CS 294-144: Blockchain, Cryptoeconomics, and the Future of Technology, Business and Law

Instructors

Raymond Cheng	Gregory La Blanc	Dawn Song	Adam Sterling
Postdoc, EECS	Lecturer, Haas Business School	Professor, EECS	Executive Director, Berkeley Center for Law, Business and the Economy

Teaching Assistant

Howard Wu	Nick Zoghb

Lectures

Time: Monday 6:00–8:00 pm

Location: Lectures in Chou N570, Guest Panels in Boalt 110

Office Hours

• For Adam: Sign up here
• For EECS/Haas: TBD

Piazza and Mailing List

To receive announcements on information about the course, including distinguished guest speakers and blockchain-related talks at Berkeley, please sign up for the public mailing list mailing list for future announcements. Some classes will be open to the public and will be announced on this list. You can add yourself to the list by clicking the link and “Join group”. Be sure to be signed in to your Google account.

If you are in the course, you may sign up on Piazza.

Course description

Blockchain is one of the most significant technologies to impact law and business in many years. Blockchain is also one of the most interdisciplinary areas, bringing together new questions and opportunities at the intersection of technology, business and law. This course is designed to employ this interdisciplinary nature. We will provide an overview of the technology behind blockchain and explore current and potential real-world applications in technology, business, and law.

Syllabus

Class format and project

This is a lecture, discussion, and project oriented class. Each lecture will focus on one of the topics, including a survey of the state-of-the-art in the area and an in-depth discussion of the topic. Each week, students are expected to complete reading assignments before class and participate actively in class discussion.

Students will also form project groups (6 people per group: 2 from EECS, 2 from Haas, 2 from Boalt) and complete a high-impact class project. The final project/deliverable will be small team presentation on a new application of blockchain (with a legal and business analysis).

Enrollment information

Enrollment is very limited. If you would like to enroll in the class, please follow the instructions below based on your department. Accepted students will be given instructor codes to register for the class. Decisions for admission will be released on a rolling basis. Due to limited space, please apply as soon as possible.

For EECS/Engineering Students: Please fill out this form

For Law Students: Please send to asterling@law.berkeley.edu, a copy of your resume and a short comment (2-3 sentences) on why you are interested in the course.

For Business Students: Please follow the department bidding process.

Supplemental Reading

Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies - Free introductory book available on website

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there space in this class? As of now, all seats in the class have been filled.

Can I audit the class? Unfortunately, space constraints keep us from allowing students to audit the class. Some guest panels will be open to the public. Please sign up for our public mailing list to get notifications.

Will lectures be recorded? Yes. We are recording all lectures and guest panels. Please sign up for our public mailing list to be notified when they are made available.

Additional Notes

For students who need computing resources for the class project, we recommend you to look into AWS educate program for students. You’ll get 100 dollar’s worth of sign up credit. Here’s the link.

For convenience, we also have a short URL: http://bit.ly/berkeley-blockchain