How to start with blockchain – helpful resources you should know
More and more regularly I am asked about good ways to #start looking at #blockchain in more detail. Inspired by Arno’s reading list I decided to share my own version.
While there is obviously a gargantuan amount of information available, not everything is equally suited to do the job. Especially if you are new to the topic or don’t sport a technical background. Additionally blockchain meanwhile features a certain span and so does the interest and perspective of people looking at it.
The following should help to point in a good direction and give you the necessary foundation to understand better what you don’t know. So you can ask the right questions afterwards.
The Basics:
Here is a list of the fundamental resources to warm-up.
- To get going have a look at the Economist cover story from last year: The Trust Machine.
- A more entertaining way than just reading is this video.
- Nobody can seriously work in the space without having looked at the Satoshi Whitepaper (yes, even the business people among you should start reading it).
- In case you ended up here because of my affiliation with my employer you can dig into the SAP perspectiveas well.
The Industry and Line of Business Perspective:
Now if you are more interested in use cases and scenarios where blockchain could be applied this information will help. There are far more reports and analysis out than anybody can read in a reasonable time frame though.
- The best report to cover Financial Services – if you are not from the industry – is by far and large the UBS whitepaper “Building the trust engine”. It is even an entertaining read by report standards.
- The World Economic Forum published the most comprehensive research so far. While it is with a Financial Services focus I highly recommend at least skimming through it until something catches your eye. This is at least a year worth of work by six people and the report shows it.
- Goldman Sachs spreads the topic across industries and gives detailed insights that also covers case studies from utilities, real estate and reputation management.
The #Technology Perspective:
Here is the section for the techies amongst you that would like to understand the mechanics and information technology at work.
- The most comprehensive ‘training’ available is the Princeton #Bitcoin and #Cryptocurrency Technologies class that is published here, here and has some videosas well.
- Thorough thoughts are always articulated by Gideon Greenspan – on blockchain use cases (with a technical perspective) or the differentiation between blockchain and classical databases.
- Some Ethereumtutorials as well as the 101 Noob Intro will help you with doing first hands-on.
- When you have come to look into smart contracts it is recommended to also familiarize yourself with the best practices, security and lessonslearned.
- In general Bits on blocks does a great job with their “gentle introduction series”.
Self-Assessment:
Here is a basic list of topics for you to assess your level of understanding after you covered some or all of the above.
- Where does blockchain originate from and what is the relationship to Bitcoin?
- How did blockchain evolve over the last years?
- What are the differences between public, private and consortium blockchain?
- What are criteria for scenarios where each of the above would be the ‘best’ technical solution?
- Why blockchain was picked-up by Financial Services first and is most prominent in that industry?
- What are smart contracts and how could they be used?
- What happened during THE DAO incident and what implications did it have to the concept of smart contracts? Here is a hint.
Do you have any more resources that you think are helpful to get started with blockchain? Post them in the comments along with a brief statement why you believe they help.
[linkedinbadge URL=”https://www.linkedin.com/in/raimundgross” connections=”off” mode=”icon” liname=”Raimund Gross”] is Innovation Manager | Digital Change Agent | Futurist at SAP
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