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

Bitcoin client installation

The Bitcoin core client can be installed from https://bitcoin.org/en/download. This is available for different architectures and platforms, ranging from x86 Windows to ARM Linux, as shown in the following screenshot:

Figure 8.1: Download Bitcoin Core

We will discuss a number of topics relating to Bitcoin's installation and setup. We'll begin by discussing different Bitcoin clients available and their associated tools, which enable you to run and manage the Bitcoin client and interact with the Bitcoin blockchain.

Types of clients and tools

There are different types of Bitcoin core clients and relevant tools. A Bitcoin client is a piece of software that is responsible for generating private/public key pairs and facilitates Bitcoin payments using the Bitcoin blockchain. In addition, a client can implement full synchronization function with a blockchain or choose to only implement basic wallet functionality or simple payment verification...