The book of crypto : the complete guide to understanding Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies and digital assets

Preface
Acknowledgements
Contents
About the Author
List of Figures
List of Tables
1 The History of Money
	1 The Importance of Money and Bartering
	2 Primitive Forms of Money
	3 The Impact of Money on the Development of Civilisations
	4 The Invention of Coinage
		4.1 China
		4.2 Lydia
	5 The Transformative Impact of Money
		5.1 Greece
		5.2 Rome
	6 Faith and Money
		6.1 Buddhism
		6.2 Islam
		6.3 Christianity
	7 The Italian Bankers and the Renaissance
	8 China and the Rise of Paper Money
	9 Portugal, Spain and the Age of Discoveries
	10 The Dutch Innovations
	11 The British and the Bank of England
	12 The American Colonies and Paper Banknotes
	13 The Return of the Gold Standard
	14 Leaving the Gold Standard and the Financial Crisis
	15 The Bitcoin Whitepaper
2 Bitcoin
	1 The Basics of Cryptography and Encryption
		1.1 Early Encryption Techniques
		1.2 Asymmetric or Public Key Cryptography
		1.3 Early Experiments with Cryptocurrencies
	2 The Bitcoin Whitepaper
		2.1 The Role of Cryptography in Bitcoin
		2.2 The Role of Decentralisation in Bitcoin
		2.3 The Role of Immutability in Bitcoin
		2.4 The Role of Proof-of-Work in Bitcoin
	3 The Growth of Bitcoin
	4 Retail Adoption of Bitcoin
	5 Bitcoin as Legal Tender?
	6 Bitcoin as Company Treasury
	7 Challenges Facing Bitcoin
	8 The Bitcoin Lightning Network
	9 Proof-of-Stake
3 Ethereum
	1 History of Ethereum
	2 How Is Ethereum Different?
		2.1 What Is the Concept of “Gas” on the Ethereum Blockchain?
	3 What Is Ethereum 2.0?
4 The Emergence of New Blockchains and Crypto-Assets
	1 Examples of Cryptocurrencies and Tokens
		1.1 Algorand (ALGO)
		1.2 Avalanche (AVAX)
		1.3 Binance Coin (BNB)
		1.4 Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
		1.5 Bitcoin SV (BSV)
		1.6 Cardano (ADA)
		1.7 Chainlink (LINK)
		1.8 DASH (DASH)
		1.9 Dogecoin (DOGE)
		1.10 Eos
		1.11 Hedera Hashgraph (HBAR)
		1.12 IOTA (IOTA)
		1.13 Litecoin (LTC)
		1.14 Monero (XMR)
		1.15 Polkadot (DOT)
		1.16 Polygon (MATIC)
		1.17 Ripple (XRP)
		1.18 Shiba Inu (SHIB)
		1.19 Solana (SOL)
		1.20 Stellar (XLM)
		1.21 Tezos (XTZ)
		1.22 Tron (TRX)
		1.23 Vechain (VET)
		1.24 ZCash (ZEC)
5 The Technology Behind Bitcoin: Blockchain
	1 Defining the Characteristics of a Blockchain
	2 Differences Between Private and Public Blockchains
	3 Challenges of Blockchain
	4 Use Cases of Blockchain
6 Cryptocurrencies
	1 Fungible and Non-fungible Tokens
	2 Payment Tokens
	3 Cryptocurrencies
		3.1 Decentralised Cryptocurrencies
		3.2 Centralised Cryptocurrencies
		3.3 Privacy Coins
7 Stablecoins
	1 Fiat-Collateralised Stablecoins
		1.1 Regulated Fiat Stablecoins
		1.2 Non-regulated Fiat Stablecoins
	2 Crypto-Collateralised Stablecoins
	3 Non-collateralised Stablecoins
	4 Facebook’s Libra (Meta’s Diem)
		4.1 Libra 1.0
		4.2 Libra 2.0
		4.3 Diem
8 Central Bank Digital Currencies
	1 Benefits for Central Banks
	2 History and Catalysts for CBDCs
9 Wholesale Central Bank Digital Currencies
	1 National Model
	2 Cross-Border (Corridor Model)
	3 Cross-Border (Multi-CBDC) Model
		3.1 Compatible CBDC Systems
		3.2 Interlinked CBDC Systems
		3.3 Single mCBDC Multi-Currency System
10 Retail Central Bank Digital Currencies
	1 Token-Based Issuance
	2 Account-Based
	3 Forms of Retail CBDC
		3.1 Decentralised Approach
		3.2 Direct Approach
		3.3 Synthetic Approach
		3.4 Two-Tier/intermediated Approach
		3.5 Platform Approach
11 Utility Tokens and Social Tokens
	1 Utility Tokens
	2 When Is a Token a Security?
	3 Social Tokens
12 Security Tokens
	1 What Is Tokenisation?
	2 Tokenisation of New Investment Instruments
	3 Tokenisation of Pre-existing Investment Instruments
13 Non-Fungible Tokens
	1 Non-Fungible Tradable Tokens
	2 Non-Tradable and Non-Fungible NFTs
14 Bitcoin and Crypto Mining
	1 The Evolution of Bitcoin and Crypto Mining
	2 What Are Mining Pools?
	3 The Environmental Impact Debate
	4 Where Does Mining Take Place?
15 Crypto-Asset Creation and Distribution
	1 Initial Coin Offerings
	2 Initial Exchange Offerings
	3 Security Token Offerings
	4 Hard and Soft Forks
	5 Airdrops
	6 Liquidity Mining/Yield Farming
16 Decentralised Finance (DeFi)
	1 What Is DeFi?
	2 Can DeFi Be Regulated?
	3 DeFi Stablecoins
	4 DeFi Borrowing and Lending
	5 What Are Flash Loans?
	6 DeFi Exchanges
	7 What Are Automated Market Makers (AMM)?
		7.1 What is Total Value Locked (TVL)?
		7.2 What Is Impermanent Loss When Referring to Decentralised Exchanges?
	8 DeFi Synthetic Assets
	9 DeFi Insurance
	10 Aggregators
	11 Benefits and Challenges of DeFi
17 Crypto Regulations and Compliance
	1 Different Approaches to Crypto Regulations
		1.1 A Positive Disposition to Crypto-Assets
		1.2 A Neutral Approach to Crypto-Assets
		1.3 A Negative Approach to Crypto-Assets
		1.4 The Future of Crypto-Asset Regulation
	2 Different Approaches to Crypto Tax
	3 Crypto and Illicit Activities
	4 Crypto Compliance
18 Crypto Exchanges
	1 Centralised Crypto-Asset Exchanges
		1.1 Fiat-to-Crypto Exchanges
		1.2 Crypto-to-Crypto Exchanges
		1.3 Crypto Derivative Exchanges
			The Invention of the Perpetual Swap
			Regulatory Challenges
	2 Decentralised Crypto-Asset Exchanges
	3 Cybersecurity and Hacking Considerations
		3.1 Inherent Risks with Crypto-Assets
		3.2 Centralised Crypto Exchange Hacks
		3.3 Decentralised Crypto Exchange Hacks
19 Crypto Funds
	1 Active Crypto Funds
	2 Passive Crypto Funds
	3 Crypto ETFs
	4 Venture Capital Crypto Funds
	5 Tokenised Funds
20 Crypto Ecosystem Enablers
	1 Traditional Financial Institutions
	2 Crypto-Focused Banks
	3 Crypto Borrowing and Lending Platforms
	4 Institutional Investors
	5 Crypto-Asset Custodians and Wallets
		5.1 Third-Party Crypto Custodians
		5.2 Self-Custody
	6 Large Tech Firms
	7 Service Providers
	8 Crypto Media Ecosystem
21 Future Trends to Watch
	1 Web 3.0
	2 The Metaverse
	3 Quantum Computing
	4 Zero-Knowledge Roll-Ups
	5 Decentralised Autonomous Organisations (DAO)
Conclusion
Notes
Index