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)

Attacks on the blockchain

Every application is vulnerable to an attack of some kind due to security issues. But the security issues of a blockchain platform are very different from those of a traditional application due to its security model. Most of the attacks that are performed on a centralized system are not applicable to a blockchain-based application. The decentralization model of a blockchain application makes it difficult to find vulnerabilities. Unlike traditional databases, blockchain data is created by achieving consensus among the network's nodes, so the only way to compromise the blockchain network is by finding vulnerabilities in the consensus mechanism.

There are a number of ways to prevent a network from reaching a valid consensus. However, attacks will not be successful on all the blockchain platforms. A resilient network such as Bitcoin will not be vulnerable...