Mastering Bitcoin

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 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