Blockchain Scalability and its Foundations in Distributed Systems

This practical new book offers the distributed-computing fundamental knowledge for individuals to connect with one another in a more secure and efficient way than with traditional blockchains. These new forms of secure, scalable blockchains promise to replace centralized institutions to connect individuals without the risks of user manipulations or data extortions.

The techniques taught herein consist of enhancing blockchain security and making blockchain scalable by relying on the observation that no blockchain can exist without solving the consensus problem. First, the state-of-the-art of consensus protocols are analyzed, hence motivating the need for a new family of consensus protocols offering strong (deterministic) guarantees. Second, a didactic series of classic blockchain vulnerabilities is presented to illustrate the importance of novel designs better suited for the adversarial environment of open networks.

These cutting-edge solutions are illustrated through the Redbelly blockchain design, which solves a different problem from the classic Byzantine consensus problem of 1982 and which delivers―in the modern blockchain context―high performance at large scale.

Topics and features:

• Covers the combination of security and distributed computing to devise the new generation of blockchains
• Shows how blockchain has shed new light on decades of research in distributed systems
• Provides instruction on the security needed by the industry to use blockchains in production
• Explains didactically the necessary ingredients to make blockchain efficient at large scale
• Helps fill the gap of knowledge in the highly demanded blockchain sector

This unique volume contains the building blocks to design secure and scalable blockchains. As such, it is dedicated to developers, application designers, and computer scientists and requires only a minimal undergraduate level in mathematics and computer science.

Vincent Gramoli is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow at the University of Sydney and the Chief Technology Officer of Redbelly Network. He teaches the Blockchain Scalability course on Coursera.

這本實用的新書提供了分散式計算的基礎知識，讓個人能夠以比傳統區塊鏈更安全和高效的方式與他人連接。這些新型安全可擴展的區塊鏈承諾取代中央機構，以避免使用者操縱或數據勒索的風險。

本書介紹了增強區塊鏈安全性和可擴展性的技術，並依賴於一個觀察：沒有解決共識問題的區塊鏈是無法存在的。首先，分析了共識協議的最新技術，從而引出了需要提供強（確定性）保證的新一代共識協議的需求。其次，通過介紹一系列經典區塊鏈漏洞，說明了在開放網絡的對抗環境中更適合的新型設計的重要性。

這些尖端解決方案通過Redbelly區塊鏈設計進行了演示，該設計解決了1982年經典的拜占庭共識問題，並在現代區塊鏈環境中實現了高性能的大規模應用。

本書的主題和特點包括：

- 結合安全和分散式計算，設計新一代區塊鏈
- 展示區塊鏈如何為分散系統的數十年研究帶來新的視角
- 提供行業使用區塊鏈的安全指導
- 以教學方式解釋使區塊鏈在大規模應用中高效運作所需的要素
- 幫助填補高需求的區塊鏈領域的知識空白

這本獨特的書籍包含了設計安全可擴展區塊鏈的基礎知識。因此，它專為開發人員、應用設計師和計算機科學家而設，只需要具備最低限度的大學數學和計算機科學知識。

Vincent Gramoli是悉尼大學的澳大利亞研究委員會未來研究員，也是Redbelly Network的首席技術官。他在Coursera上教授區塊鏈可擴展性課程。

Vincent Gramoli is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow at the University of Sydney and the Chief Technology Officer of the Redbelly Network company. He teaches the Blockchain Scalability course on Coursera. He has been affiliated with Cornell University in the USA, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne in Switzerland, INRIA in France and CSIRO in Australia.

Vincent Gramoli是悉尼大學的澳大利亞研究委員會未來學者，也是Redbelly Network公司的首席技術官。他在Coursera上教授區塊鏈可擴展性課程。他曾在美國康奈爾大學、瑞士洛桑聯邦理工學院、法國INRIA和澳大利亞CSIRO等機構任職。