Yale Hosts First Ever Bitcoin Boot Camp

Blockchain, a decentralized digital ledger system is fast gaining popularity as is evident by the Bitcoin Boot camp that was held at Yale on 29th and 30th September.

Hosted by the Yale OpenLab in collaboration with Tsai CITY and the Yale Center for Business and the Environment (CBEY), the first of its kind boot camp offered two days of hands-on workshops, opportunities to build their own applications and sessions with blockchain development experts.

The event which aimed to teach people how blockchain might enable meaningful problem-solving. The first day commenced with a series of panels that introduced people about the workshop that was to follow. Sophie Janaskie, an environmental innovation fellow at CITY and CBEY, called this “the heart of the boot camp:”

This event, supported by Consensys and Byte Academy, divided the number of participants into two groups, “Blockchain 101” for those with no prior experience of blockchain and “ Blockchain 201” for those with some knowledge about the technology and we’re looking to deepen their skills.

“Blockchain 101,” for people who had no experience with blockchain development, and “Blockchain 201,” for participants who had had some introduction to the technology, but we’re looking to deepen their skills. Both tracks were supported by bringing a practitioner lens to the lessons. Over the weekend, if one were in the blockchain 101 group, he/she would learn the very basics of the technology like creating digital tokens and smart contracts. If one was in the other Blockchain 201 group, he/she dove into secure financial transactions applications.
The hosts, Yale OpenLab, are simultaneously running quite a few other projects which enable the students to use blockchain to larger, more collaborative projects.

By the end of the workshop, participants were able to deploy their own “dApp”, launch digital tokens and conduct peer to peer transactions. Janaski said,

“We hope to foster and build the blockchain community across campus and greater New Haven, giving rise to new projects and ventures.”

Rishma Banerjee

Rishma is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in International Relations and has a special place in her life for sifting through all sorts of random trivia, thank you very much.