18-635 Foundations of Blockchains
12 units, Carnegie Mellon University
In this course, students will learn the mathematical foundations of blockchains, including how to construct distributed consensus protocols and prove them secure, cryptography for blockchains, and mechanism design for blockchains. This course will take a mathematically rigorous approach. Students are expected to have mathematical maturity and be able to write formal mathematical proofs. Students may also be expected to implement some consensus or cryptographic algorithms. This course is crosslisted with 18435. ECE graduate students will be prioritized for 18635, and ECE undergraduate students will be prioritized for 18435. Although students in 18435 will share lectures with students in 18635, students in 18435 will receive distinct homework assignments, distinct programming projects, and distinct exams from the ones given to students in 18635. Specifically, the homework assignments, programming projects, and exams that are given to the 18635 students will be more challenging than those given to the 18435 students.
Prerequisites: none listed
Offered: Spring 2027, Spring 2026
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