Understand the Blockchain Ecosystem and How to Make it Work for You
Vikram Dhillon . David Metcalf . Max Hooper
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Book Details
Price
|
3.00 USD |
|---|---|
Pages
| 225 p |
File Size
|
8,980 KB |
File Type
|
PDF format |
ISBN-13 (electronic) ISBN-13 (pbk)
| 978-1-4842-3081-7 978-1-4842-3080-0 |
Copyright
| 2017 by Vikram Dhillon, David Metcalf, and Max Hooper |
Vikram Dhillon is a research fellow in the Institute of Simulation and Training at the University of Central Florida where he studies the integration of emerging technologies into existing infrastructure. The focus of his recent work has been on decentralized ledger technologies. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Molecular Biology from the University of Central Florida, where his focus was bioinformatics. Currently, he is a DO-MBA candidate at the College of Medicine, Nova Southeastern University. He is the author of several scientific papers in computational genomics and two books, the most recent one on blockchain enabled applications. He has also written in-depth articles for the Bitcoin Magazine and letters for the New York Times. He was previously funded by the National Science Foundation through the Innovation Corps program to study customer discovery and apply it to commercialize high-risk startup ideas. He is a member of the Linux Foundation and has been active in open source projects and initiatives for the past several years. He often speaks at local conferences and meetups about programming, design, security, and entrepreneurship.
He currently lives in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and writes a technology-focused blog at opsbug.com.
David Metcalf has more than 20 years of experience in the design and
research of Web-based and mobile technologies converging to enable learning and health care. Dr. Metcalf is Director of the Mixed Emerging Technology Integration Lab (METIL) at UCF’s Institute for Simulation and Training. The team has built mHealth solutions, simulations, games, eLearning, mobile and enterprise IT systems for Google, J&J, the Veterans Administration, U.S. military, and the UCF College of Medicine among others. Recent projects include Lake Nona’s Intelligent Home
prototype and SignificantTechnology, a mobile-enabled online degree and eResource kit. Dr. Metcalf encourages spin-offs from the lab as part of the innovation process and has launched Moving Knowledge and several other for-profit and nonprofit ventures as examples. In
addition to research and commercial investments, he supports social
entrepreneurship in education and health. Dr. Metcalf continues to bridge the gap between corporate
learning and simulation techniques and nonprofit and social entrepreneurship. Simulation, mobilization,
mobile patient records and medical decision support systems, visualization systems, scalability models,
secure mobile data communications, gaming, innovation management, and operational excellence are his current research topics. Dr. Metcalf frequently presents at industry and research events shaping business strategy and use of technology to improve learning, health, and human performance. He is the coeditor and author of Connected Health (2017), HIMSS mHealth Innovation (2014) and the HIMSS Books bestseller mHealth: From Smartphones to Smart Systems (2012).
Max Hooper is the chief executive officer of Merging Traffic. He is
responsible for the company’s management and growth strategy, serving as the corporate liaison to the financial services industry and various capital formation groups. Prior to starting the company, he was
cofounder of Equity Broadcasting Corporation (EBC), a media company that owned and operated more than 100 television stations across the United States. He was responsible for activities in the cable, satellite, investment banking, and technology industries and during his tenure it grew to become one of the top 10 largest broadcasting companies in the country. A lifelong learner, Hooper has earned five doctorate degrees: PhD, DMin, PhD, ThD, and DMin from a variety of institutions. As an avid
runner, he has completed more than 100 marathons and an additional 20 ultra-marathons, which are 50- or 100-mile runs. He has completed the Grand Slam of Ultra Running. Hooper is committed to his family and is a husband, father to five children, and grandfather to seven grandsons. He is active in many organizations and serves on various boards of directors. He works globally with several ministries and nonprofit aid groups, and was honored to speak at the United Nations in New York in 2015.
About the Technical Reviewer
Zeeshan Chawdhary is an avid technologist, with 13 years of experience in the industry. Having started his career in mobile development with J2ME in 2005, he ventured into Web development in 2006, and has extensive experience in building robust and scalable Web applications.
He has led teams to build Web and mobile apps for companies like Nokia, Motorola, Mercedes, GM,
American Airlines, and Marriott while serving as chief technology officer for a San Francisco–based firm. He is based in Mumbai, India, and has also dabbled with a few startups in India, leading teams in building a Houzz+Etsy model and car rental platform, in addition to authoring a few books on iOS, Windows Phone, and iBooks.
He currently works with an international team as director of development, serving clients with
technologies like Magento, Wordpress, WooCommerce, Laravel, ReactJS, and .Net.
He can be reached at imzeeshanc@gmail.com or on Twitter at @imzeeshan.
Table of Contents
About the Authors ........................................... xi
About the Technical Reviewer ...................................................... xiii
Acknowledgments .................................................................xv
Introduction .................................................xvii
■Chapter 1: Behold the Dreamers
Paradigm Shift .................................................................................................................. 1
Cypherpunk Community ................................................................................................... 3
Summary .......................................................................................................................... 5
■Chapter 2: The Gold Rush: Mining Bitcoin
Reaching Consensus ........................................................................................................ 7
Mining Hardware ............................................................................................................ 12
Startup Stories ............................................................................................................... 13
New Consensus ............................................................................................................. 14
Summary ........................................................................................................................ 14
References ..................................................................................................................... 14
■Chapter 3: Foundations of Blockchain
Transaction Workflow ..................................................................................................... 15
Simple Payment Verification .......................................................................................... 21
Blockchain Forks ............................................................................................................ 23
Summary ........................................................................................................................ 24
References ..................................................................................................................... 24
■Chapter 4: Unpacking Ethereum
Overview of Ethereum .............................................................. 25
Accounts in Ethereum ...............................................................27
State, Storage, and Gas ............................................................................. 30
Ethereum Virtual Machine ....................................................................... 33
Solidity Programming Language ..............................................................36
World Computer .............................................................................................38
Blockchain-as-a-Service .....................................................................41
Decentralized Applications ....................................................... 42
Geth and Mist ....................................................................44
Summary ........................................................................................ 44
References ......................................................................... 45
■Chapter 5: Decentralized Organizations
Aragon Kernel ...................................................................... 48
Identity Management ................................................................................ 49
DAO/Company Walkthrough .............................................. 50
Setting Up a DAO ...........................................................................50
Issuing Shares ...............................................................................54
Fundraising and Bylaws .................................................................................63
Summary ................................................................... 66
References ............................................................. 66
■Chapter 6: The DAO Hacked
Introduction ........................................................................... 67
The Team .............................................................................. 69
The DAO ........................................................................... 70
The ICO Highlights ............................................................... 72
The Hack ......................................................................... 72
The Debate ............................................................................. 75
The Split: ETH and ETC ......................................................... 76
The Future ........................................................................... 77
Summary ............................................................................ 78
■Chapter 7: Ethereum Tokens: High-Performance Computing
Tokens and Value Creation ......................................................... 79
Ethereum Computational Market ............................................................... 83
Golem Network .................................................................... 89
Application Registry ................................................................................90
Transaction Framework ...........................................................................91
Supercomputing Organized by Network Mining ................................. 96
Buyer–Hub–Miner Interactions ................................................................101
Superglobal Operation System for Network Architecture .................................. 104
iEx.ec ............................................................................ 106
Summary ......................................................................... 109
References ............................................... 109
■Chapter 8: Blockchain in Science
Reproducibility Crisis ................................................ 111
Clinical Trials ...................................................................... 115
Reputation System ............................................................... 119
Pharmaceutical Drug Tracking ...................................... 122
Prediction Markets and Augar ...................................................................123
Summary ..................................................................... 124
■Chapter 9: Blockchain in Health Care
Payer–Providers–Patient Model ...................................... 125
Workflow ............................................................................. 127
Hot Switching ............................................................................131
Waste Management: Capital One, Ark Invest, and Gem ..................... 131
Verifiable Data Audit ...................................................................................134
Summary ......................................................................................... 137
References ............................................................................... 137
■Chapter 10: The Hyperledger Project
Current Status ......................................................................... 139
Governance .............................................................140
Fabric and Sawtooth ...................................................... 141
Decision Models: Do You Need a Blockchain? ..................................... 144
Rapid Prototyping with Hyperledger Composer .................................. 147
Summary ....................................................................... 149
■Chapter 11: Recent Developments in Blockchain
EOS Blockchain ......................................................... 151
Delegated Proof-of-Stake .................................................................154
Parallel Execution ...............................................................................157
Scheduling ....................................................................................159
Chain Core ........................................................................... 160
Ethereum Enterprise Alliance ............................................. 175
zk-SNARKs ...............................................................177
Review of Quorum ....................................................................177
Ethereum Enterprise Roadmap ....................................................................180
Summary ................................................................. 181
References ............................................................ 181
■Chapter 12: Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital
State of the Blockchain Industry ........................... 184
Blockchain Solution .................................................................................184
Venture Capital and ICOs ................................................................. 185
Initial Coin Offerings ................................................. 185
Digital Currency Exchanges .............................................................. 189
Status of ICO Regulation ........................................................ 189
Pros and Cons of ICO Investments ...........................................................190
Regulation Technology: RegChain ............................................... 192
New Blockchain Companies and Ideas ............................ 194
Homechain and SALT .............................................................194
Ambrosus, Numerai, and SWARM ......................................................194
Democratizing Investment Opportunities ........................... 195
Summary ............................................................... 196
■Appendix A: Building a Health Care Consortium
■Appendix B: References
■Index
Bookscreen
Introduction
Blockchain technology is poised to fundamentally change our online world. This is not some kind of
miraculous, cure-all, money-making solution. One specific use of blockchain such as Bitcoin, but rather the fundamental shift for the offline world ushered in by the web with easy to use access to information and the ability to make digital copies of data or content in an unprecedented ease for distribution across the globe. Hence the name, the World Wide Web. That interconnectivity has suffered fundamental problems when it comes to transactions - TRUST.
The fundamental shift that blockchain technology represents is a method for moving away from an
attempt to have a central trusted authority in a massively distributed network. But instead to have multiple sources of trust that must all agree, based on an algorithm that this transaction can be trusted as valid. Furthermore, most blockchain solutions offer an immutable and enduring record of a transaction as it is hard for any trusted or untrusted source to change or modify. This presents a completely new level of security, privacy, and TRUST to our online world. As you will see throughout this book, a variety of uses, protocols, and standards make up the current blockchain ecosystem.
We also strive to strike the perfect balance between being a technical reference and a how-to handbook
that shows practical examples of both current and future state use cases. While not comprehensive, we do select for several high promise areas where blockchain technology is beginning to enable applications for an entirely new industry segment. We hope this book will inform you and provides a roadmap to your success leveraging blockchain technology to enable new applications for your business.
Throughout the book, you will see many examples of applications to reinforce key points. Early
examples extend beyond financial transactions to cover other aspects of FinTech, RegTech (regulation),
InsuranceTech, GovTech (eVoting, licensing, records and certification), HealthTech, and many others.
In order to understand these early examples, it is necessary to explore the Blockchain history;
fundamentals of distributed trust; consensus; hardware, software and encryption in the early chapters.
Next, you’ll learn about the network transactions and simplified payments in Blockchain fundamentals.
We’ll compare this with the extended capabilities if Ethereum and specific characteristics like how gas
works and distributed apps along with examples of Blockchain as a Service. To further extend these
capabilities, two chapters are devoted to DAO/Decentralized Organizations and the details and examples in these areas. In Chapter 7, Ethereum Tokens are highlighted for value creation with various technology and business sector examples that highlight the power of Smart Contracts to allow multiple sources of value and rules to be embedded in the transactions directly. The next three chapters- 8, 9 and 10 segment examples into Blockchain in Science, Blockchain in Healthcare, and details on the structure of the Hyperledger Project, respectively. The final two chapters, 11 and 12 explore many recent developments and future trends, particularly in ICOs and the effect on financial markets and processes. Don’t miss the late-breaking Appendix with a detailed interview with the Hashed Health leadership team and their insights on Blockchain in Healthcare. We hope you find the information in this book useful as well as enjoyable as you explore The fundamentals, current best practices and future potential of Blockchain Enabled Applications. We welcome your feedback at info@metil.org.