If possible I would rate a 4.5 out of 5 for this course. The lecturers are very good and comprehensive (compared to all other sources I found in the web) at explaining how cryptocurrencies (especially BTC) work and what the up- and downsides are. The workload for lecture videos is pretty low for each week (1-2h a week) which makes the learning targets pretty easy to achieve in the proposed time. I found the programming assignments quite difficult when beginning with each one, since one needs to read and understand (most) of several hundred lines of starter code and also needs to understand the task setting which uses a somewhat different terminology than used in the lectures. Also for assignment 1 and 3 there is no simple test code provided to at least partially test your code submission candidates. That makes it hard to debug in case of small logical errors that cannot be detected by the compiler but probably break the complete solution and result in a very low score. I had no experience in Java programming before the start of this course but with a one day crash course of Java for Python programmers I managed to complete all assignments in time (and learn at least the basic principles of Java, which is nice for itself). Each assignment is expected to take 3h by the creators of the course. The come up with a high score (not just passing) I needed to invest about 5-9 hours for each assignment which is probably but not exclusively due to the little knowledge of Java. Nevertheless I would encourage the creators of this course to use Python assignments for future courses since this would make prototyping a lot easier (due to it's interactivity) and attract more students without having real downsides (at least to my knowledge). All in all I really enjoyed this course and would like to thank all lecturers and the Princeton University for making this course accessibly free of charge for everybody. Thanks a lot!

Meaningful course which gives you the brief idea of what Blockchain is. Although when it's 2020 there are more new initiatives in the blockchain and crypto market. Still a good start for amateurs.

Quite detail and time-worthy. I would like if this course get updated from 2015 till now so it could be more relevant in current times.

They haven't update d this in a long time and the 2nd test is still broken, you cant pass to get a certificate.

This course have no certificate. It should have certificate.

pl provide certificate for this

good

Although far more technical than I anticipated, the course material was good and presented well. HOWEVER, in 2022,, it is very dated material, given it is seven (7) years old!! I stuck with it because the material was good - but I also anticipated (hoped) that there would be an update toward the end of the course - there was not.

I am not a programmer, and never intended to attempt the 3 programming assignments (an option indicated in the Professor's notes). However, I suspect anyone inclined toward programming would find this to be even more dated material. Perhaps a still relevant foundation, but needs an update to current!!

This course was one my best courses but Its taking forever to get my certificate

i wanted to get a certificate for my hard work however due to glitches by your side , i have not been even offered with the certificate on course completion

completed but certificate is not coming ?

Not a big fan of this course. I wanted to learn about the different types of currencies and their usage, but these guys go way too deep into the code structure, even making the 1st assignment code based. Just because I am interested in cars, doesn't mean I necessarily have to know how to build one. I merely need to know some base facts, it's safety, handling, fuel economy, size etc. Their approach is way more mundane and impractical for daily needs of working with Cryptocurrencies, going way too deep into early theory and applications.

Only did the first week. The material is not bad but the assignment is a dumpster fire. You'll spend the vast majority of time trying to get the thing to run instead of focusing on the very minor task of developing the cryptographic solution.

Dont take this course. Instead just go here.

https://bitcoinbook.cs.princeton.edu

All the assignments are here and all the videos - it is the source from which this course was created. Save yourself the headache and just skip coursera for this one.

Wastage of time if you didn't get certificate companies want certificates too

Can not get any certificate

Excellent course by the Princeton University!

I have been studying blockchain in order to better understanding its potential paradigm shifts and was somewhat discouraged at first by the course's focus on specifically Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies, but am happy to say that it fulfilled my expectations on explaining decentralized ledgers of trust (i.e. blockchain itself) in broader terms, along with alternate use cases and implications for the future.

Very complete conceptually and technically. The assignments delve into Java code and greatly add to technically understand the intricacies of the subject, but aren't really necessary for grasping a conceptual understanding of the matter (for programmers or those who can manage their way into code, though, they're definitely worth going through!).

Congratulations to Coursera and the Princeton University for making available a course as good as this for free!

This was a great course that gave me introduction to diverse topics ranging from Cryptography, Consensus in distributed systems, blockchains and bitcoin of course. It is true that the course is a bit outdated (from pre Etherium days) however, anyone who wants to have a great understanding of foundations of bitcoin blockchain will still find it useful.

The assignments are designed to test your understanding and I did have to refer to some additional material on bitcoin.org to understand some of the concepts. Also I had to learn Java to complete the assignments. For Java experts, the assignments may not be very tough to deliver.

Lastly, I would like to give a huge shoutout to the mentors. They are very responsive with the questions and the course has a good vibrant discussion forum. You are likely to find answers to all the questions you may have while taking this course.

Even though the course is 5 years old, it is great at covering the inner workings of bitcoin. The programming assignments are sometimes challenging (this is not trivial material in the first place, but also the assignments are not crystal clear, some online graders run out of memory, and a decent knowledge of Java is advisable - I personally did not know Java but know C++ and the programming concepts in both languages are close enough that I could make the transition with reasonable effort). Nevertheless, I find that the assignments are really key to get a good understanding of how bitcoin works. I would strongly advise anyone considering this class to allocate the time to also do the programming assignments, even though they are optional.

I came to this course with more of an interest in blockchain than in the cryptocurrencies which are built on the blockchain technology. That being said, I found this course to be really informative. The Cryptocurrency angle was really helpful in illustrating the basic principles of blockchain. I also found myself much more interested in cryptocurrencies than I thought I was. I have recommended it to colleagues as a fun way to get your head around blockchain basics. I should mention that I really had to reach back to my CS undergrad days to remember Java syntax to completed the assignments! These were fun activities, but I would caution someone with no programming background.

Great course. I appreciated the hands-on experience that the assignments are designed to deliver.

The course is an excellent introduction to cryptocurrencies and the blockchain, and provides plenty of references for further reading. High quality materials (it's a pity that the lecture slides aren't available for separate download, though).

The owners of the course went great lengths to ensure even people without a deep computer science or programming background can avail of the more generic concepts (even though some level of familiarity seems to be implicitly assumed to be able to pass the assignments, which however are optional).

I highly recommend this course.

I tried to learn the concept of bitcoin and browsed several other videos and articles in the Internet. Yet none of them gave me a clear idea of the bitcoin technology and infrastructure. This course give me good understanding of the bitcoin ecosystem. I highly recommend this course.

Something which could be improved are the videos. The videos show the lecturers sometimes and the slides other times. The segments showing the lecturers can be significantly reduced and showing the slides videos only. It is much easier for the students to comprehend the contents in that way. The lecturers videos can be embed as a small block in the slides videos if desired.

This course is very good and very useful for a bitcoin and cryptocurrency enthusiast or someone who is studying bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. Because in this course will answer frequently asked questions like, How does Bitcoin work, What makes Bitcoin different, How secure is your Bitcoin, How anonymous are Bitcoin users, What determines the price of Bitcoin, Can cryptocurrency be regulated, What might happen in the future. And finally we can separate the fact and fiction of a bitcoin and cryptocurrency and also its application in a technology.

Excellent background and context for those new to this space (like me). The course directors thoroughly and comprehensively step you though the technology that underpins Crypto currencies. The assignments are aimed at those with a coding background however those with no coding experience should not be put off by this course. Extremely valuable time invested that I'm sure will pay itself back - thank you Coursera and Princeton University.

Excellent overview of technologies and motivation for how these technologies are being used. Given how time has passed, could be interesting to update some things with current issues such as use of bitcoin/blockchain in many technologies (i.e. what blockchain does & doesn't do), updates to mining efficiency/power consumption/sustainability, use of block chain technologies in industry & startups etc.

great course. The course covers not just mechanics of bitcoin and some altcoins per se, but also explains philosophy behind block chain, reasons why particular design decisions were made, alternatives considered and how the system protects itself from possible attacks. The material is also interesting as an application of different crypto primitives (but their nature is not covered).