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Crypto Basics: A Nontechnical Introduction to Creating Your Own Money for Investors and Inventors
Use this practical, step-by-step guide for developers and entrepreneurs to create and run your own cryptocurrency. Author Slava Gomzin has created two cryptocurrencies and describes in this book the technology and economics of cryptocurrencies as preparation for crypto trading, investing, and other business activities. A detailed overview of special topics includes security, privacy, and usability of crypto as a mainstream payment system. Part I, Understanding Crypto, explains the technology and economic, security, and usability aspects of crypto. This is an introduction to the world of cryptography, blockchain tech, and other elements of crypto such as security, privacy, and a detailed review of payment processing. Part II, Using Crypto, provides the practical knowledge you need to dive into the crypto business such as investment, trading, and even creating your own crypto project. Part III, Creating Your Own Crypto, teaches you how to launch your own crypto project and create your own cryptocurrency. What You Will Learn Who This Book Is For Crypto inventors, entrepreneurs, developers, investors, and advisors who are thinking about creating their own cryptocurrency; traders and investors, both professional and amateur, looking to enter the crypto markets; and software architects, developers, managers, consultants, executives, and crypto enthusiasts working for merchants, banks, fintech companies, and many other businesses that have started accepting crypto payments or dealing with other aspects of crypto
352 pages, Paperback
Published September 27, 2022
2 people are currently reading
2 people want to read
About the author
Slava Gomzin
16 books1 followerSlava Gomzin is cybersecurity and crypto enthusiast, full-stack technologist and entrepreneur. He is author of multiple publications on information security and technology including books "Hacking Point of Sale: Payment Application Secrets, Threats, and Solutions" (Wiley, 2014) and "Bitcoin for Nonmathematicians: Exploring the Foundations of Crypto Payments" (Universal Publishers, 2016). Slava Gomzin is co-creator of GRAFT and Lyra blockchains.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 11, 2023
Someone observed (I forget who) that he knew cryptocurrencies were overhyped when his grandmother, who had no financial expertise, said she wanted to invest in Bitcoin and Ethereum as she heard from friends and the media that it was a sure way to financial riches. While there were indeed people who became quite wealthy via these cryptocurrencies, there were plenty who lost significant amounts of money in the wake of the many cryptocurrency hypes.
Warren Buffett wisely advised investors never to invest in a business they cannot understand. Moreover, far too many people have invested in and continue to invest in cryptocurrencies when they need to understand more about how they work. And this spans the gap from grandmothers to financial analysts.
In Crypto Basics: A Nontechnical Introduction to Creating Your Own Money for Investors and Inventors (Apress publishers), author Slava Gomzin has written a guide to give readers an understanding of the fundamentals of cryptocurrencies. There is much more to cryptocurrencies than just Bitcoin, and the book fills in all those gaps.
Gomzin heads up payments and cybersecurity at Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions and is a veteran in the space. I reviewed his last book Bitcoin for Nonmathematicians: Exploring the Foundations of Crypto Payments, here.
In this book, Gomzin gives the reader a thorough overview of the fundamentals of cryptocurrencies. After a brief introduction to cryptography, the book goes into the details of how cryptocurrencies work. While there are hundreds of cryptocurrencies, he focuses on the main ones, namely Bitcoin and Monero. And while the book has nontechnical in the title, Gomzin is an engineer through and through, and the book is somewhat technical.
Those grandmothers who liked Bitcoin but did not understand it would appreciate the book's Bitcoin synopsis. Many people do not realize that Bitcoin is both money and a payment system. And that adds to the complexity and vulnerabilities of the Bitcoin system.
While there are many benefits to the decentralized Bitcoin architecture, it comes with several significant disadvantages. Perhaps the Achilles' heel of Bitcoin is that it has very low scalability. And its transaction volume will never be able to match those of payment-processing companies such as Visa, MasterCard, or American Express.
With all of Bitcoin worth over a trillion dollars, there is large-scale interest in finding Bitcoin flaws and launching attacks. Even if one could craft an attack that would compromise but 1% of all Bitcoins, that would generate in excess of a billion dollars.
The book details the many types of attacks that have been launched against Bitcoin and blockchain protocols. Most of the attacks on blockchain exploit the double spending problem. Double spending is an inherent flaw in all digital cash protocols, where the same digital token can be spent more than once. And exploiting that flow can be much more than BOGO (buy one, get one); it can be, buy one, get hundreds, or thousands.
The book's subtitle is Creating Your Own Money for Investors and Inventors. While doing that takes much more than just this book, Gomzin has written a book that provides a comprehensive and detailed overview of cryptocurrencies. A lot occurs under the engines of the many cryptocurrencies, and the book gives the reader a good understanding of how these work and the security issues involved.
Last year, Mark Minervini, a famous stock trader, was interviewed on the Power Lunch business news program about a stock he was enthusiastic about. When asked what the company does, he was befuddled and then tried to terminate the interview by saying the connection was not working.
For those that do not want to be embarrassed by not knowing the fundamentals of cryptocurrencies, Crypto Basics is an excellent text to help them. While they will not be an expert on the topic after reading this, it will certainly help them avoid being humiliated when the subject comes up.
Warren Buffett wisely advised investors never to invest in a business they cannot understand. Moreover, far too many people have invested in and continue to invest in cryptocurrencies when they need to understand more about how they work. And this spans the gap from grandmothers to financial analysts.
In Crypto Basics: A Nontechnical Introduction to Creating Your Own Money for Investors and Inventors (Apress publishers), author Slava Gomzin has written a guide to give readers an understanding of the fundamentals of cryptocurrencies. There is much more to cryptocurrencies than just Bitcoin, and the book fills in all those gaps.
Gomzin heads up payments and cybersecurity at Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions and is a veteran in the space. I reviewed his last book Bitcoin for Nonmathematicians: Exploring the Foundations of Crypto Payments, here.
In this book, Gomzin gives the reader a thorough overview of the fundamentals of cryptocurrencies. After a brief introduction to cryptography, the book goes into the details of how cryptocurrencies work. While there are hundreds of cryptocurrencies, he focuses on the main ones, namely Bitcoin and Monero. And while the book has nontechnical in the title, Gomzin is an engineer through and through, and the book is somewhat technical.
Those grandmothers who liked Bitcoin but did not understand it would appreciate the book's Bitcoin synopsis. Many people do not realize that Bitcoin is both money and a payment system. And that adds to the complexity and vulnerabilities of the Bitcoin system.
While there are many benefits to the decentralized Bitcoin architecture, it comes with several significant disadvantages. Perhaps the Achilles' heel of Bitcoin is that it has very low scalability. And its transaction volume will never be able to match those of payment-processing companies such as Visa, MasterCard, or American Express.
With all of Bitcoin worth over a trillion dollars, there is large-scale interest in finding Bitcoin flaws and launching attacks. Even if one could craft an attack that would compromise but 1% of all Bitcoins, that would generate in excess of a billion dollars.
The book details the many types of attacks that have been launched against Bitcoin and blockchain protocols. Most of the attacks on blockchain exploit the double spending problem. Double spending is an inherent flaw in all digital cash protocols, where the same digital token can be spent more than once. And exploiting that flow can be much more than BOGO (buy one, get one); it can be, buy one, get hundreds, or thousands.
The book's subtitle is Creating Your Own Money for Investors and Inventors. While doing that takes much more than just this book, Gomzin has written a book that provides a comprehensive and detailed overview of cryptocurrencies. A lot occurs under the engines of the many cryptocurrencies, and the book gives the reader a good understanding of how these work and the security issues involved.
Last year, Mark Minervini, a famous stock trader, was interviewed on the Power Lunch business news program about a stock he was enthusiastic about. When asked what the company does, he was befuddled and then tried to terminate the interview by saying the connection was not working.
For those that do not want to be embarrassed by not knowing the fundamentals of cryptocurrencies, Crypto Basics is an excellent text to help them. While they will not be an expert on the topic after reading this, it will certainly help them avoid being humiliated when the subject comes up.
May 5, 2023
I started reading this book already with knowledge on blockchain technology and am aware that crypto sits on top of this technology stack. Being a developer in part of my work history, I was hoping (based on the table of contents) the book will provide me with the non-technical aspects of crypto as a kick start prior to checking in the details of its design and coding etc.
Upon finishing it, I am glad that I have picked the right one. The three parts of the book ... Understanding, Using and Creating are just the best approach the author has structured and written on the different topics necessary to know about crypto.
Topics covered include cryptography; crypto (coins & tokens) examples like Bitcoin, Ether & Monero, NFT; platforms; security; privacy; network; exchanges; payments; wallets; investment & trading. The last part about Creating Your Own Crypto gives high level steps from creating a coin/token to project management of a crypto project to deliver the crypto to the market.
Upon finishing it, I am glad that I have picked the right one. The three parts of the book ... Understanding, Using and Creating are just the best approach the author has structured and written on the different topics necessary to know about crypto.
Topics covered include cryptography; crypto (coins & tokens) examples like Bitcoin, Ether & Monero, NFT; platforms; security; privacy; network; exchanges; payments; wallets; investment & trading. The last part about Creating Your Own Crypto gives high level steps from creating a coin/token to project management of a crypto project to deliver the crypto to the market.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews