Cryptocurrencies and Blockchains

featuring

Vincenzo Liberatore

Associate Professor, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, CWRU

May 13, 2019

The following resources and titles provide an additional look at the topics of this month's talk for you to explore further. Enjoy!

Beginning Blockchain : A Beginner's Guide To Building Blockchain Solutions by Bikramaditya Singhal (2018)
- Beginning Blockchain is a beginner's guide to understanding the core concepts of Blockchain from a technical perspective. By learning the design constructs of different types of Blockchain, you will get a better understanding of building the best solution for specific use cases. The book covers the technical aspects of Blockchain technologies, cryptography, cryptocurrencies, and distributed consensus mechanisms. You will learn how these systems work and how to engineer them to design next-gen business solutions. (Book summary, excerpt, Apress)
The Bitcoin Guidebook : How To Obtain, Invest, And Spend The World's First Decentralized Cryptocurrency by Ian DeMartino (2019)
- This new, revised edition of The Bitcoin Guidebook has the most up-to-date info and recommended approaches for anyone who doesn't want to be left behind in the next technological revolution. It is an easy-to-read, easy-to-understand guide that explains everything the reader needs to know about how Bitcoin and other digital currencies work, what they can be used for, and how they will shape our society in the future. (Book summary, excerpt)
Blockchain : An Illustrated Guidebook To Understanding Blockchain by Mingxing Xu (2018)
- Blockchain should be easy to understand, but the so-called "experts" always explain it in such a complicated way! Through 200 original illustrations, this book provides simple explanation of Blockchain technology: what Blockchain is and how it works. This book will help you, understand everything about Blockchain, including: The Origin, The Theory, The People, The Application, The Brief History of Blockchain And many more fundamental aspects of blockchain! (Book summary, Skyhorse Publishing)
Blockchain And The Law : The Rule Of Code by Primavera De Filippi (2018)
- The book is a wonderfully thorough analysis of one of the most important technologies of this century. It is a comprehensive book that should be recommended reading for anyone interested in cryptography-based technologies. This technology with embedded economic incentives is likely to proliferate into many areas of the economy. De Filippi (Harvard) and Wright (Yeshiva) discuss difficult dilemmas that often center on the lack of governmental accountability. Perhaps decentralized blockchain technologies will ensure transparency better than traditional methods. (Choice Review, excerpt)
Blockchain: Background and Policy Issues. (online document) Library of Congress, Congressional Research Service. Updated February 28, 2018
Blockchain Revolution : How The Technology Behind Bitcoin And Other Cryptocurrencies Is Changing The World by Don Tapscott (2018)
- In Blockchain Revolution, Don and Alex Tapscott reveal how this game-changing technology will shape the future of the world economy, dramatically improving everything from healthcare records to online voting, and from insurance claims to artist royalty payments. Brilliantly researched and highly accessible, this is the essential text on the next major paradigm shift. Read it, or be left behind. (Book summary, excerpt, Penguin)
Cryto Economy : How Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, And Token-Economy Are Disrupting The Financial World by Aries Wanlin Wang (2018)
- In Crypto Economy, Aries Wanlin Wang provides the definitive blueprint for understanding how Bitcoin, Blockchain, and other digital technologies are disrupting traditional financial institutions and forever changing the world of commerce. (Book summary, excerpt)
Cryptocurrency: The Economics of Money and Selected Policy Issues. (online document) Library of Congress, Congressional Research Service. Updated December 7, 2018 .
Investigating Cryptocurrencies : Understanding, Extracting, And Analyzing Blockchain Evidence by Nick Furneaux (2018)
- Investigating Cryptocurrencies is the first book to help corporate, law enforcement, and other investigators understand the technical concepts and the techniques for investigating crimes utilizing the blockchain and related digital currencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. (Book summary, excerpt)
Life After Google : The Fall Of Big Data And The Rise Of The Blockchain Economy by George Gilder (2018)
- The Age of Google, built on big data and machine intelligence, has been an awesome era. But it's coming to an end. In Life after Google, George Gilder--the peerless visionary of technology and culture--explains why Silicon Valley is suffering a nervous breakdown and what to expect as the post-Google age dawns. Google's astonishing ability to "search and sort" attracts the entire world to its search engine and countless other goodies--videos, maps, email, calendars....And everything it offers is free, or so it seems. Instead of paying directly, users submit to advertising. The system of "aggregate and advertise" works--for a while--if you control an empire of data centers, but a market without prices strangles entrepreneurship and turns the Internet into a wasteland of ads. (Book summary, excerpt, Regnery Gateway)
The Truth Machine : The Blockchain And The Future Of Everything by Michael Casey (2018)
- The authors ably explain highly technical information in layperson's terms, and the text is neither too dense nor too basic. Readers may pick this one up for the Bitcoin connection and find themselves fascinated with the blockchain's potential to change the world's financial systems for the better. (Booklist Review, excerpt)
Blockchain for Dummies by Tiana Laurence (2017)
- Blockchain—the revolutionary technology behind the Bitcoin phenomenon—can also revolutionize financial transactions, data security, and information integrity for your business. This book shows you how it works and how your company can tap into its power. Discover different types of blockchains, what they can do, and the basics of blockchain platforms. You'll also find out how blockchain powers Bitcoin and benefits a variety of other industries. Be the first on your block with blockchain and reap the rewards! (Book summary)
The Politics Of Bitcoin : Software As Right-Wing Extremism by David Golumbia (2016)
- Since its introduction in 2009, Bitcoin has been widely promoted as a digital currency that will revolutionize everything from online commerce to the nation-state. Yet supporters of Bitcoin and its blockchain technology subscribe to a form of cyberlibertarianism that depends to a surprising extent on far-right political thought. The Politics of Bitcoin exposes how much of the economic and political thought on which this cryptocurrency is based emerges from ideas that travel the gamut, from Milton Friedman, F.A. Hayek, and Ludwig von Mises to Federal Reserve conspiracy theorists. (Book summary; University of Minnesota Press)

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