<div><p>Bitcoin is starting to come into its own as a digital currency, but the blockchain technology behind it could prove to be much more significant. This book takes you beyond the currency (&quot;Blockchain 1.0&quot;) and smart contracts (&quot;Blockchain 2.0&quot;) to demonstrate how the blockchain is in position to become the fifth disruptive computing paradigm after mainframes, PCs, the Internet, and mobile/social networking.</p><p>Author Melanie Swan, Founder of the Institute for Blockchain Studies, explains that the blockchain is essentially a public ledger with potential as a worldwide, decentralized record for the registration, inventory, and transfer of all assets—not just finances, but property and intangible assets such as votes, software, health data, and ideas.</p><p>Topics include:</p><ul><li>Concepts, features, and functionality of Bitcoin and the blockchain</li><li>Using the blockchain for automated tracking of all digital endeavors</li><li>Enabling censorship?resistant organizational models</li><li>Creating a decentralized digital repository to verify identity</li><li>Possibility of cheaper, more efficient services traditionally provided by nations</li><li>Blockchain for science: making better use of the data-mining network</li><li>Personal health record storage, including access to one’s own genomic data</li><li>Open access academic publishing on the blockchain</li></ul><p>This book is part of an ongoing O’Reilly series. <i>Mastering Bitcoin: Unlocking Digital Crypto-Currencies<i> introduces Bitcoin and describes the technology behind Bitcoin and the blockchain.<i>Blockchain: Blueprint for a New Economy</i> considers theoretical, philosophical, and societal impact of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies.</i></i></p></div>