Blockchain Developer
Become a blockchain developer
TERM 1: FUNDAMENTALS
Blockchain Fundamentals
Project 1: Create Your Identity on Bitcoin Core
Blockchains are a public record of completed value transactions that are immutable and decentralized.
These transactions often contain sensitive data such as personally identifiable information—so how does a
blockchain secure against this information leaking into the wrong hands? The answer to this question lies in
how “identity” is created, established, and maintained on a blockchain.
Your blockchain “identity” is an encrypted private-public key pair that allows you to anonymously interact
with information on the blockchain, while still allowing others to verify your data. In this project, you will
generate a private-public key pair on Bitcoin Core and learn how to use it to securely authenticate your
identity for the transactions you post.
Supporting Lesson Content: Blockchain Fundamentals
Lesson Title Learning Outcomes
BLOCKCHAIN BASICS ➔ Identify the purposes and characteristics of blockchain
platforms
➔ Explain core components that make a blockchain secure and
powerful
➔ Define blockchain protocols and their key differences
MANAGING BLOCKCHAIN ➔ Describe how transactions occur between 2 entities (e.g. Bob
TRANSACTIONS and Alice) using a private key, public key, wallet on a public
blockchain
➔ Create and manage identity on the Bitcoin Blockchain and
establish proof-of-ownership with blockchain transactions,
without the need to provide sensitive information
Project 2: Create Your Own Private Blockchain
A blockchain is a shared database that features added immutability as a safe and accurate alternative to
existing data storage methods. You’ll learn the basics of how the blockchain data model works by creating
your own private blockchain using Node.js and Leveldb.
In this project, you’ll learn the fundamentals of architecting a collection of data into a blockchain data model.
You'll configure how each block stores data, validate blocks, add new blocks to the chain, and create
methods to validate the chain integrity.
Supporting Lesson Content: Blockchain Data
Lesson Title Learning Outcomes
BLOCKCHAIN: DATA ➔ Describe the general concepts of a blockchain data model
OVERVIEW
BLOCKCHAIN
➔ Identify the tooling available to explore the Bitcoin Core public
INTERACTION: BITCOIN
CORE INTRO
blockchain
➔ Explain the benefits of utilizing the Bitcoin Core testnet
BITCOIN CORE TESTNET ➔ Describe the difference between the public testnet and
regression testing
➔ Learn the relationship between different stages of transaction
BLOCKCHAIN DATA
lifecycle using Bitcoin Core
➔ Explain the value of a private blockchain, and prepare for the
PRIVATE BLOCKCHAINS
course project
Project 3: Connect Private Blockchain to Front-End Client via APIs
To be able to build real-world applications on private blockchain, it needs to integrate with a web service so
the data is consumable by client applications such as desktop, mobile and IoT.
For this project, you'll create a back-end API web service, and then migrate your private blockchain—built in
Project 2—to the web service. In the process, you'll learn how to post new blocks to the blockchain via a
RESTful web client, and learn how to validate blockchain health. By the end of the project, you’ll have
transformed your private blockchain into a valuable web service.
Supporting Lesson Content: Blockchain Web Services
Lesson Title Learning Outcomes
BLOCKCHAIN WEB ➔ Use and build blockchain web services with Bitcoin Core Remote
SERVICES Procedure Call utilizing Node.js
Project 4: Secure Digital Assets on a Private Blockchain
With a blockchain that ensures data security, one of the most important features is the ability for a
transaction on the blockchain to be signed and validated. These signed transactions provide a great way to
prove ownership of any data on the blockchain at any given point in time.
Data stored on a blockchain can vary from digital assets (e.g. documents, media) to copyrights and patent
ownership.
In this project you’ll build on the skills learned in Project 3. You’ll build an API service to claim ownership of a
digital asset—in this case, your favorite star. The project will focus on building out the back-end
infrastructure with a pre-developed front end. You’ll learn how to encrypt and decrypt the unique digital
collectibles on a private blockchain, and how to publicly prove who rightfully owns it. You’ll also configure
your web service using a RESTful web client to post new blocks to the blockchain. Along the way, you’ll also
explore how to manage the limitations of block size when handling digital data.
Supporting Lesson Content: Digital Assets on Blockchain
Lesson Title Learning Outcomes
➔ Encode and decode digital assets on a private blockchain, and
DIGITAL ASSETS ON BLOCKCHAIN publicly prove ownership of the assets using digital identity
Project 5: Build CryptoStar Dapp on Ethereum
With Project 5, your focus moves from Bitcoin to Ethereum blockchain. You’ll begin by building a
decentralized app (Dapp) that allows you to create, sell, and transfer ownership of unique star token
(CryptoStar) on the Ethereum blockchain using smart contracts and the non-fungible (ERC721) token
standard. This service is designed to demonstrate how to claim and transfer ownership of unique digital
asset ( e.g. document, deed, agreement, media, etc.) on Ethereum blockchain.
You’ll build the back-end infrastructure for the CryptoStar with a pre-developed front end. This will enable
you to render the service on any modern web clients.
Supporting Lesson Content: Ethereum Smart Contracts, Tokens and Dapps
Lesson Title Learning Outcomes
➔ Describe the fundamentals of Ethereum and how it is different
ETHEREUM
from Bitcoin
FUNDAMENTALS AND
DEVELOPMENT TOOLS
➔ Build, compile, deploy, and test smart contracts using remix,
ganache, truffle, and infura
➔ Learn Solidity, a Turing complete smart contract language
SMART CONTRACTS WITH
➔ Learn about different token standards (ERC-721, ERC-20)
SOLIDITY
➔ Create a fungible (ERC-20) token on Ethereum using Solidity
➔ Create a fully-functioning Dapp that allows users to create, buy
and sell their unique stars
❏ Write a smart contract with functions to support proof of
existence
ETHEREUM DAPP ❏ Compile and migrate the smart contract
❏ Test smart contract code coverage
❏ Deploy smart contract on a public test network
❏ Create a user interface to interact with the smart contract
❏ Interact with the dapp in a browser
TERM 2: ARCHITECTURE & APPLICATIONS
Project 6: Ethereum Dapp for Tracking Items through Supply
Chain
By the completion of Term 1, you’ll have learned the importance of Proof of Existence, which is used to verify
whether a digital asset is authentic and can be trusted. In this project, you’ll scale up to architect a solution that
verifies authenticity for a product when multiple actors are involved.
You’ll build a supply chain system on Ethereum blockchain that allows users to verify the authenticity of an item
as it passes through different hands. You will architect a Dapp (Decentralized Application) authenticity
management system backed by the Ethereum platform. To do so, you’ll scope out the needs of the various actors
in the supply chain and create smart contracts that help track product origination and verify product authenticity.
You’ll then tie this all together with a simple front-end that allows users to manage the product life-cycle as the
product moves through the supply chain.
Supporting Lesson Content: Blockchain Architecture
Lesson Title Learning Outcomes
➔ Learn the correct technology stack to layer services and provide
PLANNING BLOCKCHAIN software solutions
SOLUTIONS ➔ Design supporting visuals with Unified Modeling Language (UML)
➔ Implement several techniques to enhance privacy of blockchain
PRIVACY
such as merkle trees, zero-knowledge proofs
SECURITY &
➔ Identify architecture security and maintenance risks
MAINTENANCE
DISTRIBUTED FILE ➔ Create your own website and Dapp on the new decentralized
SYSTEM storage protocol
Project 7: Flight Delay Insurance Dapp
In the real-world, many smart contracts perform actions based on external triggers. These triggers can be caused
by our actions, or by data received from outside sources using what are known as “oracles.” To make real-world
decentralized applications, smart contracts need to respond autonomously to these triggers, thereby making
these applications more interactive.
In this project, you'll build a decentralized application for a use case in which you have airlines that offer flight
delay insurance, and passengers who carry this insurance, and who get paid in the event their flight is delayed.
You’ll build multiple smart contracts which are autonomously triggered by external sources, and which handle
payments based on flight delay scenarios.
Supporting Lesson Content: Dapp with autonomous smart contracts and oracles
Lesson Title Learning Outcomes
MULTIPARTY CONTROL
AND PAYMENTS WITH ➔ Build Dapp with secure, multi-sig smart contracts that
SMART CONTRACTS autonomously receive, transfer, and pay funds.
➔ Utilize third-party data sources to inform autonomous smart
ORACLES
contracts
HANDLING SMART CONTRACT ➔ Create, and test, secure and cost-efficient smart contracts that
PAYMENTS handle, distribute, and test ETH payments to a smart contract
Project 8: Capstone Project
Here, you’ll use all the new skills you’ve acquired to build your own supply chain blockchain project!
You’ll work end to end—from building your architecture (centralized, decentralized), and choosing your
technology stack (front end, back end), to surfacing the protocol and blockchain features to the Dapp layer,
to experimenting, learning, and collaborating with other open-source projects to complete your own project.
Supporting Lesson Content: Capstone
Lesson Title Learning Outcomes
SUPPLY CHAIN &
DISTRIBUTION OF ➔ Identify the benefits of using a public blockchain to support
PRODUCTS & SERVICES distribution channels
➔ Design supporting visuals with Unified Modeling Language
CAPSTONE PROJECT PREP
(UML)
