Summary

This chapter has looked at the rise of Blockchain technology and focused more on the financial aspect of this technology. It has defined what Blockchain means and how consensus is arrived at in the technology. It has discussed two consensus mechanisms; proof of work and proof of stake. We then looked at the applications of this technology. As discussed, the technology can be applied in several areas, such as providing digital identities, providing currencies for transacting, and for auditing. We then focused on cryptocurrencies. A definition of cryptocurrencies and an explanation of how they work have been given. Since the cryptocurrencies are stored in crypto wallets, the chapter has gone through all of the different wallets. These are desktop, web, hardware, mobile, and paper wallets. We then looked at the challenges facing cryptocurrencies, such as unstable values,...