesday, but it is highly recommended to discuss your issues and problems with the challenge task with the lecturer. On request, you can also join the exercises remotely via MS Teams.
The online lectures and PDFs can be accessed from outside the OST network (also on Youtube), the exercise and admin material only with VPN.
Lecture
Lecture 1
The admin part gives an overview over this lecture and presents the challenge task for this course (Slides: HS24-BlCh-01-admin.pdf). The weekly news summary covers three articles. First, it discusses the importance of simplicity in cloud infrastructure for startups. Second, it addresses Mozilla Firefox's recent addition of AI tools, which has led to some discontent and the rise of privacy-focused forks like LibreWolf and Floorp. Lastly, it reports on the potential splitting of Ethereum's Pectra upgrade into two phases, aiming for a faster rollout with the first phase possibly launching by February 2025 (Slides: HS24-BlCh-01-news.pdf). The third video starts with the repetition of Distributed Systems (DSy) (Slides: HS24-BlCh-01-repetition1.pdf). [80min]
Lecture 2
The admin part gives an update over this lecture and challenge task (Slides: HS24-BlCh-02-admin.pdf). The weekly news summary covers four main topics related to distributed systems and blockchain. It starts with AWS acknowledging competition from on-premises solutions, discussing the trend of "cloud repatriation." The next topic focuses on how German authorities have compromised Tor network anonymity using timing analysis, raising concerns about the privacy of Tor users. The third point highlights the security risks of SMS-based two-factor authentication (2FA) compared to TOTP, with a recommendation to avoid SMS for high-value accounts. Finally, a reminder is given that cryptocurrency discussions are not investment advice (Slides: HS24-BlCh-02-news.pdf). The third video, as last year, is the Bitcoin/Ethereum repetition (part 2) of Distributed Systems (DSy) (Slides: HS24-BlCh-02-repetition2.pdf). The fourth video shows the Ethereum components (architecture view), this year in lecture 2, and it shows both, the easy and the more interesting ways to interact with the Ethereum blockchain (Slides: HS24-BlCh-02-arch.pdf). [82min]
Lecture 3
The admin part gives an update over this lecture and challenge task (Slides: HS24-BlCh-03-admin.pdf). The weekly news summary covers four main topics related to distributed systems and blockchain. It starts with former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao's release from custody, Cloudflare's internet improvements, a major crypto theft, and a discussion on secrets management practices in software development. (Slides: HS24-BlCh-03-news.pdf). The third video introduces the blockchain language Solidity as used in Ethereum (Slides: HS24-BlCh-03-solidity.pdf). [101min]
Lecture 4
The admin part gives an update over this lecture and challenge task (Slides: HS24-BlCh-04-admin.pdf). This weekly summary covers recent developments in distributed systems and blockchain. It highlights an ongoing debate about the true identity of Bitcoin's creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, with a new documentary suggesting cryptographer Len Sassaman as a potential candidate. It also discusses PayPal's recent use of its stablecoin PYUSD for business payments, emphasizing the growing role of stablecoins in cross-border transactions. Additionally, the summary explains the "rug pull" scam common in decentralized finance and mentions a recent LEGO Coin scam, where hackers briefly displayed a fake cryptocurrency on LEGO's homepage (Slides: HS24-BlCh-04-news.pdf). The third video summarizes the investigations of a scam, where I received a YouTube comment with a seed phrase and we investigated this during the class. The fourth video introduces stablecoins (Slides: HS24-BlCh-04-stablecoin.pdf). The fifth video introduces fungible token / cryptocurrencies (Slides: HS24-BlCh-04-ft.pdf). [119min]
Lecture 5
The admin part gives an update over this lecture and challenge task (Slides: HS24-BlCh-05-admin.pdf). This week's news in distributed systems and blockchain covers four main stories: an HBO documentary claiming Peter Todd is Bitcoin's creator Satoshi Nakamoto (though doubts remain); the FBI's undercover operation using a fake Ethereum token to expose crypto market manipulation, leading to charges against several entities; a proof-of-concept demonstrating how a cigarette lighter could be used for hardware-based attacks to gain root access; and the approval of FTX's bankruptcy plan, which surprisingly allows most creditors to recover more than their initial claims due to Bitcoin's value increase since the exchange's collapse in 2022 (Slides: HS24-BlCh-05-news.pdf). The third video introduces DeFi (Slides: HS24-BlCh-05-defi.pdf). [89min]
Lecture 6
The admin part gives an update over this lecture (Slides: HS24-BlCh-06-admin.pdf). This week's news in distributed systems and blockchain covers four main stories: This week's news in distributed systems and blockchain covers four main stories: TD Bank faced a record $3 billion fine for money laundering violations, highlighting ongoing issues in traditional finance. Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency world saw its share of controversy, with popular YouTuber MrBeast accused of profiting from "pump-and-dump" schemes involving various altcoins. Finally, former U.S. President Donald Trump entered the crypto space by launching the World Liberty Financial (WLFI) token, a non-tradable governance token for a new DeFi platform. This launch has been met with skepticism from the crypto community, raising questions about its potential impact on mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies and DeFi. (Slides: HS24-BlCh-06-news.pdf). The third video introduces decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) (Slides: HS24-BlCh-06-dao.pdf). The fourth video is recording of a talk I gave last year about non fungible tokens (NFTs) (Slides: HS24-BlCh-06-nft.pdf). [84min]
Lecture 7
The admin part gives an update over this lecture, about the 2nd hand-in, and Uniswap V3 basics, including concentrated liquidity. (Slides: HS24-BlCh-07-admin.pdf). This week in distributed systems and blockchain: MakerDAO (now Sky) considers another rebranding, Stripe enters the stablecoin market with a $1.1B acquisition of Bridge, 37Signals projects $10M savings by leaving AWS, and researchers successfully unmasked several Tor users through timing analysis. Round Robin DNS testing revealed different browser behaviors in server selection. (Slides: HS24-BlCh-07-news.pdf). The third video is about Proof of Attendance Protocol (POAP) (Slides: HS24-BlCh-07-poap.pdf). The fourth video indroduces wallets and seed phrases (Slides: HS24-BlCh-07-wallets.pdf). [96min]
Lecture 8
The admin part gives an update over this lecture and about the 2nd hand-in. (Slides: HS24-BlCh-08-admin.pdf). This week in distributed systems and blockchain: pkdns offers decentralized DNS via BitTorrent's DHT network, a Sharpei meme coin scam on Solana crashed from $54M to $1.3M through a coordinated sell-off, UBS launched its first tokenized fund on Ethereum joining other major banks in blockchain adoption, and a developer sparked debate by advocating for 10-second deployment times using simple tools like bash scripts instead of complex CI/CD systems. (Slides: HS24-BlCh-08-news.pdf). The third video is about Hashed Time-Locked Contracts (HTLCs) and Cross-chain Atomic Swaps (Slides: HS24-BlCh-08-htlc.pdf). The fourth video indroduces payment channels (Slides: HS24-BlCh-08-payment.pdf). The fifth video is about the stablecoin Dai/Sky (Slides: HS24-BlCh-08-dai.pdf). [79min]
Lecture 9
The admin part gives an update over this lecture and is a reminder for the 3rd hand-in. (Slides: HS24-BlCh-09-admin.pdf). In recent distributed systems and blockchain news: Trump's presidential campaign boosted Bitcoin to nearly $80,000 with BlackRock's ETF seeing $1B daily inflows, major crypto exchanges Robinhood and Kraken launched USDG stablecoin with a unique rewards structure, prediction market Polymarket saw $2.1B in election bets, Ente shared benefits of switching to a monorepo structure, Gitpod abandoned Kubernetes for dev environments citing complexity issues, and Recall.ai saved $1M annually by optimizing their video processing system from WebSockets to shared memory. (Slides: HS24-BlCh-09-news.pdf). The third video is introduces algorithms and mechanisms for fully distributed systems (Slides: HS24-BlCh-09-algo.pdf). [108min]
Lecture 10
Sui Blockchain
The admin part gives an update over this lecture and about the 3nd hand-in. (Slides: HS24-BlCh-10-admin.pdf). In recent distributed systems and blockchain news: A developer received an unexpected $1,100 AWS bill from automated OpenSearch setups, while Microsoft plans a 5% price hike for monthly subscriptions. Tether minted $1 billion in USDT on Tron, a trader lost $26.4 million in crypto due to a paste error, and Bitcoin hit $91,000 with Pennsylvania considering state investment in cryptocurrency. Views remain mixed on whether AI coding tools enhance or diminish programming enjoyment. (Slides: HS24-BlCh-10-news.pdf). The third video introduces Holochain (Slides: HS24-BlCh-10-holochain.pdf). The fourth video is about the Sui Blockchain (Slides: HS24-BlCh-10-sui.pdf). [79min]
Challenge Task HS 2024
This semester's challenge task (CT) is the design and implementation of a stablecoin with rebalancing on decentralized exchange (DEX). Ideally, the application is a decentralized application (DApp).
- Your app must include a simple frontend (e.g., HTML, Vue, React, Svelte, ...)
- Swap stablecoin (can be your frontend, or a frontend from an existing DEX)
- Status and process need to be shown in your frontend
- Your app must include a public blockchain (e.g., Ethereum, Solana, Sui, ...)
- Trading/swapping can be done with existing DEXes
- Your app needs to rebalance your stablecoin automatically
Requirements
All requirements below must be met in order to pass this lecture.
- A working prototype with your stablecoin.
- Use latest stable releases of chosen libraries and frameworks.
- Interaction with a public blockchain (can be testnet).
- Must be tradable on a decentralized exchange (DEX)
- Stablecoin needs to rebalance on DEX to remain stable
- Status and process need to be shown in the frontend.
- The solution may use existing libraries and code, but those must open software software.
Deliverables
- 08.10.2024, 23:59 (CET) first hand-in of your initial plan and project idea. Invitation to github/gitlab repository.
- 29.10.2024, 23:59 (CET) second hand-in of your initial version of your challenge task and current progress (initial state, does not need to run).
- 19.11.2024, 23:59 (CET) third hand-in of your current progress (what works, what is still open).
- Final hand-in: 02.12.2024, 23:59 (CET) - infrastructure documentation (Readme.md or can be slides) and the source code (github/gitlab or similar) via invite or email to thomas.bocek-at-ost.ch. The code and configuration should be easy to read and/or well documented. For the presentation on the 03.12.2024 and 10.12.2024, you should show the architecture, components, and design decisions in 10-15 min, a demo in 5-10 min, and the Q&A will be 5-10 min. After your presentation, you need to hand in your PDF presentation.
You are allowed to use any language, framework, and platforms. However, the supervisors are familiar with those: Golang, Java, JavaScript/TypeScript, Ethereum, Sui, Bitcoin, Linux.
Groups
There will be groups of 2-3 for the challenge task. During the challenge task, the group shall meet every week during exercise hours to work on the task and discuss the next steps. The groups shall utilize their homework times to work on the CT, besides the exercise time slots. You do not have be present at the exercises. The groups shall determine and set-up an internal project plan and shall distribute the workload so that each group member gets a fair load of work. Group results will be only accessible via VPN.
| Nr | Name 1 | Name 2 | Name 3 | Project Idea + Repo |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Noah F. | Tim E. | ✓✓ (react/solidity) | |
| 2 | Mino P. | Lukas A. | ✓✓✓✓ (zeus token) | |
| 3 | Corsin S. | Roman W. | Cedric C. | ✓✓✓ (ccr token) |
| 4 | Dario B. | Dejan B. | Fabrice-Ronny B. | ✓✓✓ (rutlicoin/react) |
| 5 | Matthias H. | Simon D. | ✓✓✓ (Awec) | |
| 6 | Matteo G. | Marco S. | Philipp H. | ✓✓✓ (gold price) |
| 7 | Tom S. | Micha H. | Nico F. | ✓✓✓ (wti-stablecoin) |
| 8 | Yannick S. | Sylvester H. | Roman C. | ✓✓✓ (golang/solidity) |
| 9 | David H. | Andri J. | Davor L. | ✓✓✓ (roesticoin) |
| 10 | Anja F. | Patrick S. | ✓✓✓ (xoxo-taylor-coin) | |
| 11 | Simon H. | Livio M. | Luca K. | ✓✓✓ (co2coin) |
| 12 | Leonardo R. | Tobias K. | ✓✓✓ (bidenbuck) | |
| 13 | Tseten E. | Simon P. | Isaia B. | ✓✓✓ (flipcoin) |
| 14 | Valerio F. | Eric H. | ✓✓✓ (francoin) |