Recommended reading and resources

Review all of the DCI’s published work and medium posts.

This list is not exhaustive and only a suggestion. The views expressed in the pieces below do not necessarily express the views of the DCI.

Read:

• Introduction and explanation of Bitcoin:

  • The Bitcoin Whitepaper written by Satoshi Nakamoto

  • Bitcoin: Things you need to know 

  • A Beginners Guide to Bitcoin by Coindesk

  • Why Bitcoin Matters by Marc Andreessen

  • Mastering Bitcoin: How the Bitcoin protocol actually works | DDI by Michael Nielsen

  • The New Bitcoin Myth: Can Bitcoin Be Used For Good? By Chelsea Barabas & Ethan Zuckerman

  • Textbook: bitcoinbook/bitcoinbook: Mastering Bitcoin 2nd Edition - Programming the Open Blockchain

• Cryptocurrency general knowledge:

  • The five camps of crypto. A quick guide to understanding the… | by Casey Caruso

  • Crypto Glossary: Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain

  • SoK: Research Perspectives and Challenges for Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies

• Other topics

  • Blockchain Technology: Reid Hoffman: Why the blockchain matters and Thinking Outside the Blocks: BCG Blockchain paper by Philip Evans

  • Discreet Log Contracts: Discreet Log Contracts by Tadge Dryja

  • Layer 2: The Importance of Layer 2. Last weekend we held a Layer 2 Summit… | by Neha Narula | MIT

  • Proof of Work: Network Security and Proof of Work: Do We Need an Alternative? By Arianna Simpson

  • IOTA: Cryptographic vulnerabilities in IOTA | by Neha Narula

  • Ethereum:

    1. Ethereum, Smart Contracts, and the World Computer: Programmable Blockchains in Context: Ethereum’s Future by Vinay Gupta

    2. Ethereum white paper by Franklyn Chien and ETHEREUM: A SECURE DECENTRALISED GENERALISED TRANSACTION LEDGER: Ethereum yellow paper by Gavin Wood

Watch:

• Videos:

  1. Neha’s TED Talk: The future of money

  2. David Andolfatto, How Does Bitcoin Work?

  3. Brian Forde's: The security, Stability and Scalability of the Blockchain | WIRED Money talk | WIRED

• Real-time data: Blockchain Charts 

• Introductory Lectures (Non-DCI affiliated):

  1. Bitcoin: What is it? (video) | Bitcoin by the Khan Academy

  2. Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies (12 lectures) by Princeton and full textbook: Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies

Get involved with Bitcoin development!

• Clone Bitcoin Core and start hacking: https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/

  • Please consider lurking for a while before opening a PR/Issue!

• Bitcoin-dev mailing list: https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/bitcoin-dev

• Join IRC channel: #bitcoin-core-dev on Freenode

• Review club: Safe, welcoming environment to learn about hacking on Bitcoin 

  • Wednesdays @1PM ET on IRC https://bitcoincore.reviews/ 

Community events! 

Please keep an eye out for DCI-sponsored conferences and events. Here are a few other excellent event resources: 

• Join your local cryptocurrency meetup!

• Check out the Bitcoin and Blockchain Events Calendar

• Boston BitDevs (Boston, MA) | Meetup

Code with the DCI:

DCI Tips: Coding on these projects could lead to being scouted for upcoming student researcher positions before they are announced!

Get involved on Github to learn and talk to our researchers: DCI Github. Current projects to contribute to:

• OpenCBDC: Lead researcher Sam Stuewe (Project Language C++)

  • View the GitHub repo here

• Utreexo: Lead researcher Tadge Dryja

  • Join IRC channel #utreexo on freenode (chat.freenode.net:6697) 

  • Check the Utreexo Github repo to ask questions and get info on the weekly development meeting.

• zkledger: Lead researcher Madars Virza

  • Code with us on this project: zkledger.org