July 20-29, 2016
Gates Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
One of the most productive hackathons I have ever attended!
IC3 and the Ethereum Foundation Conducted an Immersive 9-day Coding and Learning Experience in Blockchains and Smart Contracts with World-leading Professors, Open Source Developers and Students.
Boot Camp Project Grand Prize Winners: "Add Ethereum Support for Verifying Zero-Knowledge Proofs (SNARKs)", Left to right: Josh Gancher, Sean Bowe, Elaine Shi (IC3 co-Director), Prof. Eran Tromer, Casey Detrio, Prof. Andrew Miller (IC3 Associate Director), Yuncong Hu, Vitalik Buterin, Ari Juels (IC3 co-Director)
Boot Camp Project Second Place Winners: "Machine Learning As-a-Service (MLAAS) using Smart Contracts (TensorFlow + Ethereum)", Left to right: Junru Shao, Prof. Andrew Miller (IC3 Associate Director), Vitalik Buterin, Ari Juels (IC3 co-Director) Elaine Shi (IC3 co-Director)
Build Ethereum Applications Using the Town Crier (TC) Data-feed System: Use Town Crier to construct an end-to-end, confidentiality-preserving flight insurance system and a microfinance platform.
Ethereum Vaults: Construct an operational vault ecosystem (including client software and online services) to protect clients against key theft, bringing to Ethereum users unparalleled security.
Add Ethereum Support for Verifying Zero-Knowledge Proofs (SNARKs): Zero-knowledge SNARK proofs are critical technology for many privacy-preserving smart contract applications. The goal of this project is to add support (e.g., new Ethereum opcodes) to make it feasible to verify SNARK proofs from within a smart contract.
Build a Fair Multi-player Lottery Game with Minimal Amount of Collateral: The Oakland ‘14 Best Paper involved a fair Bitcoin lottery for N players. However, this required O(N\^2) collateral. In Ethereum, this is possible with only O(N) collateral.
Machine Learning As-a-Service (MLAAS) using Smart Contracts (TensorFlow + Ethereum): Build a training / classification / prediction service with Ethereum and TensorFlow (other ML frameworks may be explored, time permitting) that accepts payments using a smart contract.
The week of intense development culminated in the IC3-Ethereum Crypto Workshop on July 28.
| Session 1 | Boot Camp Demos - Chair: Prof. Elaine Shi |
| 8:30am | Breakfast |
| 9:00am-9:15am | Prof. Elaine Shi - IC3/Cornell - Welcome and Overview |
| 9:15am-11:15am | Demos by the Project teams |
| 11:15am-1:00am | Lunch, Networking, Project Viewing |
| Session 2 | Smart Contracts Challenges - Chair: Dr. Ittay Eyal |
| 1:00pm-1:30pm | Vitalik Buterin - Ethereum Foundation - Smart Contracts Challenges |
| 1:30pm-2:00pm | Prof. Ari Juels - IC3 and Cornell Tech - Nibbling Away at IC3’s Smart-Contract Grand Challenges |
| 2:00pm-2:30pm | Andrew Miller - IC3 and UMD - “Ethereum Isn't Turing Complete, and it Doesn't Matter Anyway |
| 2:30pm-3:00pm | Break - Refreshments and Poster Viewing |
| Session 3 | Enabling Technologies for Smart Contracts - Chair: Prof. Ari Juels |
| 3:00pm-3:30pm | Dr. Ittay Eyal - IC3 and Cornell - Performance and Consensus Tradeoffs |
| 3:30pm-4:00pm | Prof. Rafael Pass - IC3 and Cornell - Blockchain Analysis and Hybrid Consensus |
| 4:00pm-4:30pm | Prof. Elaine Shi - IC3 and Cornell University - Scalable and Incentive-Compatible Blockchain Design |
| 4:30pm-5:00pm | Vlad Zamfir - Ethereum Foundation - Soft forks, hard forks, and the Ethereum Social Contract |
| 5:00pm-5:15pm | Andrew Miller - IC3 and UMD - Paths Forward, Concluding Remarks: A Die-Hard Hacker’s Perspective |
| 6:00pm-9:00pm | Dinner and Project Awards |