GuruBlog

Here is another link collection I have created. This time I collected some links, articles and examples about crypto currencies and other blockchain based technologies.

Bitcoin

Bitcoin is the mother of all blockchain based currencies and was invented in 2009 by someone who is using the pseudonym Satoshi Nakatomo

https://bitcoin.org/en/

Some introductional articles about bitcoin can be found where https://bitcoin.org/en/bitcoin-for-individuals http://www.coindesk.com/information/

To use bitcoins you need a bitcoin wallet. There is a list of wallets on bitcoin.org that might help you choose the right one https://bitcoin.org/en/choose-your-wallet

And here is a link to the Original paper from 2009 written by Satoshi Nakatomo that started it all https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf

Bitcoin or also maintains a list of resources with other interresting articles https://bitcoin.org/en/resources

Ethereum

Another very interesting application for Blockchains are smart contracts. Ethereum implements a gobaly distributed virtual machine where applications called dapps can be running on.

The ethereum website has lots of introduction articles and informations that help with getting started https://ethereum.org/

There are some nice tutorials like this greeter application (a smart contract version of a "hello world" application) https://www.ethereum.org/greeter

Other examples for dapps running on ehtereum can be found here http://dapps.ethercasts.com/ or here http://www.coindesk.com/7-cool-decentralized-apps-built-ethereum/

A very interesting applicaiton for smart contracts is the ujo project. Ujo tries to develop an alternative model for selling music and for artists to get payed. They developed a prototype with imogene heap in 2015 which is currently offline unfortunately. But they plan to go live with a new final version of ujo next year https://ujomusic.com/

Ripple

Ripple is a Blockchain based system that focuses mainly on financial insititutes and creates a blockchain based system for multicurrency transactions between banks.

More info can be found on ripples website https://ripple.com/

if you are interested in development against their api lots of information can be found on the ripple-developer site https://ripple.com/build/

Ripple uses a very different Consensus protocol for their blockchain which is described in a whitepaper here. https://ripple.com/consensus-whitepaper/

Hyperledger

Hyperledger is a project lead by linux.com that provides building blocks for creating blockchain based projects https://www.hyperledger.org/

There are currenly two implementations of blockchain code that have been contributed by IBM and Intel. Fabric and Sawtooth lake

Here is a introduction to the fabric subproject http://www.altoros.com/blog/technical-introduction-to-hyperledger-fabric/

And the latest documentation http://hyperledger-fabric.readthedocs.io/en/latest/

Here is the documentation of the Sawtooth lake project https://github.com/hyperledger/sawtooth-docs

Interledger

Interledger is a project started by two ripple developers that allows to create transactions across different ledger technologies. The used ledgers don't need to be blockchain based. This project tries to implement a common protocol different ledger and crypto coin implementations can use to allow their users to interact without forcing them to create a wallet or account on each ledger

More information about the interledger project can be found where https://interledger.org

Articles

Coindesk publishes articles about the busines side of blockchain quite regularily http://www.coindesk.com/

IBM maintains a website featuring blockchain some articles about blockchains and their applications http://www.ibm.com/blockchain/

Some more busines oriented articles about blockchain and bitcoin can be found here https://bitcoinmagazine.com/

And the blockchain technologies website hosts an interesting article about applications for blockchains http://www.blockchaintechnologies.com/blockchain-applications

Books

So far I have read two books about the topic

BitCoin For the Befuddled - which I really enjoyed reading and highly recommend if you search for a book that explains how bitcoin and cryptocurrencies work (using comics with crocodiles)

https://www.nostarch.com/bitcoinforthebefuddled

I also read "blockchain - blueprint for a new economy" this book describes the concepts of various applications for blockchain technology like cryptocurrency, smart contracts, and so on. For my taste the book featured to much high level concepts and lacks some more low level technical descriptions - but if you are looking for an explanation of the concept give it a try.

http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920037040.do