Blocks and Chains : Introduction to Bitcoin, Cryptocurrencies, and Their Consensus Mechanisms.
- 1st ed.
- 1 online resource (119 pages)
- Synthesis Lectures on Information Security, Privacy, and Trust Series .
- Synthesis Lectures on Information Security, Privacy, and Trust Series .
Intro -- Title Page -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Aspects of Cryptocurrencies -- Cryptocurrency Community -- From Cryptocurrency to Blockchain -- The Analog Stone-Block-Chain -- Security Model of the Stone-Block-Chain -- Structure of this Book -- Background -- Cryptographic Primitives -- Cryptographic Hash Functions -- Asymmetric Cryptography -- Notation, Symbols, and Definitions -- History of Cryptographic Currencies -- Before Bitcoin -- The Early Beginnings of Digital Cash -- The Cypherpunk Movement -- The Rise of Cryptocurrencies -- Bitcoin -- Bitcoin -- Bitcoin at a Glance -- Components of Cryptocurrency Technologies -- Core Data Structures and Concepts -- Block -- Blockchain -- Address -- Transaction -- Consensus Management -- The Idea of Proof-of-Work (PoW) -- Proof-of-Work in General -- Proof-of-Work in Bitcoin -- Mining -- Blockchain Forks -- Double Spending -- Double Spending Success Probability -- Network and Communication Management -- Seeding and Connecting -- Network Structure and Overlay Networks -- Digital Asset Management -- Altcoins -- Namecoin and Merged Mining -- Other Examples -- Coin Management Tools -- History and Categorization of CMTs -- Metaphors -- Usability -- Bitcoin Management Strategies and Tools -- Perceptions of Usability -- User Experiences with Security -- Cryptocurrency Usage Scenarios -- Nakamoto Consensus -- The Problem Bitcoin Strives to Solve -- Trusted Third Parties -- Placing Trust in a Distributed System -- Decentralizing Trust -- Consensus and Fault Tolerance in Distributed Systems -- Consensus -- System Models and Their Impact -- Byzantine Fault Tolerance -- Randomized Consensus Protocols -- A Closer Look at Nakamoto Consensus -- Defining Nakamoto Consensus -- Conclusion and Open Challenges -- Conclusion -- Glossary -- Bibliography -- Authors' Biographies.