Lectures from Princeton on Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies

For such an extensive academic course it's interesting the economic model of Satoshis mining algorithm isn't explained.

Satoshi used a production model that produced the most amount of coins for the lowest amount of work/capital input, to reward the smallest user group.

Satoshi could just as easily have used a linear growth model knowing more users and more hash power should match the production output. Instead, Satoshis algorithm exploits new users.

Old users than have incentive to manipulate new users and psychologically propagate the myth of rarity when in fact the abundance of the supply was taken early easily and users are attempting to sell for more capital than it takes to acquire or produce, often simply by hording these low effort counts coins.

ecash should not exploit new users.

New cryptocash systems can easily be started.

This is a course that was offered through Coursera a while ago.

Very good course, it focuses on concepts (there are many) with a little theory too, but just enough to sample the soundness of claims being made.

Highly recommended.

There are a few good points here too https://medium.com/@alexanderwestin/5-icos-with-solid-fundam...

"There’s a lot of noise out there. Choosing which new cryptocurrencies to focus on can be hard. At the core of many of today’s cryptos planning to launch are are scams, half-baked ideas for projects, inexperienced teams, bloated capital structures or a goal more focused on the ICO than the importance of getting listed as a proper trading vehicle on secure exchanges thereby benefiting original token holders.

There are sites out there that do a fairly good job of curating and screening these kinds of factors. What it takes to be ready for a successful lift off can be defined by the following points:

Motive: Why are they doing this? If it’s simply to provide a return on an investment, then buyer beware. If they lay out a clear vision where the value proposition is easily understood this would be a good sign. It should be more than just a “we’re making the world a better place”. This will help it pass the scam test. What really helps pass the scam test is whether or not they have a working product you can take for a test drive.

Experienced Team: What has the team executed on in the past, together? It should first and foremost be technology related. You should be able to quickly look this up on the net. Get them on the phone if possible to see if the team even exists at all. I do this with every team I invest in.

Capital Structure: How much crypto are they offering to the public? Gauging demand for a crypto is key. Not everyone is going to want to take a position in it. These factors should determine how much crypto should be offered to the public. If these numbers are way off then it’s going to be hard for the crypto to move up without enough demand. As a token holder, this is an important aspect to analyze.

Raising the right amount money during their ICO: This connects directly to the point above. If they raise too much money during the ICO, they’re going to have to clear loads of ‘flippers’. These flippers are those that purchase tokens during the ICO and as soon as the team lists the token on the first exchange, they sell right into it creating a massive amount of sell pressure they’ll have to clear before anyone makes any real returns. It can take months and sometimes years before a team can clear sellers like this before the token can appreciate with any kind of real value."