Build Your Own Blockchain (Management for Professionals)

✍ Scribed by Hellwig

• Publisher: Springer
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 194
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This book provides a comprehensive introduction to blockchain and distributed ledger technology. Intended as an applied guide for hands-on practitioners, the book includes detailed examples and in-depth explanations of how to build and run a blockchain from scratch. Through its conceptual background and hands-on exercises, this book allows students, teachers and crypto enthusiasts to launch their first blockchain while assuming prior knowledge of the underlying technology.

How do I build a blockchain? How do I mint a cryptocurrency? How do I write a smart contract? How do I launch an initial coin offering (ICO)? These are some of questions this book answers. Starting by outlining the beginnings and development of early cryptocurrencies, it provides the conceptual foundations required to engineer secure software that interacts with both public and private ledgers. The topics covered include consensus algorithms, mining and decentralization, and many more. 

“This is a one-of-a-kind book on Blockchain technology.  The authors achieved the perfect balance between the breadth of topics and the depth of technical discussion.  But the real gem is the set of carefully curated hands-on exercises that guide the reader through the process of building a Blockchain right from Chapter 1.” Volodymyr Babich, Professor of Operations and Information Management, McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University

"An excellent introduction of DLT technology for a non-technical audience. The book is replete with examples and exercises, which greatly facilitate the learning of the underlying processes of blockchain technology for all, from students to entrepreneurs.” Serguei Netessine, Dhirubhai Ambani Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
"Whether you want to start from scratch or deepen your blockchain knowledge about the latest developments, this book is an essential reference. Through clear explanations and practical code examples, the authors take you on a progressive journey to discover the technology foundations and build your own blockchain. From an operations perspective, you can learn the principles behind the distributed ledger technology relevant for transitioning towards blockchain-enabled supply chains. Reading this book, you'll get inspired, be able to assess the applicability of blockchain to supply chain operations, and learn from best practices recognized in real-world examples." Ralf W. Seifert, Professor of Technology and Operations Management at EPFL and Professor of Operations Management at IMD 

✦ Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction to DLT: Build Your Own Blockchain
Acknowledgements
Contents
Blockchain Fundamentals
1 Blockchain Foundations
1.1 Introduction
1.1.1 Terminology
1.1.2 The First Use Case
1.1.3 Currencies: Traditional and Crypto
1.1.4 Ownership
1.2 Cryptocurrencies
1.2.1 Control Mechanisms
1.2.2 Cryptography
1.2.3 Cryptographic Hashing
1.2.4 Asymmetric Cryptography
1.2.5 Digital Signatures
1.3 Network Architecture Basics
1.4 The Blockchain
1.4.1 Operations
1.4.2 Blocks
1.5 Data Integrity
1.5.1 Ledger Propagation
1.5.2 Transaction Validation
1.5.3 Merkle Trees
1.6 Types of Blockchains
1.6.1 Public Blockchains
1.6.2 Private Blockchains
1.6.3 Consortium-Controlled Blockchains
1.6.4 Selection Framework
1.7 Exercise
1.7.1 Introduction
1.7.2 Environment Setup
1.7.3 Build Your Own Blockchain
References
2 Cryptocurrencies
2.1 Introduction
2.1.1 Overview
2.1.2 Crypto Properties
2.1.3 Transactions
2.1.4 Double Spending
2.2 Miners
2.2.1 Process Overview
2.2.2 Transaction Confirmation
2.2.3 Mining Process
2.2.4 The Nonce
2.3 Coins and Tokens
2.3.1 Introduction
2.3.2 Altcoins
2.3.3 Tokens
2.3.4 ERC-20 Standard
2.4 Market Makers/Exchanges
2.4.1 Introduction
2.4.2 Brokers
2.4.3 Traditional Exchanges
2.4.4 Decentralized Exchanges
2.4.5 Trading Platforms
2.4.6 Offline Exchanges
2.5 Wallets
2.5.1 Introduction
2.5.2 Hardware Wallets
2.5.3 Software Wallets
2.5.4 Exchange Wallets
2.6 Exercise
2.6.1 Introduction
2.6.2 Standard Transfer
References
3 Consensus Mechanisms
3.1 Introduction
3.1.1 Definition
3.1.2 Objectives
3.1.3 Variations
3.2 The CAP Theorem
3.2.1 The Trilemma
3.2.2 CAP Theorem and Blockchains
3.2.3 CAP Theorem in Practice
3.3 Byzantine Fault
3.3.1 Background
3.3.2 Byzantine Generals’ Problem
3.3.3 An Example
3.4 Common Consensus Protocols
3.4.1 Proof of Work (PoW)
3.4.2 Proof of Stake (PoS)
3.4.3 Proof of Capacity/Proof of Space
3.4.4 Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS)
3.4.5 Proof of Authority (PoA)
3.4.6 Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (PBFT)
3.4.7 Proof of Elapsed Time (PoET)
3.4.8 Other Mechanisms
3.5 Exercise
3.5.1 Introduction
3.5.2 Set up PoA Genesis Block
3.5.3 Create a PoA Network
References
4 Smart Contracts
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Ethereum—An Alternative to Bitcoin
4.2.1 Introduction
4.2.2 Ethereum Versus Bitcoin Applications
4.2.3 Ethereum Approach
4.2.4 Gas
4.2.5 The Price of Gas
4.3 Solidity Programming Language
4.3.1 Syntax
4.3.2 Coin Toss Example
4.4 Oracles
4.4.1 Introduction
4.4.2 Smart Contract Integration
4.4.3 Oracles and Security
4.4.4 Types of Oracles
4.4.5 Oracle Contract Example
4.5 Decentralized Applications (dApps)
4.5.1 Introduction
4.5.2 dApp Example: The Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO)
4.6 Turing Completeness
4.6.1 Background
4.6.2 Turing Completeness and Ethereum
4.7 Legal Perspective
4.7.1 Smart Contract Interpretation
4.7.2 Open Questions
4.7.3 Conclusion
4.8 Exercise (“Piggy Bank”)
4.8.1 Introduction
4.8.2 Opcode
4.8.3 Bytecode
4.8.4 Application Binary Interface (ABI)
4.8.5 Piggy Bank Deployment
References
5 Privacy and Anonymity
5.1 Introduction
5.1.1 Anonymity
5.1.2 Unlinkability
5.1.3 Anonymity Versus Pseudonymity
5.1.4 Taint Analysis
5.2 De-anonymization
5.2.1 Introduction
5.2.2 Transaction Graph Analysis
5.2.3 Network-Layer De-anonymization
5.3 The Onion Router (TOR) Network
5.3.1 Background
5.3.2 TOR Approach
5.3.3 TOR Usage
5.3.4 Limitations
5.4 Mixing Models
5.5 Decentralized Mixing
5.5.1 Motivation
5.5.2 Coinjoin Model
5.5.3 Coinjoin Anonymity
5.6 Zero-Knowledge Proofs
5.6.1 Introduction
5.7 Privacy and Security Protocols
5.7.1 Introduction
5.8 Privacy Coins
5.8.1 Introduction
5.8.2 The Zero Currencies
5.8.3 Zerocoin
5.8.4 Zerocash
5.9 Exercise
5.9.1 Introduction
References
Cryptography Foundations
6 Blockchain Cryptography: Part 1
6.1 Introduction
6.1.1 Cryptography Fundamentals
6.1.2 Secrecy Prerequisites
6.1.3 Blockchain and Cryptography
6.2 Classic Ciphers
6.2.1 Substitution
6.2.2 Transposition
6.3 Modern Cryptographic Algorithms
6.3.1 Introduction
6.3.2 Vulnerabilities
6.4 Hashing
6.4.1 Introduction
6.4.2 Hash Collisions
6.4.3 Merkle-Damgård Construction
6.4.4 Length Extension Attack
6.5 Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA)
6.5.1 Introduction
6.5.2 Hash Example
6.6 Symmetric Encryption
6.6.1 Single Encryption Keys
6.6.2 The Hill Cipher
6.6.3 The Pohlig-Hellman Cipher
6.7 Exercise
6.7.1 Introduction
6.7.2 Message Prep
6.7.3 OpenSSL Setup
6.7.4 Message Encryption
6.7.5 Message Decryption
References
7 Blockchain Cryptography: Part 2
7.1 Asymmetric Key Schemes
7.1.1 Introduction
7.1.2 Illustrative Example
7.2 Diffie-Hellman-Merkle Key Agreement
7.2.1 Introduction
7.2.2 An Example
7.2.3 Limitations
7.3 Rivest, Shamir, and Adelman (RSA)
7.3.1 Introduction
7.3.2 Key Pairs
7.3.3 Intuition
7.3.4 An Example
7.4 Digital Signatures
7.4.1 Introduction
7.4.2 Motivation
7.4.3 Usage
7.4.4 Signatures
7.4.5 An Example
7.5 Quantum Resistance
7.5.1 Introduction
7.5.2 Mechanism
7.5.3 Shor’s Algorithm
7.5.4 Grover’s Algorithm
7.5.5 Imminence
7.5.6 Security Considerations
7.5.7 Quantum Resistance
7.6 Exercise
7.6.1 Introduction
7.6.2 Message Prep
7.6.3 Key Generation (RSA)
7.6.4 Digital Signatures (RSA)
7.6.5 Key Generation (Elliptic Curves)
7.6.6 Digital Signatures (Elliptic Curves)
References
Real-World Applications
8 Blockchain in Action: Real-World Applications
8.1 Introduction
8.2 Currencies
8.3 Cross-Border Transfers
8.4 Tokenization
8.5 Asset Tracking
8.6 Commodity Trading
8.7 Looking Ahead
8.7.1 Humble Beginnings
8.7.2 A Word of Caution
8.7.3 The Jury Is Still Out
References
Index