Blockchain Bubble or Revolution: The Future of Bitcoin, Blockchains, and Cryptocurrencies

by Aditya Agashe, Neel Mehta, Parth Detroja

Length: 331 pages
Edition: 1
Language: English
Publisher: Paravane Ventures
Publication Date: 2019-06-12
ISBN-10: 0578528150
ISBN-13: 9780578528151
Sales Rank: #18912 (See Top 100 Books)

Some experts say that Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are just a scam; others say they’re “the most important invention since the internet.” It’s hard to tell who’s right.

Authored by Silicon Valley leaders from Google, Microsoft, and Facebook, Bubble or Revolution cuts through the hype to offer a balanced, comprehensive, and accessible analysis of blockchains and cryptocurrencies.

You’ll learn the core concepts of Bitcoin and blockchain technologies to understand their strengths and weaknesses from real-world case studies; dive deep into their technical, economic, political, and legal complexities; and gain insights about their future from exclusive interviews with dozens of tech industry leaders.

Are blockchains and cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin a bubble or a revolution? We’ll help you decide for yourself.

What’s inside:

Bitcoin and the blockchain

How Bitcoin and blockchains work from a technical perspective with no assumed technical knowledge
Satoshi Nakamoto and the history of Bitcoin, the original blockchain
A thorough overview of crucial crypto concepts (eg. blocks, keys, mining, nodes, etc.)
Frameworks for understanding when it actually makes sense to use blockchain
Major application scenarios for blockchain and cryptocurrencies and where it’ll fall flat

Public blockchains and altcoins

Emerging trends in blockchain technology
What you should know before buying any cryptocurrency
An overview of Etherum and smart contracts
An overview of the strengths and weaknesses of the top altcoins and stable coins, including Monero (XMR), Tether (USDT), and Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
Alternatives to blockchain and cryptocurrencies
New kinds of decentralized ledger technology (DLT)
The economics of both traditional payment methods and cryptocurrencies
Cryptocurrency security best practices and major breach case studies

Private blockchains

How blockchain, cryptocurrencies, and traditional banking and finance will interact with one another in the future
Public blockchains vs private blockchains
Limitations and shortcomings of public blockchains and cryptocurrencies
The role of blockchain in the strategy of top tech companies like Facebook and Microsoft
Case studies of how non-tech companies are effectively utilizing blockchain (eg. Walmart using it to prevent foodborne illness)
Business blockchain case studies ranging from gaming (e.g. Xbox) to cloud services (e.g. Microsoft Azure’s blockchain-as-a-service and Amazon’s AWS offering)
Blockchain’s use for big data, internet of things (IoT), and machine learning (ML)

Cryptocurrency regulation and policy

ICOs vs STOs vs IPOs
KYC and AML laws
The debate over whether cryptocurrencies are securities
The official stance of various countries on crypto
An overview of crypto policy and regulatory hurdles
The role of crypto in emerging markets and China
Digital democracy and voting on the blockchain

The future of decentralized technology

If, how, and when the tokenization of national currencies will play out
Facebook and WhatsApp’s upcoming cryptocurrencies
Currency tokenization and China’s efforts to tokenize the yuan
Blockchain, IoT, and the tangle
Cryptocurrencies vs. fiat vs. the gold standard
Predictions about the future of money, business, and currency
Why blockchains would do better on Mars than Earth

Introduction
    The goal
    What’s inside
    Our first book
    Who we are
    Thank you
Chapter 1. Bitcoin & the Blockchain
    The trouble with money
    Rai stones
    Bitcoin’s blockchain
    Mining
    Blocks and chains
    Branches and fraud
    Game of nonces
    Credentials
Chapter 2. Bitcoin Economics
    The $300 million pizzas
    Money supply
    Money demand
    Inflation-proof?
    Deflation
    Investments or currency?
Chapter 3. Bitcoin’s Blunders
    The scaling problem
    Criminals’ favorite currency
    Not quite anonymous
    The Mt. Gox hack
    Mining and climate change
    The myth of the solo miner
    Centralization
Chapter 4. Altcoins
    Bitcoin’s forks
    Ethereum
    Brave & BAT
    Stablecoins
    Binance
    Monero
Chapter 5. Public Blockchains
    Online voting
    An immortal internet
    Hooters rewards on the blockchain?
    Trademarks on the blockchain
    Decentralizing websites
Chapter 6. Business on the Blockchain
    Walmart and preventing foodborne illnesses
    Stocks and blocks
    Xbox and game royalties
    The masters of private blockchains
Chapter 7. Cryptocurrency Policy
    Crypto bans
    Venezuela’s state-backed cryptocurrency
    ICOs and scams
    ICO regulation
Chapter 8. What’s Next
    Facebook’s Diem
    Tokenization
    China’s yuan tokenization
    The Internet of Things and going beyond the blockchain
Chapter 9. Bubble or Revolution?
    The future of money
    The real uses of cryptocurrencies
    Private vs. public blockchains
    Bubble or revolution?
Conclusion
Acknowledgements
Appendix A. Number Systems
    Binary
    Hexadecimal
    Bitcoin’s bases
Appendix B. Macroeconomics
    Real and nominal
    Money
    Inflation
    Money supply and demand
Appendix C. Who is Satoshi?
    The timeline
    Satoshi’s philosophy
    Satoshi’s identity
Glossary
    Terms
    Cryptocurrencies
Notes