Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies: A Comprehensive Introduction Illustrated Edition

This outstanding book gives a comprehensive description of the technology behind bitcoin and related currencies. It covers not only the programs used inside the bitcoin system, but also gives a clear, intelligent discussion of such issues as the security risks, the incentives to maintain the system, the economics of mining and mining pools, and government regulation. It goes beyond bitcoin, with a chapter or two on applications which build upon bitcoin, development of related cryptocurrencies and future research directions. This is a serious effort, suitable as an introduction to research in the subject; each chapter includes appropriate references. There is also a wonderful preface about how the technology behind bitcoin evolved over a couple of decades. The book is really a pleasure to read, I couldn't put it down, and I've been recommending it broadly.

Don't bother with any other book than this gem for getting up-to-speed on Blockchain Technology. Tough sledding to get through, but it is thorough in taking you from start to finish about crypto, how it works, and how it can be implemented in business and society. I ordered several other books that I thought could do the job, but Mr. Narayanan and his co-authors nail it. Yes, in some parts it can be a bit technical, which causes a bit of slowdown in reading, but it will not leave you lacking for details of how BCT works and how it can be implemented.Hard copy that costs a bit more, but is worth it. I simply wanted to learn about BCT, and this book delivers.

This book does a nice job of explaining Bitcoin and crypto-currency technologies. The start of the book discusses technologies preceding Bitcoin and why many of these systems failed. From there the building blocks of how Bitcoin evolved were discussed. These sections were excellent; describing the main innovations of Bitcoin and how they were woven together to create Bitcoin.Wallets and mining are introduced and explained. Many different possible attack vectors on bitcoin were discussed. The balance was pretty good here between a technical discussion and a casual discussion. Most parts of the book are accessible to technical and non-technical people.Legal implications of Bitcoin are discussed in Chapter 7. I thought sections here relied too heavily on news stories and anecdotes.In the final chapters many different alternative coins and technologies that overlay on the Bitcoin block-chain were introduced. I was pleased to see the innovative altcoins each had something about them including Ethereum. Drawbacks of certain altcoins were discussed but overall the authors did not show any favoritism to certain coins which was nice.I am giving the book 4-stars though because the writing in certain sections, along with word choice was not well suited for a printed book. For example Chapter 5 was entitled "Bitcoin Mining" and the first sentence of the chapter (p.104) is: "This chapter is all about mining", and the final sentence to the chapter introduction was: "In this chapter, we answer all these questions.". These sentences contain basically no information at all, and I found this pattern repeated throughout the book. In one place a technology was described as "cool".Overall, the content is a great introduction to crypto-curriences but the authors could use some work on their penmanship.

This book is one of a very few that offer a clear and balanced introduction to what crytocurrencies are, how they originated, and what the future might hold. This is not a book about bitcoin or the currency exchange markets in cryto, it is a book about the collection of technologies that make up what we now call "the blockchain" and how and why value can be stored and transferred securely and publicly on these chains.It does not address Ethereum or programmable blockchains in any real way, but it will give you deep foundational understanding about how such a thing can possibly exist. If you care about where networked computational technologies will be going in the next 25 years start here.

This book is great. If there were include much more up-to-date of ICOs, that would be excellent.

Prof Felten et al have written a technical yet approachable introduction to blockchain technology and its applications (bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies). A first or second-year CS student will be comfortable with the technical portions of the book. But the general material is suitable for any audience.My only critical comment is that much has changed in the bitcoin / cryptocurrency community since late 2015 when the book was written. It would be good to update the book to reflect current hash rates (which are 25x higher), the rise of Etherium, and the hard fork that resulted in Bitcoin Cash.

This has just the right amount of detail to understand the mechanics of how bitcoin and various altcoins work, without drowning in enough details to re-implement them. Each chapter focuses on a specific aspect of cryptocurrencies, covering it succinctly and with a balanced approach. Arvind does not come across as a cryptocurrency fanatic, nor is he dismissive of the technology.

Bitcoin and tech explained at an introductory level with good examples and recommendations on its use. This book also is used with a Coursera course.