Blockchain For Dummies

Unravel the mysteries of blockchains

Blockchain technologies are disrupting some of the world's biggest industries. Blockchain For Dummies provides a fast way to catch up with the essentials of this quickly evolving tech. Written by an author involved in founding and analyzing blockchain solutions, this book serves to help those who need to understand what a blockchain can do (and can't do).

This revised edition walks you through how a blockchainsecurely records data across independent networks. It offers a tour of some of the world's best-known blockchains, including those that power Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. It also provides a glance at how blockchain solutions are affecting the worlds of finance, supply chain management, insurance, and governments.

• Get a clear picture of what a blockchain can do

• Learn how blockchains rule cryptocurrency and smart contracts

• Discover current blockchains and how each of them work

• Test blockchain apps

Blockchain has become the critical buzzword in the world of financial technology and transaction security -- and now you can make sense of it with the help of this essential guide.

Autorentext

Tiana Laurence is a blockchain pioneer, an investor, and a serial entrepreneur. She co-founded Factom, Inc., a software company that builds technology within the blockchain space. She is currently a columnist for TechTarget with writings focusing on blockchain and IoT and managing partner of Laurence Ventures, a firm investing in technology initiatives.

Klappentext

• Get a clear picture of what a blockchain can do
• Learn how blockchains rule cryptocurrency

• Discover how current blockchains operate Understand how blockchains are changing technology Blockchain is the techno-magic that enables cryptocurrencies and impacts the worlds of finance, insurance, supply chain management, and others. But you don't need to be a programmer or financial wizard to understand blockchain; you just need this book! It explains blockchain basics, smart contracts, and cryptocurrencies, with real-world examples showing how blockchains function and where they add value. Learn how to interact with a blockchain, tour key blockchains, see how they disrupt huge industries, and much more. Inside...

• Blockchain defined
• Choose the right blockchain
• Test blockchain apps
• Get to know current blockchain platforms
• How blockchain enhances security
• The impact of blockchain on industries

Zusammenfassung
Unravel the mysteries of blockchains

Blockchain technologies are disrupting some of the world's biggest industries. Blockchain For Dummies provides a fast way to catch up with the essentials of this quickly evolving tech. Written by an author involved in founding and analyzing blockchain solutions, this book serves to help those who need to understand what a blockchain can do (and can't do).

This revised edition walks you through how a blockchainsecurely records data across independent networks. It offers a tour of some of the world's best-known blockchains, including those that power Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. It also provides a glance at how blockchain solutions are affecting the worlds of finance, supply chain management, insurance, and governments.

• Get a clear picture of what a blockchain can do
• Learn how blockchains rule cryptocurrency and smart contracts
• Discover current blockchains and how each of them work
• Test blockchain apps
  Blockchain has become the critical buzzword in the world of financial technology and transaction security and now you can make sense of it with the help of this essential guide.

Inhalt

Introduction 1

About This Book 1

Foolish Assumptions 2

Icons Used in This Book 2

Beyond the Book 3

Where to Go from Here 3

Part 1: Getting Started with Blockchain 5

Chapter 1: Introducing Blockchain 7

Beginning at the Beginning: What Blockchains are 7

What blockchains do 8

Why blockchains matter 9

The Structure of Blockchains 10

Blockchain Applications 12

The Blockchain Life Cycle 12

Consensus: The Driving Force of Blockchains 13

Blockchains in Use 15

Current blockchain uses 16

Future blockchain applications 16

Chapter 2: Picking a Blockchain 19

Where Blockchains Add Substance 19

Determining your needs 20

Defining your goal 21

Choosing a Solution 22

Drawing a blockchain decision tree 23

Making a plan 24

Chapter 3: Getting Your Hands on Blockchain 27

Diving into Blockchain Technology 28

Creating a secure environment 28

Buying your first Bitcoin 31

Securing and Exchanging Your Cryptocurrency 32

Downloading Jaxx 33

Securing your Jaxx wallet 33

Transferring Bitcoin to Jaxx 34

Trading Bitcoin for Ether 35

Loading up your MetaMask account 35

Setting up a CryptoKitties account 36

Building a Private Blockchain with Docker and Ethereum 38

Preparing your computer 39

Building your blockchain 41

Part 2: Developing Your Knowledge 43

Chapter 4: Beholding the Bitcoin Blockchain 45

Getting a Brief History of the Bitcoin Blockchain 46

The New Bitcoin: Bitcoin Cash 48

Debunking Some Common Bitcoin Misconceptions 50

Bitcoin: The New Wild West 51

Fake sites 52

No, you first! 52

Get-rich-quick schemes 52

Mining for Bitcoins 53

Making Your First Paper Wallet 54

Chapter 5: Encountering the Ethereum Blockchain 57

Exploring the Brief History of Ethereum 58

Ethereum: The Open-Source World Wide Computer 59

Decentralized applications: Welcome to the future 60

The power of decentralized autonomous organizations 61

Hacking a Blockchain 64

Understanding smart contracts 64

Discovering the cryptocurrency Ether 65

Getting Up and Running on Ethereum 65

Mining for ether 66

Setting up your Ethereum wallet 66

Building Your First Decentralized Autonomous Organization 67

Test net and congress 68

Governance and voting 69

Uncovering the Future of DAOs 69

Putting money in a DAO 70

Building smarter smart contracts 70

Finding bugs in the system 71

Creating Your Own ERC20 Tokens 71

Seeing up your GitHub account 71

Requesting KETH on the Gitter Faucet 72

Creating your tokens 73

Chapter 6: Riding the Waves Blockchain 77

Seeing How the Waves Blockchain Differs from Other Blockchains 78

Unleashing the Full Power of Waves 79

Setting up your Waves wallet 80

Backing up your wallet 80

Uncovering Your Wallet's Features 81

Transferring crypto assets 82

Using a decentralized exchange 82

Creating and Leasing Out Your Own Cryptocurrency 85

Chapter 7: Finding the Factom Blockchain 87

A Matter of Trust 88

The purpose of the Factom blockchain: Publishing anything 89

Incentives of federation 90

Building on Factom 93

Authenticating documents and building identities using APIs 93 Getting to know the Fac...