Article for eLSE 2018 Conference, Bucharest Romania, 19-20 April 2018. Full article at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324209739_UNDERSTANDING_BLOCKCHAIN_TECHNOLOGY_AND_HOW_TO_GET_INVOLVED.

1. Workshop “Open Education”
#eLSE2018 Conference, Bucharest Romania, April 19-20
Prof.dr.ing. Carmen Holotescu
"Ioan Slavici" University of Timisoara, Romania
Understanding Blockchain Technology and
How To Get Involved

2. Content
1. Blockchain technology
2. Blockchain impact
3. Blockchain in Romania
4. Blockchain in education
5. The need for Blockchain learning
6. Getting involved

3. https://github.com/trottier/original-bitcoin
Definition (1)
The blockchain term, originally
block chain, was first coined in
2009, by (the still unknown)
Satoshi Nakamoto, in the
original source code for the
virtual currency Bitcoin: "Nodes
collect new transactions into a
block, hash them into a hash
tree"; "when they solve the
proof-of-work, they broadcast
the block to everyone and the
block is added to the block
chain." (Nakamoto, 2009).
http://www.metzdowd.com/pipermail/cryptography/2008-
October/014810.html

4. Definition (2)
Blockchain technology enables the creation of a
decentralized environment, where the
cryptographically validated transactions and data are
not under the control of any third party organization.
Any transaction ever completed is recorded in an
immutable ledger in a verifiable, secure, transparent
and permanent way, with a timestamp and other
details.
In March 2018, Merriam Webster Dictionary added the definitions for Blockchain, Cryptocurrency and
Initial Coin Offering (ICO).
twitter.com/MerriamWebster/status/970667988964831232

5. Technology
Explaining decentralization, Vitalik Buterin (24y), the
creator of Ethereum, states that it assures fault tolerance,
attack resistance and collusion resistance. Also,
blockchain is decentralized on two of the three possible
axes in software decentralization:
• politically decentralized - no one controls it;
• architecturally decentralized - no infrastructural central
point of failure;
• logically centralized - there is one commonly agreed
state and the system behaves like a single computer.
https://medium.com/@VitalikButerin/the-meaning-of-
decentralization-a0c92b76a274
Ethereum (ethereum.org) is an open-source blockchain platform, described in a white paper by Vitalik
Buterin in 2013 and launched in 2015, and is designed for a large variaty of applications, as opposed
to the Bitcoin platform, mainly crypto-currency oriented.

6. How a blockchain works
http://usblogs.pwc.com/emerging-technology/a-primer-on-blockchain-infographic/
http://usblogs.pwc.com/emerging-technology/category/blockchain/
Blockchain Demo https://anders.com/blockchain
Mining: process of adding transactions to a blockchain by hash verification processes, with a high
consume of hardware, energy, time.
A new block: created on Bitcoin network at each ~ 10 min (https://blockchain.info/stats), on Ethereum network at
each ~ 10 s (https://ethstats.net).

7. Advantages
— self-sovereignty - users identify themselves and maintain control
over the storage/management of personal data;
— trust - the technical infrastructure offers secure
operations(payments or issue of certificates);
— transparency and provenance - to perform transactions in
knowledge that each party has the capacity to enter into that
transaction;
— immutability- records are written and stored permanently, without
the possibility of modification;
— disintermediation- no need for a central controlling authority to
manage transactions or keep records;
— collaboration - ability of parties to transact directly with each
other without the need for mediating third parties.
Blockchain in Education JRC Report - https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/publication/eur-scientific-and-technical-research-reports/blockchain-education

8. Domains and Initiatives
- W3C Blockchain Community Group -
https://www.w3.org/community/blockchain
- Report of the W3C Workshop on Distributed Ledgers on
the Web, June 2016 - https://www.w3.org/2016/04/blockchain-workshop/report.html
- Blockchain Technologies are considered strategic for EU -
https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/blockchain-techonologies
- EU Blockchain Observatory and Forum was launched on 1
March 2018, as a knowledge hub on blockchain -
http://www.eublockchainforum.eu
- European Blockchain Partnership was signed on 10 April
2018 (by 22 countries, not by Romania) - https://ec.europa.eu/digital-
single-market/en/news/european-countries-join-blockchain-partnership
- Blockchain in Education JRC Report -
https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/publication/eur-scientific-and-technical-research-reports/blockchain-
education
- National Regulations: Australia, Austria, Canada, China,
Dubai, Estonia, India, Japan, Nigeria, Russia, Singapore,
South Africa, South Korea, Switzerland, UK, USA,
Venezuela - https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/cryptocurrency-regulation-2018-where-world-
stands-right-now/
State of the DApps - https://www.stateofthedapps.com

9. The next web
https://medium.com/@matteozago/why-the-web-3-0-matters-and-you-should-
know-about-it-a5851d63c949

10. Blockchain ecosystem (1)
https://medium.com/@josh_nussbaum/blockchain-project-ecosystem-8940ababaf27

11. Blockchain ecosystem (2)
https://medium.com/@josh_nussbaum/blockchain-project-ecosystem-8940ababaf27

12. Blockchain in Romania (1)
• Bitcoin Magazine - https://bitcoinmagazine.com - co-founded by Mihai Alisie and
Vitalik Buterin (2011); #8 on "Top 100 most influential companies in blockchain"
(https://richtopia.com/top-lists/top-100-blockchain);
• Bitcoin Journal - https://ibitcoin.ro - Romanian journal specialized in
cryptocurrency;
• WebDollar – http://webdollar.io – P2P blockchain directly in browser (on
Ethereum), group coordinated by Ionut Budisteanu;
• Veros - https://veros.org – cryptocurrency developed by Under Development Office
(http://www.forbes.ro/articles/30-sub-30-inovatori-tehnologie-82293);
• Scienceroot - https://scienceroot.com - a blockchain-based scientific ecosystem,
which will host a collaboration platform, a funding platform and a journal, a few
team members from Timisoara;

13. Blockchain in Romania (2)
• Restart Energy Democracy - https://restartenergy.io - a blockchain-based energy
ecosystem developed by RED - Restart Energy, which is the fastest growing private
energy and gas provider in the EU (developed in Timisoara);
• TEND (http://tend.swiss) permits the co-ownership of special objects and assets,
being developed on Ethereum by a company in Cluj-Napoca;
• MedNet - eHealth project based on blockchain, aiming to protect patients' personal
data in the context of a new set of European regulations; MedNet was winner
project at the first eHealth hackathon organized in Romania, in October 2017 -
http://health-hackathon.see40.org;
• Tremend - http://tremend.ro, Qualitance - https://qualitance.com and Product
Lead - https://productlead.me are Romanian companies developing blockchain
projects.

14. Blockchain in Romania (3)
Poziția Băncii Naționale a României în legătură cu monedele virtuale -
http://www.bnr.ro/page.aspx?prid=14338
• In March 22, 2018, the United Blockchain Association (UBA – RO)
(http://www.unirom.io) was launched, having 40 members, with the aims to inform
and educate the Romanian public, and to provide the necessary tools to invest
safely in a friendly legislative environment.

15. Blockchain in education
Applications: reputation, trust in certification, and proof of learning;
Pioneers: University of Nicosia - https://digitalcurrency.unic.ac.cy, Open University UK - http://blockchain.open.ac.uk,
MIT USA - http://certificates.media.mit.edu, Maltese Educational Institutions - http://connectedlearning.edu.mt/news;
Blockchain Universities: Woolf University - https://woolf.university, blockchainedu -
https://www.blockchaineducation.school, fathom - https://fathom.network, BitDegree - https://www.bitdegree.org, ODEM -
https://odem.io, SuccessLife - https://successlife.com.

16. https://verify.unic.ac.cy/verify, https://digitalcurrency.unic.ac.cy

17. http://blockchain.open.ac.uk

18. http://certificates.media.mit.edu, https://www.blockcerts.org

19. The need for Blockchain learning
http://consensys.net
• Besides development, the blockchain careers comprise product design, data
analysis, machine learning, legal and public service, consultants or subject
matter experts. Job offfers can be found on dedicated portals such as
CryptoJobsList, CryptoJobs, BlockchainJobz, and BlockchainJobs or
HiredCrypto - https://discover.coinsquare.io/blockchain/careers-in-blockchain.
• Blockchain and Bitcoin-related jobs are the fastest growing in today’s labor
market (together with Robotics) - http://www.upwork.com/press.
• On LinkedIn - blockchain-related job adverts have tripled in the last year -
https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/job-hunting-blockchain-related-postings-linkedin-have-tripled.

20. MOOCs for Blockchain learning
Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies
https://www.coursera.org/learn/cryptocurrency
IBM Blockchain Foundation for Developers
https://www.coursera.org/learn/ibm-blockchain-essentials-for-developers
Blockchain for Business - An Introduction to Hyperledger Technologies
https://courses.edx.org/courses/course-v1:LinuxFoundationX+LFS171x+3T2017/course/
Blockchain in the Energy Sector
https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/blockchain-energy-sector
CryptoZombies - an ingenious online course for building games on Ethereum
https://cryptozombies.io
Directories for MOOCs
http://openeducationeuropa.eu
http://mooc-list.com
http://futurelearn.com
http://class-central.com

21. Getting involved: personal projects in
development
• Course about Blockchain Development
(Ethereum, Hyperledger) at University “Ioan
Slavici – the 1st university course;
• OpenEduChain - http://openeduchain.io - a
repository for open educational assets (OERs,
MOOCs, OPs), which also issues certificates &
open badges for universities/educational and
training institutions – for the participants in this
workshop too;
• Presentations, member of UBA-RO, EU Forum;
• Collaboration for:
– MOOC on Blockchain
– Hackathon
– Master Program.

22. Thank you!
Carmen Holotescu
Twitter: @cami13
tinyurl.com/cholotescu
Credit first 2 images Pixabay