Technology · Ebook

Blockchain: The Chain of Trust

by Arjun Khanna

Everyone has heard of blockchain; far fewer can explain it. This complete guide fixes that. Across twelve in-depth chapters — with clear diagrams throughout — it builds the entire idea from the ground up: the problem of trust, the cypherpunk history, distributed ledgers, hashing and blocks, consensus, keys and ownership, smart contracts, tokens and DeFi, the different kinds of chains, the hard problems of security and scale, layer-2 scaling, and where the technology genuinely belongs. It does the rarer thing, too: it tells you honestly where a blockchain shines and where an ordinary database would serve you better. No hype, no price charts, no prerequisites — just a thorough, working understanding you can keep.

Contents

1. 1PrefaceFree preview
2. 2Chapter One — Why Blockchain? The Problem of TrustFree preview
3. 3Chapter Two — A Short History: From Cypherpunks to Consensus
4. 4Chapter Three — The Distributed Ledger
5. 5Chapter Four — Blocks, Hashes, and the Unbreakable Chain
6. 6Chapter Five — Consensus: Agreement Without a Boss
7. 7Chapter Six — Keys, Wallets, and What It Means to Own
8. 8Chapter Seven — Smart Contracts and the World Computer
9. 9Chapter Eight — Tokens, NFTs, and Decentralised Finance
10. 10Chapter Nine — Public, Private, and Permissioned Chains
11. 11Chapter Ten — The Hard Problems: Security, Scalability, Energy
12. 12Chapter Eleven — Scaling the Chain: Layer 2 and the Modular Future
13. 13Chapter Twelve — Where Blockchain Belongs: Uses, Limits, and the Road Ahead