General Track: Web3 & Bitcoin Foundations
Foundational syllabus covering blockchain architecture, Bitcoin, Proof of Work, cryptographic hashing, custody, and smart contract primitives.
Key Takeaways
- ✓Explains Byzantine Fault Tolerance and Satoshi Nakamoto's breakthrough.
- ✓Covers public/private key cryptography, mnemonic seed phrases, and self-custody.
- ✓Explores Layer 1 and Layer 2 scaling architectures and smart contract fundamentals.
What the General Track is For
The General Track is designed for all incoming students to establish an unshakeable foundation in decentralized systems. It demystifies how blockchains operate, why Bitcoin represents digital scarcity, and how to safely navigate Web3 protocols without relying on third-party custodians.
Students transition from passive observers to confident practitioners with hands-on understanding of transactions, security models, and wallet hygiene.
Module 1: The Evolution of Money & Bitcoin
Understand why decentralized currency matters, especially in emerging economies facing local currency inflation and cross-border remittance fees:
- From commodity money and fiat currencies to digital scarcity.
- The double-spend problem and how Bitcoin solved it with Proof of Work.
- Block headers, Merkle trees, and cryptographic difficulty adjustment.
- Halving cycles, fixed supply economics, and long-term security models.
Module 2: Applied Cryptography & Custody
Hands-on understanding of how blockchain addresses are generated and secured:
- Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA) and Schnorr signatures.
- SHA-256 and RIPEMD-160 cryptographic hash functions.
- BIP-39 mnemonic seed phrase generation and derivation paths.
- Hardware wallets, multi-signature vaults, and cold storage best practices.
Security is non-negotiable. Scholars are taught never to store private keys in cloud storage, emails, or unencrypted text files.
Module 3: Decentralized Networks & Layer 2 Scaling
Why the blockchain trilemma (Decentralization, Security, Scalability) exists, and how Layer 2 networks (Rollups, State Channels, and Stacks) scale settlement layers without compromising security.
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