Weekly Exercises
Hands-on assignments to reinforce course concepts. Each exercise includes practical tasks with clear deliverables.
12
Exercises
1200
Total Points
~40h
Total Time
Exercise Overview
| Week | Title | Points | Time | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Exploring the DeFi Ecosystem | 100 | 2-3 hours | easy |
| 2 | Ethereum Transaction Analysis | 100 | 3-4 hours | medium |
| 3 | Token Analysis and Tokenomics | 100 | 3-4 hours | medium |
| 4 | AMM Mechanics and Analysis | 100 | 4-5 hours | hard |
| 5 | Lending Protocol Analysis | 100 | 4-5 hours | hard |
| 6 | Stablecoin Stability Analysis | 100 | 3-4 hours | medium |
| 7 | Yield Farming Strategy Analysis | 100 | 4-5 hours | hard |
| 8 | DeFi Derivatives Analysis | 100 | 4-5 hours | hard |
| 9 | Oracle Security Analysis | 100 | 3-4 hours | medium |
| 10 | DAO Governance Analysis | 100 | 3-4 hours | medium |
| 11 | DeFi Security Assessment | 100 | 4-5 hours | hard |
| 12 | L2 and Cross-Chain Analysis | 100 | 3-4 hours | medium |
## Week 1: Exploring the DeFi Ecosystem
Analyze the DeFi ecosystem by exploring TVL data, identifying major protocols, and comparing DeFi with traditional finance.
Learning Objectives
- Navigate DeFi data platforms (DeFiLlama, Dune)
- Identify and categorize major DeFi protocols
- Compare DeFi metrics with TradFi equivalents
Tasks
| Task | Points | Description |
|---|---|---|
| TVL Analysis | 30 | Retrieve and visualize TVL data for the top 10 DeFi protocols over the past year |
| Protocol Categorization | 35 | Create a taxonomy of 20+ DeFi protocols by category (DEX, lending, stablecoin, etc.) |
| DeFi vs TradFi Comparison | 35 | Compare DeFi volumes and yields with traditional finance equivalents |
## Week 2: Ethereum Transaction Analysis
Analyze Ethereum transactions, understand gas mechanics, and interact with smart contracts using web3.py.
Learning Objectives
- Read and interpret Ethereum transaction data
- Calculate gas costs and optimize transactions
- Interact with smart contracts programmatically
Tasks
| Task | Points | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Transaction Decoding | 25 | Decode and explain 5 different types of DeFi transactions from Etherscan |
| Gas Analysis | 25 | Analyze gas prices over a week and identify patterns in network congestion |
| Contract Interaction | 25 | Write Python code to read state from 3 different DeFi protocols |
| ABI Exploration | 25 | Document the key functions in a Uniswap router contract |
## Week 3: Token Analysis and Tokenomics
Analyze ERC-20 token distributions, evaluate tokenomics models, and explore token standards.
Learning Objectives
- Query token holder distributions
- Evaluate tokenomics for fairness and sustainability
- Compare different token standards
Tasks
| Task | Points | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Holder Distribution | 30 | Analyze token holder distribution for 3 governance tokens (compute Gini coefficient) |
| Tokenomics Evaluation | 35 | Compare vesting schedules and emission rates for 3 DeFi protocols |
| Token Standard Comparison | 35 | Implement a simple analysis comparing ERC-20, ERC-721, and ERC-1155 use cases |
## Week 4: AMM Mechanics and Analysis
Implement AMM calculations, analyze price impact, and simulate liquidity pool dynamics.
Learning Objectives
- Implement constant product AMM mathematics
- Calculate price impact for various trade sizes
- Simulate LP position changes over time
Tasks
| Task | Points | Description |
|---|---|---|
| AMM Implementation | 25 | Implement x*y=k swap function with fee calculation in Python |
| Price Impact Calculator | 25 | Build a tool that calculates price impact given pool reserves and trade size |
| Historical Pool Analysis | 25 | Analyze a Uniswap V2 pool's reserve changes over 30 days |
| Arbitrage Detection | 25 | Identify price discrepancies between pools for the same token pair |
## Week 5: Lending Protocol Analysis
Analyze lending protocol mechanics, calculate health factors, and simulate liquidation scenarios.
Learning Objectives
- Calculate collateralization ratios and health factors
- Model interest rate curves
- Simulate liquidation scenarios
Tasks
| Task | Points | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Health Factor Calculator | 25 | Implement a health factor calculator for a multi-asset position |
| Interest Rate Modeling | 25 | Plot and compare interest rate models from Aave and Compound |
| Liquidation Simulation | 25 | Simulate when a position would be liquidated under various price scenarios |
| Flash Loan Analysis | 25 | Analyze 5 flash loan transactions and document their purposes |
## Week 6: Stablecoin Stability Analysis
Analyze stablecoin peg stability, compare mechanisms, and study historical depeg events.
Learning Objectives
- Measure peg stability across stablecoins
- Compare collateralization mechanisms
- Analyze depeg events and recovery
Tasks
| Task | Points | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Peg Stability Metrics | 30 | Calculate peg deviation statistics for 5 major stablecoins over 1 year |
| Collateralization Analysis | 35 | Compare backing assets and reserve ratios for USDC, DAI, and FRAX |
| Depeg Case Study | 35 | Analyze the UST collapse: timeline, mechanics, and lessons learned |
## Week 7: Yield Farming Strategy Analysis
Calculate impermanent loss, analyze yield opportunities, and build a yield aggregator simulator.
Learning Objectives
- Quantify impermanent loss under various scenarios
- Calculate real yields after accounting for all costs
- Evaluate risk-adjusted returns
Tasks
| Task | Points | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Impermanent Loss Calculator | 25 | Build an IL calculator and visualize IL vs price divergence |
| Yield Comparison | 25 | Compare yields across 5 similar pools after accounting for fees and IL |
| Historical LP Returns | 25 | Calculate actual returns for an LP position over 90 days including all factors |
| Strategy Backtester | 25 | Backtest a simple yield farming strategy with rebalancing |
## Week 8: DeFi Derivatives Analysis
Analyze perpetual futures, calculate funding rates, and explore synthetic asset mechanics.
Learning Objectives
- Understand perpetual swap mechanics and funding
- Analyze synthetic asset collateralization
- Compare DeFi vs CeFi derivatives
Tasks
| Task | Points | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Funding Rate Analysis | 25 | Analyze funding rate patterns on dYdX or GMX over 30 days |
| Perpetual vs Spot | 25 | Compare perpetual prices with spot prices and explain divergences |
| Synthetic Asset Mechanics | 25 | Document how Synthetix synths maintain their peg |
| Derivatives Risk Assessment | 25 | Analyze the risk parameters for a derivatives protocol |
## Week 9: Oracle Security Analysis
Analyze oracle mechanisms, identify attack vectors, and implement TWAP calculations.
Learning Objectives
- Understand different oracle mechanisms
- Identify oracle manipulation risks
- Implement price feed validation
Tasks
| Task | Points | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Oracle Comparison | 30 | Compare Chainlink, Uniswap TWAP, and Band Protocol architectures |
| TWAP Implementation | 35 | Implement a TWAP calculator and test with historical data |
| Attack Analysis | 35 | Analyze 3 historical oracle manipulation attacks and propose mitigations |
## Week 10: DAO Governance Analysis
Analyze DAO voting patterns, evaluate governance token distributions, and assess governance risks.
Learning Objectives
- Analyze on-chain governance participation
- Evaluate voting power concentration
- Identify governance attack vectors
Tasks
| Task | Points | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Voting Analysis | 30 | Analyze voting patterns for 10 proposals from a major DAO |
| Power Concentration | 35 | Calculate voting power distribution and identify whales |
| Governance Attack Simulation | 35 | Model how much capital would be needed to pass a malicious proposal |
## Week 11: DeFi Security Assessment
Analyze historical exploits, identify vulnerabilities, and assess protocol risk.
Learning Objectives
- Understand common smart contract vulnerabilities
- Analyze historical DeFi hacks
- Develop risk assessment frameworks
Tasks
| Task | Points | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Exploit Analysis | 25 | Deep dive into 3 major DeFi hacks: attack vector, impact, and fixes |
| MEV Analysis | 25 | Identify and analyze MEV transactions in a set of blocks |
| Risk Scoring | 25 | Develop a risk scoring framework for DeFi protocols |
| Audit Review | 25 | Review an audit report and summarize key findings and recommendations |
## Week 12: L2 and Cross-Chain Analysis
Compare Layer 2 solutions, analyze cross-chain bridges, and assess scaling approaches.
Learning Objectives
- Compare L2 scaling solutions
- Analyze bridge security models
- Evaluate multi-chain DeFi
Tasks
| Task | Points | Description |
|---|---|---|
| L2 Comparison | 35 | Compare Arbitrum, Optimism, and zkSync: cost, speed, security tradeoffs |
| Bridge Analysis | 35 | Analyze bridge volumes and assess security models for 3 major bridges |
| Cross-Chain DeFi | 30 | Map the DeFi ecosystem across 5 chains and identify key protocol differences |
Submission Guidelines
Format
- Submit all code in a Jupyter notebook (.ipynb)
- Include markdown cells explaining your approach
- Ensure all cells run without errors
- Include visualizations where appropriate
Naming Convention
L{XX}_Exercise_{LastName}_{FirstName}.ipynb
Grading Criteria
| Criteria | Weight |
|---|---|
| Correctness | 40% |
| Code Quality | 20% |
| Analysis & Insights | 25% |
| Presentation | 15% |
Late Policy
- Up to 24 hours late: 10% penalty
- Up to 48 hours late: 25% penalty
- Beyond 48 hours: Not accepted without prior arrangement