I can't see that this has been shared and discussed: "Bitcoin and Beyond: A Technical Survey on Decentralized Digital Currencies" is an interesting academic paper by Florian Tschorsch and Björn Scheuermann, but most parts are accessible to the average reader.
Abstract:
Besides attracting a billion dollar economy, Bitcoin revolutionized the field of digital currencies and influenced many adjacent areas. This also induced significant scientific interest. In this survey, we unroll and structure the manyfold results and research directions. We start by introducing the Bitcoin protocol and its building blocks. From there we continue to explore the design space by discussing existing contributions and results. In the process, we deduce the fundamental structures and insights at the core of the Bitcoin protocol and its applications. As we show and discuss, many key ideas are likewise applicable in various other fields, so that their impact reaches far beyond Bitcoin itself.
There is also a table of important predecessors to bitcoin and significant contributions to cryptocurrencies since the release of BCT in 2008-2009 (page 32), and the extensive reference list is remarkable for further reading.
Full text pdf here:
http://eprint.iacr.org/2015/464.pdf 
