L4-library
Welcome to the L4 Library, a collection of online and offline material that reflects the interests and learning resources of L4.
The first several sections are organized by topic. The links in each section are what we consider essential reading. The last section of the library is a list of physical materials available in the L4 offices in Toronto, which cover many diverse topics. This physical library grows as we grow: every new person to join the L4 community chooses a book to add.
This list is updated frequently.
Ethereum
- Ethereum Whitepaper
- Ethereum Yellowpaper
- Ethereum github wiki
- How does Ethereum work anyway? by Preethi Kasireddy (2017)
- A very helpful, long, detailed explanation of how Ethereum works.
- A prehistory of the Ethereum protocol by Vitalik Buterin (2017)
Ethereum scaling, performance, and other research
Layer 1
-
Proof of Stake - Proof of Stake (Pos) is a type of consensus protocol, which ethereum plans to move towards in the near future. Ethereum's PoS protocol under development is called Casper, and there are two designs currently being researched - one by Vitalik Buterin (Casper FFG) and Vlad Zamfir (Casper CBC)
- Proof of Stake Design Philosophy by Vitalik Buterin.
- Casper the Friendly Ghost: A Correct by Construction Blockchain Consensus Protocol by Vlad Zamfir (Nov 2017)
- Casper the Friendly Finality Gadget: Basic Structure by Vitalik Buterin (Aug 2017)
- Casper 101 - A helpful in-depth explanation of what Casper is, and how it works.
-
Sharding -
Layer 2
- State Channels
- State Channels by Jeff Coleman (2015)
- Generalised State Channels on Ethereum by Liam Horne and Jeff Coleman (2017)
- Plasma
- Plasma: Scalable Autonomous Smart Contracts by Joseph Poon & Vitalik Buterin (Aug 2017)
- Plasma in 10 minutes by Anthony Akentiev
- Privacy techniques for blockchains
- Privacy on the blockchain by Vitalik Buterin (2016)
- Survey of Confidentiality and Privacy Preserving Technologies for Blockchains by Danny Yang, Jack Gavigan, Zooko Wilcox-O’Hearn, and R3 Research (Nov 2016)
- STARKs, Part I: Proofs with Polynomials by Vitalik Buterin (2017)
- STARKs, Part II: Thank Goodness It's FRI-day by Vitalik Buterin
Tokens and ICOs
- Token Sale Design
- Analyzing Token Sale Models by Vitalik Buterin (2017)
- Interactive Coin Offerings by Vitalik Buterin & Jason Teutsch
- Interactive Coin Offerings: A protocol explained by Robbie Bent
- Cryptoeconomic token design
- Valuing tokens & other crypto assets
- On medium of exchange token valuations by Vitalik Buterin
- Cryptoasset valuations by Lucas Ryan
- Legal Frameworks for Token Sales
- The SAFT Project: Toward a compliant token sale framework by Protocol Labs & Cooley Law
- Not so fast - Risks related to the use of a "SAFT" for token sales by the Cardozo Blockchain Project
Bitcoin
- Bitcoin: a Peer to Peer Electronic Cash System by Satoshi Nakamoto
- Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies by Princeton University
- Mastering Bitcoin Github Repository by Andreas Antonopolous
- The Bitcoin Lightning Network: Scalable Off-chain Instant Payments by Joseph Poon & Thaddeus Dryja
Cryptoeconomics & Related Work
- What is Cryptoeconomics? [deck] by Vlad Zamfir (video
- Making Sense of Cryptoeconomics by Josh Stark
- Introduction to Cryptoeconomics [Video] by Vitalik Buterin
- Current state of Cryptoeconomics [Video] by Vlad Zamfir
- Crash Course on Mechanism Design for Cryptoeconomic Applications by Alex Evans
- Counterfactual Terminology by Jeff Coleman
- Blockchain protocols in the wild by Christian Cachin & Marko Vukolic
- Functional decision theory: A new theory of instrumental rationality by Eliezer Yudkowsky & Nate Soares
- On anti-pre-revelation Games by Vitalik Buterin