This practical new book offers the distributed-computing fundamental knowledge for individuals to connect with one another in a more secure and efficient way than with traditional blockchains. These new forms of secure, scalable blockchains promise to replace centralized institutions to connect individuals without the risks of user manipulations or data extortions. The techniques taught herein consist of enhancing blockchain security and making blockchain scalable by relying on the observation that no blockchain can exist without solving the consensus problem. First, the state-of-the-art of consensus protocols are analyzed, hence motivating the need for a new family of consensus protocols offering strong (deterministic) guarantees. Second, a didactic series of classic blockchain vulnerabilities is presented to illustrate the importance of novel designs better suited for the adversarial environment of open networks. These cutting-edge solutions are illustrated through the Redbelly blockchain design, which solves a different problem from the classic Byzantine consensus problem of 1982 and which delivers—in the modern blockchain context—high performance at large scale. Topics and features: Covers the combination of security and distributed computing to devise the new generation of blockchains Shows how blockchain has shed new light on decades of research in distributed systems Provides instruction on the security needed by the industry to use blockchains in production Explains didactically the necessary ingredients to make blockchain efficient at large scale Helps fill the gap of knowledge in the highly demanded blockchain sector This unique volume contains the building blocks to design secure and scalable blockchains. As such, it is dedicated to developers, application designers, and computer scientists and requires only a minimal undergraduate level in mathematics and computer science. Vincent Gramoli is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow at the University of Sydney and the Chief Technology Officer of Redbelly Network. He teaches the Blockchain Scalability course on Coursera.

Blockchain: A Hype or a Hoax? fills a gap in the book market to provide material that is not only technical but also caters to business readers. This book was written to keep in mind various stakeholders and the current gap in blockchain education as well as use case implementation. This book reviews blockchain technology, discusses why proof of concept fails, offers examples of use cases that have been successful and that have failed and articulates a framework that should be used before deciding whether blockchain is the right technology for transformation. It uses strategic models and frameworks to assist organisations to see a fit score for their specific use cases. This book provides guidance on how to create a blockchain strategy and a business case to pitch for the budget. It also includes a case study to apply the knowledge on practical use cases for blockchain and a technical overview of most of the blockchain use cases in the market including crypto, non-fungible tokens, decentralised finance, and decentralised autonomous organisations, as well as financial and non-financial industry use cases. This book also provides a detailed overview of most of the mainstream blockchain products currently available in the market. It also offers guidance on how readers can best educate themselves on blockchain technology that is available through commercial and free resources. It concludes with a clear direction on selecting blockchain to solve real-life use cases that are best fit. A financial and non-financial value-adding framework is discussed throughout this book to assist business leaders, programme managers, product managers and information technology leaders to make strategic choices, and business cases and develop strategies for digital transformation through the use of blockchain. The distinctive feature of this book is the critical analysis of blockchain from a technology and business perspective. This is the first book to focus on business, technology and blockchain selection framework. The most unique feature of this book would be to apply Michael Porter’s competitive advantage strategy theory on blockchain use cases and their impact on companies. This book is aimed at technology students, technology professionals, blockchain and fintech consultant and business leaders. It will also be useful for readers who are building a business case to adopt blockchain into an organisation or are seeking to grow their knowledge of blockchain and improve their fintech strategy.

In an era of rapid technological advancements, blockchain technology has emerged as a groundbreaking solution for decentralized trust and immutable record-keeping. Frameworks for Blockchain Standards, Tools, Testbeds, and Platforms delves into the intricate world of blockchain, offering a comprehensive exploration of its various dimensions. At its core, blockchain disrupts the traditional notion of a centralized trusted authority, instead relying on multiple sources of trust and algorithmic consensus for validation. This handbook elucidates the transformative power of blockchain, examining its capacity to offer enduring records that resist modification by trusted or untrusted sources. The concept of mining, akin to decentralized peer review, is demystified in the context of the Bitcoin protocol, which paved the way for subsequent advancements like Ethereum—a decentralized, open-source platform enabling a diverse array of blockchain applications. This book serves as an indispensable guide for various stakeholders, including researchers, academicians, industry practitioners, policy makers, corporate executives, venture capitalists, and entrepreneurs. With its inclusive approach, the book also benefits those indirectly involved in blockchain and its applications. It is equally valuable for undergraduate, graduate, and research-level students seeking to explore the transformative potential of blockchain technology.

This book focuses on conducting a comprehensive analysis of blockchain scalability serving large-scale application scenarios, from the “what, why, how” three perspectives, layer by layer. Gathering the latest state-of-the-art research advances in the area of key issues and technologies for blockchain scalability, it also presents some special and exciting insights on the existing and future blockchain scalability. Despite blockchain’s merits of decentralization, immutability, non-repudiation, and traceability, the current blockchain has faced a serious scalability bottleneck. The scalability bottleneck problem is mainly manifested in two aspects: low-performance efficiency and difficulty in functional extension. First, the security and reliability of the blockchain system come from the fact that most nodes of the whole network participate in a distributed consensus to maintain the ledger. The high-cost consensus mechanism makes limited performance of blockchain, and there is a big gap between the actual large-scale application system. In addition, in order to ensure the security of a single blockchain system, data between different blockchain systems are relatively isolated, making it difficult for assets and data to interact. This book explores the scalability of blockchain in depth, proposes meaningful approaches to the problems mentioned above, and builds an original theoretical system of blockchain scalability. It describes the root of blockchain scalability problems, mainstream blockchain performance, the classification of existing scalability problem solutions, and some exciting sharding-based approaches. It also includes open issues and future directions to scale blockchain for complex practical application scenarios. As such, this book will be a valuable resource for students, researchers, engineers, and policymakers working in various areas related to blockchain scalability, which is also of great significance for understanding and solving the bottleneck of blockchain scalability and realizing the practical large-scale commercial application of blockchain.

Distributed Computing to Blockchain: Architecture, Technology, and Applications provides researchers, computer scientists, and data scientists with a comprehensive and applied reference covering the evolution of distributed systems computing into blockchain and associated systems. Divided into three major sections, the book explores the basic topics in the blockchain space extending from distributed systems architecture, distributed ledger, decentralized web to introductory aspects of cryptoeconomics (cryptography and economics) of decentralized applications. The book further explores advanced concepts such as smart contracts; distributed token mining, initial coin offerings; proof of work; public, private, and other blockchains; cryptography; security; and blockchains. The book goes on to review byzantine fault tolerance, distributed ledgers versus blockchains, and blockchain protocols. The final section covers multiple use cases and applications of distributed computing and the future directions for blockchains. - Presented as a focused reference handbook describing the evolution of distributed systems, blockchain, and consensus algorithms emphasizing the architectural and functional aspects - Integrates the various concepts of cryptography in blockchain and further extends to blockchain forensics - Provides insight and detailed Interpretation of algorithms for consensus in blockchains

Blockchain has become attractive to companies and governments because it promises to solve the age-old problem of mutability in transactions - that is, it makes falsification and recalculation impossible once a transaction has been committed to the technology. However, the perceived complexity of implementing Blockchain calls for an in-depth overview of its key features and functionalities, specifically in a legal context. The systematic and comprehensive approach set forth in this indispensable book, including coverage of existing relevant law in various jurisdictions and practical guidance on how to tackle legal issues raised by the use of Blockchain, ensures a one-stop-shop reference book for anyone considering Blockchain-based solutions or rendering advice with respect to them. Within a clear structure by fields of law allowing for a systematic approach, each contributor - all of them are practitioners experienced with Blockchain projects within their respective areas of expertise - elucidates the implications of Blockchain technology and related legal issues under such headings as the following: technical explanation of Blockchain technology; contract law; regulatory issues and existing regulation in a variety of jurisdictions; data protection and privacy; capital markets; information security; patents and other intellectual property considerations; and antitrust law. Keeping the legal questions and concepts sufficiently generic so that lawyers can benefit from the handbook irrespective of their jurisdiction and legal background, the authors cover such specific characteristics of Blockchain implementation as so-called smart contracts, tokenization, distributed ledger technology, digital securities, recognition of code as law, data privacy challenges and Blockchain joint ventures. Because Blockchain is a relatively new technology still in process and raises a multitude of legal questions, this well-balanced introduction - at a depth that allows non-IT experts to understand the groundwork for legal assessments - provides a solid basis for organizations and their legal advisors in identifying and resolving Blockchain-related issues. Legal practitioners, in-house lawyers, IT professionals and advisors, consultancy firms, Blockchain associations and legal scholars will welcome this highly informative and practical book.

META-HEURISTIC ALGORITHMS FOR ADVANCED DISTRIBUTED SYSTEMS Discover a collection of meta-heuristic algorithms for distributed systems in different application domains Meta-heuristic techniques are increasingly gaining favor as tools for optimizing distributed systems—generally, to enhance the utility and precision of database searches. Carefully applied, they can increase system effectiveness, streamline operations, and reduce cost. Since many of these techniques are derived from nature, they offer considerable scope for research and development, with the result that this field is growing rapidly. Meta-Heuristic Algorithms for Advanced Distributed Systems offers an overview of these techniques and their applications in various distributed systems. With strategies based on both global and local searching, it covers a wide range of key topics related to meta-heuristic algorithms. Those interested in the latest developments in distributed systems will find this book indispensable. Meta-Heuristic Algorithms for Advanced Distributed Systems readers will also find: Analysis of security issues, distributed system design, stochastic optimization techniques, and more Detailed discussion of meta-heuristic techniques such as the genetic algorithm, particle swam optimization, and many others Applications of optimized distribution systems in healthcare and other key??industries Meta-Heuristic Algorithms for Advanced Distributed Systems is ideal for academics and researchers studying distributed systems, their design, and their applications.

Explore distributed ledger technology, decentralization, and smart contracts and develop real-time decentralized applications with Ethereum and Solidity Key FeaturesGet to grips with the underlying technical principles and implementations of blockchainBuild powerful applications using Ethereum to secure transactions and create smart contractsGain advanced insights into cryptography and cryptocurrenciesBook Description Blockchain technology is a distributed ledger with applications in industries such as finance, government, and media. This Learning Path is your guide to building blockchain networks using Ethereum, JavaScript, and Solidity. You will get started by understanding the technical foundations of blockchain technology, including distributed systems, cryptography and how this digital ledger keeps data secure. Further into the chapters, you’ll gain insights into developing applications using Ethereum and Hyperledger. As you build on your knowledge of Ether security, mining , smart contracts, and Solidity, you’ll learn how to create robust and secure applications that run exactly as programmed without being affected by fraud, censorship, or third-party interference. Toward the concluding chapters, you’ll explore how blockchain solutions can be implemented in applications such as IoT apps, in addition to its use in currencies. The Learning Path will also highlight how you can increase blockchain scalability and even discusses the future scope of this fascinating and powerful technology. By the end of this Learning Path, you'll be equipped with the skills you need to tackle pain points encountered in the blockchain life cycle and confidently design and deploy decentralized applications. This Learning Path includes content from the following Packt products: Mastering Blockchain - Second Edition by Imran BashirBuilding Blockchain Projects by Narayan PrustyWhat you will learnUnderstand why decentralized applications are importantDiscover the mechanisms behind bitcoin and alternative cryptocurrenciesMaster how cryptography is used to secure data with the help of examplesMaintain, monitor, and manage your blockchain solutionsCreate Ethereum walletsExplore research topics and the future scope of blockchain technologyWho this book is for This Learning Path is designed for blockchain developers who want to build decentralized applications and smart contracts from scratch using Hyperledger. Basic familiarity with any programming language will be useful to get started with this Learning Path.

The two-volume set LNCS 13950 and 13951 constitutes revised selected papers from the 27th International Conference on Financial Cryptography and Data Security, FC 2023, which was held from May 1-5, 2023, in Bol, Croatia. The 39 full and 2 short papers presented in these proceedings were carefully reviewed and selected from 182 submissions. They were organized in topical sections as follows:Part I: Consensus; cryptographic protocols; decentralized finance; Part II: Proof of X; Layer 2; attack techniques, defenses, and attack case studies; empirical studies and more decentralized finance; game theory and protocols.