Algorithms and Games in Blockchain: Designing Verifable Systems

In several games, information is asymmetric. Consider, for example, an auctioneer who knows more about the item than the bidders. In such scenarios, the parties who have additional information may benefit by “signaling” other parties some or all the information they have. Signaling, however, is not limited to auctions. The news each news agency broadcast to its audience and the recommendation letters each professor writes for her/his students are some other more relatable(!) examples of signaling in our life. In this talk, we will model signaling more formally and, as much as time permits, discuss a simple probabilistic proof technique which is useful in a this context and many more. If you like brain teasers, we solve some together as well.