The bitcoin network has certain limitations in terms of scalability, adaptability and applicability. A lot of these limitations are kept in check by the consensus rules, which nodes that wish to remain part of the bitcoin network use to verify blocks before they are added to the database. In the past, some people have made changes to these consensus rules, causing hard forks in the chain and new cryptocurrencies to spin off in the process, like bitcoin cash, bitcoin gold, bitcoin diamond, etc. These forks share the history of bitcoin up to the point where it was forked, where it splits off and follows its own path from there. Naturally this means that if you already had some bitcoin in a wallet under your control before the fork, they will exist in the forked chain as well. Therefore, due to the fact that you will create a new fork in this practical, everybody should put exactly 0.1 BTC in a separate wallet under your control. We will call this wallet your competition wallet from now on. No pre-mining shenanegans will be tolerated. Your task will be to identify some shortcomings or other things you wish to change in bitcoin and modify the consensus rules to reflect your ideas. You must be ready to fork at chain height 679208, which is approximately two weeks from now. I can organize you some BTC or a few VM's in a pinch if you need some coins or a place to run your nodes, so do not unnecessarily worry about little things like that. The terms are very favourable. Once you have successfully forked your own version of bitcoin, your next task is to convince at least one crypto exchange to run a node for your new coin and list it on its trading platform. This shouldn't be too difficult, as there are some really dodgy small exchanges out there. Then generate some hype in the media about your groundbreaking new paradigm, watch the price rise and sell your 0.1 coins for real BTC. Transfer that back to your competition wallet. This part of the assignment will be graded on a sliding scale, with the student who made the most money getting the most marks. A platform will be provided where you can register your competition wallet addresses so that this part can be automated, for example checking balances and verifying that transfers came from the relevant exchanges. The profits are yours to keep, of course. Naturally, there are some problematic things you might want to consider once you fork something as heavily mined as bitcoin. You need some miners to follow you, otherwise the network difficulty will be astronomically high relative to your new chain's hash rate, causing the block time to become much longer than the usual 10 minute average it used to be before the fork. Therefore, your marketing propaganda must be in place well before the fork day. I suggest you quickly decide upon some changes you wish to make and start marketing as soon as possible, before you start coding. You can rent hash power on nicehash.com if you urgently need it, but remember its marketplace follows economic free market principles. Alternatively, you can change the proof of work basis of the network to something daft like proof of stake and even gain some leverage there on your forked off balance. The sky really is your limit. Go big or go home. Your work will be evaluated against the following rubric: Clone bitcoin core git repository 10% Awesomeness of proposed changes 20% Implementation of changes 15% Successfully operate forked coin network 15% Exchange listing 10% Profit made 30% The student who made the most profit will get the full 30% for the last section, the one who made the least or zero, whichever is greater, gets 0%, and everybody else pro rata in between. I have also decided that you do not need to submit a report for this assignment, as that would be a total anticlimax against what you have accomplished. If you believe that this assignment is absolutely ludicrous, it is advisable to verify the date on which it was posted to evaluate the seriousness thereof.