Blockchain basics: a non-technical introduction in 25 steps

Table of Contents:

Part I: Terminology and Technical Foundations
1. Thinking in Layers and Aspects
2. Seeing the Big Picture
3. Recognizing the Potential

Pat II: Why the Blockchain Is Needed
4. Discovering the Core Problem
5. Disambiguating the Term
6. Understanding the Nature of Ownership
7. Spending Money Twice

Pat III: How the Blockchain Works
8. Planning the Blockchain
9. Documenting Ownership
10. Hashing Data
11. Hashing in the Real World
12. Identifying and Protecting User Accounts
13. Authorizing Transactions
14. Storing Transaction Data
15. Using the Data Store
16. Protecting the Data Store
17. Distributing the Data Store Among Peers
18. Verifying and Adding Transactions
19. Choosing a Transaction History
20. Paying for Integrity
21. Bringing the Pieces Together

Part IV: Limitations and How to Overcome Them
22. Seeing the Limitations
23. Reinventing the Blockchain

Part V: Using the Blockchain, Summary, and Outlook
24. Using the Blockchain
25. Summarizing and Going Further

This book bridges the gap that exists between purely technical books about the blockchain and purely business-focused books. It does so by explaining both the technical concepts that make up the blockchain and their role in business-relevant applications. What You Will Learn: What the blockchain is, why it is needed and what problem it solves, why there is so much excitement about the blockchain and its potential, major components and their purpose, how components work and interact, Limitations, why they exist, and what has been done to overcome them, major application scenarios.