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

Serenity

Ethereum 1.0 is the current version of Ethereum, with Berlin being the latest release, or update. The public Ethereum mainnet available today runs the Ethereum 1.0 protocol. Serenity is the name given to Ethereum version 2.0. The vision behind Ethereum 2.0 is to ultimately transition into a more scalable, performant, and secure version of Ethereum that will serve as the World Computer, which is Ethereum's original vision. The concept of a world computer was introduced with Ethereum 1.0, in which a global, decentralized network of interconnected nodes runs peer-to-peer contracts without the limitation of shutting down, or being censored or hacked. This vision started with Ethereum 1.0 and gained a lot of traction; however, challenges such as scalability, privacy, and performance somewhat hindered mass adoption. Ethereum 2.0 is expected to address these issues in pursuit of becoming a world computer.

In Chapter 11, Ethereum 101, we saw that Ethereum is being released...