Blockchain secures individual transactions with cryptography, creating a tamper-proof chain. In contrast, distributed ledger technologies cover various technologies that may not adhere strictly to blockchain's specific structure. We will start the book by defining blockchain elements, comparing it to DLT, exploring security mechanisms, and looking at Bitcoin's history, transactions, wallets, keys, mining, and forensics. Further in the book, we will explore Ethereum's evolution, Ethereum virtual machine, and smart contracts. We will also discover permissioned blockchains with Hyperledger Fabric and understand crypto assets, ERC20, ERC721 tokens, NFTs, and cryptocurrencies. With real-world examples and practical insights, you will gain a solid grasp of the fundamentals and practical applications that make blockchain a game-changer in various industries. By the end of this book, you will be equipped with the understanding of blockchain technology, its potential applications, and its impact on the future. You will be able to confidently discuss blockchain concepts and evaluate its potential for your own projects.

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• About the Author
• About the Reviewer
• Acknowledgement
• Preface
• Table of Contents
• 1. Cryptography and Distributed Systems
  • Introduction
  • Structure
  • Objectives
  • Routes of cryptography
    • Monoalphabetic cipher
    • Polyalphabetic cipher
      • Egyptians
      • Greeks
  • Emergence of distributed system
    • Edge computing
  • Cryptography’s basic concepts and terminologies
    • Know about cryptography
    • Encryption: A way to secure system
    • Industrial impact of cryptography
  • Evolution of cryptography
    • Public key cryptography
    • RSA algorithm
    • Elliptic curve cryptography
      • Key generation
      • Digital signatures
      • Implementation note
  • Encryption
    • Secure communication
  • Principles of cryptography
  • Encryption algorithms
    • Symmetric-key encryption
    • Data encryption standard
      • Advanced encryption standard
    • Working of Diffie-Hellman
    • Limitations of Diffie-Hellman
      • Application of symmetric encryption
      • Pros and limitations of symmetric encryption
  • Asymmetric-key encryption
    • The functionality of asymmetric encryption
    • Different types of asymmetric encryption algorithms
    • Pros and cons of asymmetric encryption
      • Pros
      • Cons
  • Cryptographic protocols
  • Cryptographic key management
    • Process of cryptographic key management
  • Public key cryptography
    • Principles behind public key cryptography
      • Public key cryptosystem applications
      • RSA
  • El Gamal cryptography algorithm
  • Elliptic Curve Cryptography
  • Hash functions
    • The inner workings of hashing algorithms
    • Common cryptocurrency hash functions
  • Digital signature
  • Fundamentals of distributed systems
  • Understanding popular consensus mechanisms
  • Distributed file systems
    • Features of distributed file system
  • Distributed database
    • Different types of Distributed databases
    • Distributed database features
    • Distributed database types
    • Blockchain and cryptography integration
    • Public and private key system
    • Bitcoin network: Proof of work
  • Ethereum network: Proof of stake
    • Applications of blockchain technology
      • Smart contracts
    • Different models of smart legal contracts
      • External
      • Internal
    • Distributed ledger technology
  • Impact of cryptography blockchain
    • Understanding blockchain cryptography
    • Network security
    • Intrusion detection and prevention system
      • Types of intrusion detection and prevention systems (IDPS)
  • Security protocols
    • Security standards
  • Conclusion
  • Questions and answers
  • Multiple choice questions
  • Answers
• 2. Introduction to Blockchain Technology
  • Introduction
  • Structure
  • Objectives
  • Rise of blockchain technology
    • Defining blockchain
    • Problems with a centralized system
      • Centralized vs. decentralized vs. distributed architecture
    • Blockchain: A comprehensive network architecture
    • Simplified architecture of blockchain
    • Key characteristics of blockchain architecture
  • Technical definition of a blockchain
    • Understanding blockchain ledgers
      • Blockchain events
    • Features of blockchain
      • Decentralization
      • Immutable
      • Efficient
      • Enhanced security
      • Transparent
  • Different types of blockchain
    • Public blockchains
    • Private blockchains
    • Consortium blockchains
    • Hybrid blockchain
  • Distributed ledger technology versus blockchain
    • CAP theorem
  • Byzantine generals problem
  • Consensus mechanism
  • Cryptographic primitives
  • Data structure used in blockchain
    • Relevance of block in blockchain
    • Features of a block
    • Block header
  • Block header hash and block height
    • Genesis block
    • Linking blocks in the blockchain
    • Merkle tree
  • Conclusion
  • Questions and answers
  • Multiple choice question
  • Answers
• 3. Bitcoin
  • Introduction
  • Structure
  • Objectives
  • Bitcoin
    • Basics of Bitcoin
    • History of Bitcoin
    • Bitcoin transaction
    • Bitcoin concepts
      • Key
      • Address
      • Wallet
      • Bitcoin transaction
      • Unspent transaction outputs
  • Validation of transaction
  • Consensus mechanism
    • Bitcoin keys
    • Securing private keys in blockchain
    • Elliptic curve cryptography
    • Bitcoin address
    • Base58
      • Utility of Base58
      • Encoding with Base58
      • Base58 decoding process
  • Encrypted private keys
  • Pay-to-script address
  • Multi-sig addresses
    • Working of multi-sign addresses
    • Benefits of multi-signature addresses
    • Examples of multi-signature address use
      • Cold storage
      • Escrow services
  • Vanity address
  • Bitcoin wallet
    • Bitcoin HD wallet
    • Creating an HD wallet from the seed
      • Derive private child key
      • Derive public child key
  • Transaction script
    • Script address
  • Bitcoin mining
    • History of Bitcoin mining
    • Working of bitcoin mining
  • Structure of a block
    • Block header
    • Genesis block
    • Linking of blocks
  • Type of full nodes
    • Bitcoin core application programming interface
  • Peer-to-peer network
  • Nodes and roles involved
  • Incentive based engineering
  • Extended bitcoin network
  • Bitcoin relay network
  • Network discovery
    • Full node
    • Exchange network
      • Nodes communication
    • Simplified payment verification
      • SPV nodes and privacy
    • Transaction pool
    • Blockchain fork
    • Bitcoin testnet
  • Basics of Bitcoin forensic
  • Clustering of address
  • Conclusion
  • Questions and answers
  • Multiple choice questions
  • Answers
• 4. Permissionless Blockchain: Ethereum
  • Introduction
  • Structure
  • Objectives
  • Introducing Ethereum
    • Turing completeness
    • Use cases and real-world applications
  • Understanding Ethereum 1.0 and 2.0
    • Ethereum 1.0: Creating decentralized ecosystems
    • Ethereum 2.0: Bringing scalability and efficiency
  • Beacon Chain
  • The shard chains: Scaling Ethereum
  • Ethereum virtual machine
    • Role of EVM
      • Stack based architecture of EVM
  • Smart contracts and gas
    • Gas: Efficient execution on the EVM
  • Comparing Bitcoin and Ethereum
    • Purpose and functionality
      • Blockchain architecture
      • Tokenomics
      • Developer community and ecosystem
  • Types of accounts in Ethereum
    • Real-world examples
  • Contract transactions on Ethereum
    • Structure of transaction
    • Transaction flow
    • Transaction nonce
      • Nonce generation and sequential ordering
    • Definition and importance of transaction gas
      • Gas price and gas limit
      • Impact on transaction confirmation
      • Gas fee calculation
      • Factors affecting transaction gas calculation
      • Gas limit and out-of-gas errors
      • Practical examples of gas usage
      • Gas optimization
    • Transaction recipient
    • Transaction values and data
      • Transaction values
      • Transaction data
      • Transaction values to EOA and contracts in Ethereum
  • Smart contracts and Solidity
    • Solidity: The language of smart contracts
      • Solidity development tools
      • Best practices and considerations
    • Development environment and client
      • Development environment
      • Client software
  • Basics of Solidity
    • Solidity development process
      • Pros and cons of Solidity
      • Life cycle of a smart contract
    • Smart contract programming using Solidity
      • Reentrancy in Solidity
      • Upgradeability of smart contracts
  • Introduction to MetaMask
    • Working principles of MetaMask
    • Use cases of smart contracts
    • Opportunity and risks of smart contract
    • Smart contract deployment
  • Truffle: Smart contract development
    • Significance of Truffle in smart contract development
  • Remix and test networks
    • Remix: An accessible IDE
      • Importing from GitHub
      • Plugin management
      • Deployment on testnets
      • Additional features
    • Test networks: Simulating blockchains
  • Conclusion
  • Questions and answers
  • Multiple choice questions
  • Answer
• 5. Permissioned Blockchain: Hyperledger Fabric
  • Introduction
  • Structure
  • Objectives
  • Defining permissioned blockchains
    • Architecture of permissioned blockchains
    • Use cases and applications
  • Architecture of Hyperledger Fabric
    • The modular design
    • Why Hyperledger Fabric
  • Chaincode
    • Lifecycle of a chaincode
      • Transaction processing
      • Upgrading
      • Maintenance
      • Scaling
  • The ordering services
  • Membership services
    • Real-world deployments
  • Hyperledger project: Framework
    • Collaborative innovation
    • Open-source philosophy
    • Hyperledger greenhouse
    • Practical applications
    • Down to earth approach
  • Structure of Hyperledger
    • Hyperledger umbrella
    • Hyperledger projects
    • Diverse contributions
    • Hyperledger Fabric V1 architecture
    • Network components
    • Smart contracts and ledgers
    • Channels for privacy
    • Consensus mechanisms
  • Introduction to Hyperledger Sawtooth
    • Modularity and components
    • Hyperledger Sawtooth architecture
      • Features and benefits
      • Real-world applications
  • Introduction to Hyperledger Iroha
    • Core components of Hyperledger Iroha
    • Hyperledger Iroha features
    • Real-world applications of Hyperledger Iroha
  • Introduction to Hyperledger Burrow
    • EVM connection
      • Real-world applications
  • Hyperledger Indy: Disrupting digital identity
    • Hyperledger Indy components
    • Real-world applications
  • Hyperledger ecosystem
    • Hyperledger Fabric
    • Hyperledger Sawtooth
    • Hyperledger Indy
    • Hyperledger Besu
    • Hyperledger Burrow
    • Hyperledger Aries
  • Hyperledger tooling and utility libraries
    • Composer: A tool for rapid development
    • Caliper: Benchmarking and performance testing
    • Explorer: Visualizing the blockchain
    • Quilt: Enabling interledger payments
    • Ursa: A crypto-library repository
      • Other utility libraries
  • Blueprint of Hyperledger Fabric
    • Endorsement and validation
    • Modular and pluggable design
    • Real-world applications
    • Components of Hyperledger Fabric
    • Peer nodes: The workhorses of the network
    • Ordering service: Orchestrating the transaction flow
    • Membership services: The gatekeepers
    • Ledger: Recording the immutable history
    • Smart contracts
    • Channels for privacy
    • Consensus mechanisms
  • MSPs: The guardians of identity
    • Role of MSPs
    • MSP configuration in Fabric
  • Chaincode
    • Components of MSPs
    • Security considerations while configuring MSP
    • MSPs in action
    • Certificate authority
    • Certificate hierarchy
    • Use cases
  • Nodes: The building blocks
    • Node hierarchy
      • Real-world applications
  • Chaincode: The logic of transactions
    • Programming languages for chaincode
      • Real-world applications
  • Channels: Enabling privacy and segmentation
    • Creating and managing channels
      • Real-world applications
  • Consensus mechanisms in Hyperledger Fabric
    • Solo consensus: The lone decision maker
    • Kafka consensus: Distributed decision making
    • Raft consensus: A leader-follower model
    • Real-world applications
  • Interoperability and scalability
    • Interoperability: Bridging the blockchain divide
    • Challenges of interoperability
    • Scalability: Handling the growing load
    • Improving channels’ efficiency
    • Considerations for consensus mechanisms
    • Strategies and solutions
  • Conclusion
  • References
  • Questions and answers
  • Multiple choice questions
  • Answers
• 6. Crypto Assets and Cryptocurrencies
  • Introduction
  • Structure
  • Objectives
  • ERC-20, ERC-721, and ERC-1155 tokens
    • ERC-20 tokens: The fungible tokens
      • The anatomy of ERC-20 tokens
      • Use cases and real-world applications of ERC-20 tokens
    • ERC-721 tokens: The non-fungible tokens
      • Understanding ERC-721 tokens
      • Applications and creative possibilities of ERC-721 tokens
    • ERC-1155 tokens: A multi-token standard
      • Highlights of ERC-1155 tokens
      • Use cases of ERC-1155 tokens
  • Defining a token
  • ERC: A set of standards
  • Fungible vs. Non-fungible tokens
    • Fungible tokens
    • NFTs
      • Difference between ERC-721, ERC-20, and ERC-1155 tokens
  • Exploring NFTs
    • Working of NFTs
    • Examples of NFTs
    • Usage of NFTs
    • Difference between NFTs and other cryptocurrencies
  • NFT marketplaces
  • Introducing initial coin offerings
    • Functioning of the ICO mechanism
    • ICOs and liquidity pool
    • Decoding crypto exchanges
      • Binance
      • Uniswap
  • Security token offerings
  • Diverse cryptocurrency landscape
  • Cryptocurrencies in everyday life
  • Conclusion
  • Questions and answers
  • Multiple choice questions
  • Answers
• 7. Blockchain Applications and Case Studies
  • Introduction
  • Structure
  • Objectives
  • Blockchain in IoT
    • Understanding IoT and its challenges
      • Blockchain and IoT together
    • Real-world implementations
  • Blockchain with artificial intelligence
    • AI in blockchain governance models
    • Benefits of AI’s predictive analysis
    • Challenges in collaboration of blockchain and AI
    • The blockchain solution
    • Real-world applications
    • The future of blockchain in AI
  • Blockchain improving cybersecurity
    • Understanding the threat landscape
    • Blockchain’s defensive arsenal
    • Real-world applications
    • The future of blockchain in cybersecurity
  • Conclusion
  • Questions and answers
  • Multiple choice questions
    • Answers
• Index