Cryptocurrency was once a mere work of fiction – an idea of something that could be rather than something that was ‘real’.
Fast forward and Crypto has become much more than just an alternative financial vehicle.
Blockchain Bubble or Revolution comes to us from Product Managers at Google, Microsoft and Facebook in an attempt to cut through the media hype and provide a comprehensive, accessible and balanced analysis of cryptocurrencies and blockchains alike.
Below are notes from the Author outlining the core concepts the writers are attempting to educate the readers on.
Are cryptocurrencies and blockchains 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
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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
Our Thoughts
While the beginning started a little slow, which it needed to in order to accurately set the stage, it quickly picked up into answering the questions I was about to ask, before I asked them. The details behind the cryptocurrencies and the logic, people involved and thoughts behind the moved that were made – pretty cool if I do say so.
The remaining parts of the book focus on case studies, research and real world examples of how BlockChain grows, expands, matures and a glimpse at a ‘goal’.
While many books out there provide a one sided argument to support the authors narative – Bubble or Revolution offers a 2 sided coin approach where some of the ‘mild negatives’ are presented as true, big problems that need to be solved.
If you are looking for an easy to read, easy to understand and easy to apply educational book focused on Cryptocurrencies and Blockchains – Blockchain Bubble or Revolution: The Present and Future of Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies is a must read.
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