Book Image

Mastering Blockchain - Third Edition

By : Imran Bashir
Book Image

Mastering Blockchain - Third Edition

By: Imran Bashir

Overview of this book

Blockchain is the backbone of cryptocurrencies, with applications in finance, government, media, and other industries. With a legacy of providing technologists with executable insights, this new edition of Mastering Blockchain is thoroughly revised and updated to the latest blockchain research with four new chapters on consensus algorithms, Serenity (the update that will introduce Ethereum 2.0), tokenization, and enterprise blockchains. This book covers the basics, including blockchain’s technical underpinnings, cryptography and consensus protocols. It also provides you with expert knowledge on decentralization, decentralized application development on Ethereum, Bitcoin, alternative coins, smart contracts, alternative blockchains, and Hyperledger. Further, you will explore blockchain solutions beyond cryptocurrencies such as the Internet of Things with blockchain, enterprise blockchains, tokenization using blockchain, and consider the future scope of this fascinating and disruptive technology. By the end of this book, you will have gained a thorough comprehension of the various facets of blockchain and understand their potential in diverse real-world scenarios.
Table of Contents (24 chapters)
23
Index

Summary

This chapter introduced blockchain technology at an advanced level. First, we discussed blockchain's progress toward becoming a mature technology, followed by some basic concepts about distributed systems, and then the history of blockchain was reviewed. Concepts such as e-cash were also discussed.

Various definitions of blockchain from different points of view were presented. Some applications of blockchain technology were also introduced. Next, different types of blockchain were explored. Finally, the benefits and limitations of this new technology were also examined. Some topics such as blockchain scalability and adaptability issues were intentionally introduced only lightly, as they will be discussed in depth in later chapters.

In the next chapter, we will introduce the concept of decentralization, which is central to the idea behind blockchains and their vast number of applications.