Assignment 3
COMP6451 Assignment 3
Due Date: April 21, 2023
Total Marks: 35%
The success of Bitcoin and Ethereum, but also their limitations, has
spurred the development of a significant amount of research and development on
cryptocurrency and distributed ledger technology, that explores both applications
and alternative designs and enhancements that seek to address these limitations.
In this assignment, you are asked to conduct an investigation of one
specific area, and to write a paper of up to 5,000 words (in 12
point font and in pdf format), that discusses the current status
of the area. Your paper should
- explain the problem that is being addressed in the area
- give an up to date historical survey of the range of solutions that are being developed
- give an in-depth technical explanation of two alternative solutions (choose two quite
different solutions)
- critically compare the alternative approaches that you discuss
Select one of the following topics as the focus of your paper. The
links provided are starting points - you should investigate other
sources, such as academic publications, cryptocurrency news sources
and online discussion boards to learn about the history of the project
and issues with the project discussed in the blockchain technology and
applications community.
* Bridges and Cross Chain Protocols
* Scaling Blockchains by Sharding
* Smart Contract Security
* Defences Against Maximal Extractable Value ``Attacks''
* Automated Market Makers
* Trade Finance Applications of Blockchain
* Privacy in Central Bank Digital Currencies
Your paper should be an explanation and critical analysis, in your own
words, written so as to be comprehensible to a student who has taken
COMP6451 and therefore has some technical background in the area. (In
particular, you may assume that the reader has a fundamental
understanding of concepts discussed in the course from cryptography,
distributed computing, Bitcoin and Ethereum, so it is not necessary
for your paper to give a detailed explanation of these concepts.)
Proper quotation and academic citation style should be used, and you
should familiarise yourself with the UNSW guidance on Academic
Integrity and Plagiarism.
Last modified: Wednesday, 8 March 2023, 5:16 PM