Cryptocurrency 3rd year dissertation using other source code? I am doing my third year dissertation / thesis based on cryptocurrencies &amp; blockchain. This is an amazing topic I am truly passionate about as it's a fast moving industry. 

At the core of ALL cryptocurrencies there is Bitcoin. Believe it or not but Bitcoin created the foundation on which other cryptocurrencies were built such as Dash and Litecoin. 

I plan to have a faster cryptocurrency for the purpose of my dissertation but obviously as a core code I planned to use Bitcoin's one, Litecoin's one and few others. Based on my observations I will build a better one or find any alternatives to achieve my intended outcome. Is this considered plagiarism!?
Plagiarism is representing the work of others as your own. There may be patent restrictions on your work (I don't actually know), and there are copyright restrictions on published material. But if you use ideas and cite the sources, then you aren't plagiarizing. 

Science, in fact, works by extending the work of others. We just give them credit for that earlier work.