Join the technological revolution that's taking the financial world by storm. Mastering Bitcoin is your guide through the seemingly complex world of Bitcoin, providing the knowledge you need to participate in the internet of money. Whether you're building the next killer app, investing in a startup, or simply curious about the technology, this revised and expanded third edition provides essential detail to get you started.
Bitcoin, the first successful decentralized digital currency, has already spawned a multibillion-dollar global economy open to anyone with the knowledge and passion to participate. Mastering Bitcoin provides the knowledge. You supply the passion.
The third edition includes
A broad introduction to Bitcoin and its underlying blockchain—ideal for nontechnical users, investors, and business executives
An explanation of Bitcoin's technical foundation and cryptographic currency for developers, engineers, and software and systems architects
Details of the Bitcoin decentralized network, peer-to-peer architecture, transaction lifecycle, and security principles
New developments such as Taproot, Tapscript, Schnorr signatures, and the Lightning Network
A deep dive into Bitcoin applications, including how to combine the building blocks offered by this platform into powerful new tools
Author(s): Andreas M. Antonopoulos and David A. Harding
Edition: 3
Publisher: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Year: 2023
Language: English
Commentary: raw & unedited
Pages: 550
1. Introduction
History of Bitcoin
Bitcoin Uses, Users, and Their Stories
Getting Started
Choosing a Bitcoin Wallet
Quick Start
Recovery Codes
Bitcoin addresses
Receiving bitcoin
Getting Your First Bitcoin
Finding the Current Price of Bitcoin
Sending and Receiving Bitcoin
2. How Bitcoin Works
Bitcoin Overview
Buying from an Online Store
Bitcoin Transactions
Transaction Inputs and Outputs
Transaction Chains
Making Change
Coin selection
Common Transaction Forms
Constructing a Transaction
Getting the Right Inputs
Creating the Outputs
Adding the Transaction to the Ledger
Bitcoin Mining
Mining Transactions in Blocks
Spending the Transaction
3. Bitcoin Core: The Reference Implementation
From Bitcoin to Bitcoin Core
Bitcoin Development Environment
Compiling Bitcoin Core from the Source Code
Selecting a Bitcoin Core Release
Configuring the Bitcoin Core Build
Building the Bitcoin Core Executables
Running a Bitcoin Core Node
Configuring the Bitcoin Core Node
Bitcoin Core Application Programming Interface (API)
Getting Information on Bitcoin Core’s Status
Exploring and Decoding Transactions
Exploring Blocks
Using Bitcoin Core’s Programmatic Interface
Alternative Clients, Libraries, and Toolkits
C/C++
JavaScript
Java
Python
Go
Rust
C#
4. Keys and Addresses
Public Key Cryptography
Private Keys
Elliptic Curve Cryptography Explained
Public Keys
ScriptPubKey and ScriptSig
IP Addresses: The Original Address For Bitcoin (P2PK)
Legacy Addresses for P2PKH
Base58Check Encoding
Decode from Base58Check
Compressed public keys
Legacy Pay-to-Script-Hash (P2SH)
Bech32 addresses
Problems with bech32 addresses
Bech32m
Private key formats
Advanced Keys and Addresses
Vanity Addresses
Paper Wallets
About the Authors
