Book Image

Foundations of Blockchain

By : Koshik Raj
Book Image

Foundations of Blockchain

By: Koshik Raj

Overview of this book

Blockchain technology is a combination of three popular concepts: cryptography, peer-to-peer networking, and game theory. This book is for anyone who wants to dive into blockchain from first principles and learn how decentralized applications and cryptocurrencies really work. This book begins with an overview of blockchain technology, including key definitions, its purposes and characteristics, so you can assess the full potential of blockchain. All essential aspects of cryptography are then presented, as the backbone of blockchain. For readers who want to study the underlying algorithms of blockchain, you’ll see Python implementations throughout. You’ll then learn how blockchain architecture can create decentralized applications. You’ll see how blockchain achieves decentralization through peer-to-peer networking, and how a simple blockchain can be built in a P2P network. You’ll learn how these elements can implement a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin, and the wider applications of blockchain work through smart contracts. Blockchain optimization techniques, and blockchain security strategies are then presented. To complete this foundation, we consider blockchain applications in the financial and non-financial sectors, and also analyze the future of blockchain. A study of blockchain use cases includes supply chains, payment systems, crowdfunding, and DAOs, which rounds out your foundation in blockchain technology.
Table of Contents (14 chapters)

Diving into Blockchain - Proof of Existence

So far in this book, we've looked at the fundamental concepts of blockchain technology, exploring topics such as cryptography and decentralized networking. We've also created a simple blockchain application and made ourselves familiar with the transactions used in the decentralized cryptocurrency application. Although the blockchain applications we created gave us an overview of blockchain technology, we haven't yet looked at any use cases other than those in cryptocurrency that require a decentralized network. By diving into blockchain, we'll introduce and become familiar with the blockchain framework, which will end with us building a blockchain application by constructing the use case featured.

In this chapter, we will cover the following topics:

  • The blockchain platform, specifically:
    • Why did we choose to go...