15-735 Foundations of Blockchains

12 units, Carnegie Mellon University

In this course, students will learn the foundations of blockchains, including how to construct distributed consensus protocols, cryptography for blockchains, and mechanism design for blockchains. We will also cover some history of blockchains, smart contracts, and Decentralized Finance. We will learn how the algorithmic and cryptographic techniques are used in real world blockchain applications. Students are expected to have taken Discrete Math (e.g., 15251, 15259) or equivalent. The homeworks will have a combination of algorithms analysis, proofs, as well as implementations.

Prerequisites: none listed

Offered: Spring 2026

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