1
Front Matter
5 chapters2
Part I: Foundations — What Is This and Why Does It Exist?
6 chapters- Part I: Foundations — What Is This and Why Does It Exist?
- Chapter 1: What Is a Blockchain? The Problem of Trust in a Trustless World
- Chapter 2: Cryptographic Foundations: Hashing, Digital Signatures, and Public-Key Cryptography
- Chapter 3: Distributed Systems Fundamentals: Consensus, Fault Tolerance, and the CAP Theorem
- Chapter 4: The Money Question: What Is Money, What Is Currency, and Why Does It Matter?
- Chapter 5: The Landscape in 2025+: Bitcoin, Ethereum, and the Broader Ecosystem
3
Part II: Bitcoin — The Original Protocol
6 chapters- Part II: Bitcoin — The Original Protocol
- Chapter 6: Bitcoin Protocol Deep Dive: Blocks, Transactions, and the UTXO Model
- Chapter 7: Mining and Proof of Work: How Bitcoin Achieves Consensus
- Chapter 8: Bitcoin Network: Nodes, Propagation, and the Peer-to-Peer Architecture
- Chapter 9: Bitcoin Scripting, Taproot, and Programmability
- Chapter 10: Bitcoin's Economic Model: Scarcity, Halving, and the Store of Value Thesis
4
Part III: Ethereum and Smart Contracts
7 chapters- Part III: Ethereum and Smart Contracts
- Chapter 11: Ethereum Architecture: The World Computer Concept
- Chapter 12: The Ethereum Virtual Machine: How Smart Contracts Execute
- Chapter 13: Solidity Programming: Writing Your First Smart Contract
- Chapter 14: Advanced Solidity: Patterns, Libraries, and Production-Grade Contracts
- Chapter 15: Smart Contract Security: Vulnerabilities, Exploits, and Auditing
- Chapter 16: Proof of Stake: How Ethereum Validates Without Mining
5
Part IV: The Broader Blockchain Landscape
5 chapters- Part IV: The Broader Blockchain Landscape
- Chapter 17: Alternative Consensus Mechanisms: DPoS, BFT Variants, DAGs, and Beyond
- Chapter 18: Layer 2 Scaling: Rollups, State Channels, and Sidechains
- Chapter 19: Interoperability: Bridges, Cross-Chain Communication, and the Multi-Chain Future
- Chapter 20: Permissioned Blockchains and Enterprise Use Cases
6
Part V: Decentralized Finance (DeFi)
6 chapters- Part V: Decentralized Finance (DeFi)
- Chapter 21: DeFi Foundations: What Decentralized Finance Is Actually Trying to Do
- Chapter 22: Decentralized Exchanges and Automated Market Makers
- Chapter 23: Lending, Borrowing, and Yield: Aave, Compound, and the Interest Rate Machine
- Chapter 24: Stablecoins: The Bridge Between Crypto and the Dollar
- Chapter 25: The DeFi Risk Stack: What Can Go Wrong and How to Evaluate Protocols
7
Part VI: Tokens, NFTs, and Digital Ownership
4 chapters8
Part VII: Regulation, Law, and Society
5 chapters- Part VII: Regulation, Law, and Society
- Chapter 29: Crypto Regulation: The Global Landscape and the Fight Over Classification
- Chapter 30: Crypto Crime, Fraud, and the Failure Cascade: Mt. Gox to FTX
- Chapter 31: Privacy, Surveillance, and the Paradox of Transparent Money
- Chapter 32: The Environmental Debate: Energy, E-Waste, and Sustainability
9
Part VIII: Building and Analyzing
5 chapters- Part VIII: Building and Analyzing
- Chapter 33: dApp Development: Building a Full-Stack Decentralized Application
- Chapter 34: On-Chain Analytics: Reading the Blockchain Like a Data Scientist
- Chapter 35: Evaluating Crypto Projects: The Critical Thinking Framework
- Chapter 36: Wallets, Custody, and Personal Security: Protecting Your Own Keys
10
Part IX: The Frontier and the Big Questions
5 chapters- Part IX: The Frontier and the Big Questions
- Chapter 37: Zero-Knowledge Proofs: The Cryptographic Breakthrough Reshaping Blockchain
- Chapter 38: Central Bank Digital Currencies: When Governments Build Blockchains
- Chapter 39: The Future of Blockchain: What Might Actually Matter in 10 Years
- Chapter 40: Forming Your Own View: A Framework for Thinking About Decentralized Systems
11
Appendices
11 chapters- Appendix A: Glossary of Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Terms
- Appendix B: Python Environment Setup
- Appendix C: Solidity Development Environment Setup
- Appendix D: Cryptographic Primitives Quick Reference
- Appendix E: Bitcoin and Ethereum RPC API Reference
- Appendix F: Smart Contract Design Patterns Catalog
- Appendix G: Token Standards Reference
- Appendix H: DeFi Protocol Architecture Comparison
- Appendix I: Regulatory Framework Comparison by Jurisdiction
- Appendix J: Timeline of Major Blockchain Events
- Appendix K: Further Resources and Community References
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