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Ask HN: Resources for Cryptography and Cryptocurrencies

8 points by pontus ↗ HN
I'm an ex-physicist (theory) looking to learn more about cryptography and cryptocurrencies. Much of the stuff I can find on cryptography are general purpose textbooks that start from the beginning with cyphers etc. For the cryptocurrency side I generally find stuff for the non-technical audience or for engineers (focused on implementation), but not much for the more mathematically oriented audience.

Can someone suggest a good thorough primer on cryptography and cryptocurrencies that discusses things from a more mathematical perspective? Ideally something that nonetheless doesn't assume too much familiarity with the field. I'm imagining a 50 page pdf called something like "A primer on cryptography and cryptocurrencies for physicists".

4 comments

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bitxbitxbitcoin
Nothing beats the original Bitcoin whitepaper - or analyses on it - in my opinion. Maybe this is something like what you're looking for though?

https://blockgeeks.com/guides/cryptocurrencies-cryptography/

pontus
Thanks for the suggestion!

I have read the original paper, but am looking for more math. Things like what the structure of sha256 is, why we double hash, various probability calculations of hash collisions, statistical investigations into the blockchain perhaps. I guess I don't know what I don't know, but generally I'm curious in a deep dive into the cryptography underlying bitcoin, but for someone without a formal background in cryptography.