Description:

Mastering Bitcoin is essential reading for everyone interested in learning about bitcoin basics, the technical operation of bitcoin, or if you're building the next great bitcoin killer app or business. From using a bitcoin wallet to buy a cup of coffee, to running a bitcoin marketplace with hundreds of thousands of transactions, or collaboratively building new financial innovations that will transform our understanding of currency and credit, this book will help you engineer money. You're about to unlock the API to a new economy. This book is your key.

This book will help you learn everything you need to know about decentralized digital money, which is one of the most exciting technical revolutions in decades. Just as the Internet has transformed dozens of industries - from media and entertainment to retailing, travel and many more - decentralized digital money, in the form of crypto-currencies, has the ability to transform the foundations of money, credit and financial services. It also has the power to transform other social activities and institutions that we don't usually associate directly with money, such as corporations, governance, voting and the law.

As the first successful digital currency, bitcoin is the natural starting point for anyone interested in decentralized digital money, its implications and applications. Mastering Bitcoin describes the technical foundations of bitcoin and other cryptographic currencies, from cryptography basics, such as keys and addresses, to the data structures, network protocols and the consensus mechanism ("mining") that underpin bitcoin. Each technical topic is explained with user stories, elegant analogies and examples, and code snippets illustrating the key concepts. The first two chapters offer a broad and accessible introduction to bitcoin that is intended for all audiences, from new non-technical users to investors and business executives seeking to better understand bitcoin. The remainder of the book dives into the technical details of bitcoin's operation and is aimed at professional developers, engineers, software and systems architects, systems administrators and technically-minded people interested in the inner workings of bitcoin and comparable crypto-currencies. Mastering Bitcoin is intended to be used as a reference book for technical professionals, as a self-study guide for bitcoin entrepreneurs, and as a textbook for university courses on bitcoin and digital currencies.

Bitcoin is still in its infancy, and yet it has already spawned a multi-billion dollar, global economy that is growing exponentially. Both new and established companies are adding bitcoin as a payment method, and investors are funding a flurry of new bitcoin and related startups. Mastering Bitcoin can help you become part of this vibrant new economy. The time to get started is now.

Review

"When I talk about Bitcoin, I am sometimes asked 'but how does it really work?' Now I have a great answer for that question, because anybody who reads Mastering Bitcoin will have a deep understanding of how it works and will be well-equipped to write the next generation of amazing cryptocurrency applications" - Gavin Andresen, Chief Scientist, Bitcoin Foundation.

"Mastering Bitcoin is the best technical reference available on bitcoin today. And bitcoin is likely to be seen in retrospect as the most important technology of this decade. As such, this book is an absolute must-have for any developer, especially those interested in building applications with the bitcoin protocol. Highly recommended." - Balaji S. Srinivasan (@balajis), General Partner Andreessen Horowitz

"Bitcoin and blockchain technologies are becoming fundamental building blocks for the next generation internet. Silicon Valley's best and brightest are working on it. Andreas' book will help you join the software revolution in the world of finance." - Naval Ravikant, cofounder, AngelList

"The invention of the Bitcoin Blockchain represents an entirely new platform to build upon, one that will enable an ecosystem as wide and diverse as the Internet itself. As one of the preeminent thought leaders, Andreas M. Antonopoulos is the perfect choice to write this book." - Roger Ver, Bitcoin Entrepreneur & Investor

AT&T Tech Channel offers a video review of "Mastering Bitcoin"

youtu.be/aR3P50L8kjw

About the Author

Andreas M. Antonopoulos is a noted technologist and serial entrepreneur who has become one of the most well-known and well-respected figures in bitcoin. As an engaging public speaker, teacher and writer, Andreas makes complex subjects accessible and easy to understand. As an advisor, he helps startups recognize, evaluate, and navigate security and business risks.

Andreas literally grew up with the Internet, starting his first company, an early BBS and proto-ISP, as a teenager in his home in Greece. He earned degrees in Computer Science, Data Communications and Distributed Systems from University College London (UCL), recently ranked in the world's top 10 universities. After moving to the US Andreas co-founded and managed a successful technology research company, and in that role advised Fortune 500 company executives on networking, security, data centers and cloud computing. More than 200 of his articles on security, cloud computing and data centers have been published.

In 1990, Andreas started teaching on various IT topics in private, professional and academic environments. Andreas honed his speaking skills in front of audiences ranging in size from five executives in a boardroom to thousands of people in large conferences. With more than four hundred speaking engagements under his belt he is considered a world-class and charismatic public speaker and teacher. In 2014, he was appointed as a teaching fellow with the University of Nicosia, the first university in the world to offer a Masters Degree in Digital Currency. In this role, he helped to developed the curriculum and co-taught the course.

As a bitcoin entrepreneur, Andreas has founded a number of bitcoin businesses and launched several community open-source projects. He serves as an advisor to several crypto-currency companies. He is a widely published author of articles and blog posts on bitcoin, is a permanent host on the popular Let's Talk Bitcoin Podcast, and a frequent speaker at conferences worldwide.