Book Image

Blockchain for Decision Makers

By : Romain Tormen
Book Image

Blockchain for Decision Makers

By: Romain Tormen

Overview of this book

In addition to cryptocurrencies, blockchain-based apps are being developed in different industries such as banking, supply chain, and healthcare to achieve digital transformation and enhance user experience. Blockchain is not only about Bitcoin or cryptocurrencies, but also about different technologies such as peer-to-peer networks, consensus mechanisms, and cryptography. These technologies together help sustain trustless environments in which digital value can be transferred between individuals without intermediaries. This book will help you understand the basics of blockchain such as consensus protocols, decentralized applications, and tokenization. You'll focus on how blockchain is used today in different industries and the technological challenges faced while implementing a blockchain strategy. The book also enables you, as a decision maker, to understand blockchain from a technical perspective and evaluate its applicability in your business. Finally, you'll get to grips with blockchain frameworks such as Hyperledger and Quorum and their usability. By the end of this book, you'll have learned about the current use cases of blockchain and be able to implement a blockchain strategy on your own.
Table of Contents (16 chapters)
Title Page

Which is better, Bitcoin or Ethereum?

In the previous chapters, we learned all about Bitcoin—a cryptocurrency offering an alternative to traditional centralized payment systems based on a blockchain, which is a decentralized, shared, transparent, and secured database storing every transaction occurring on the network. Because Bitcoin is increasingly being used as a means of payment in retail and online stores, it is now seen as an asset class.

Just like any other asset class or investment product, Bitcoin suffers from the evolution of the financial markets while its supporters regard it for what it really is—a digital currency allowing almost instantaneous, secured, and cheap financial transactions between individuals across the globe.

In these terms, Ethereum is almost the same:

  • It is a cryptocurrency (called Ether) enabling people to make financial transactions...