Blockchain is the new breed of innovation that has already begun to reinvent trade, social and political relationships, and any other form of exchange of value. For once, it's not just a transition, it's a strong trend already in practice. As of this writing, over 40 top financial organizations and many different companies across industries have begun investigating blockchain to minimize transaction costs, speed up transaction time, reduce fraud risk, and remove intermediary or broker services. Some are trying to re-imagine legacy systems and services to take them to a new level and develop new types of service offerings as well. In the public conversation and in the media, the blockchain has received a lot of attention. Many fans contend that the blockchain has been the best innovation since the Internet emerged. Therefore, a lot of books and articles about the blockchain have been written over the past few years. The book was written because it involves a conceptual understanding of the blockchain's technological foundations to grasp actual blockchain implementations, analyze business cases of blockchain start-ups, or follow the analysis of its future economic impacts. It will be impossible to assess the value or potential impact of the blockchain in general or to understand the added value of specific blockchain applications without an appreciation of the underlying concepts. The book focuses on the blockchain's underlying concepts as a lack of understanding of a new technology will contribute to the excitement being carried away and then frustrated due to unrealistic unreasonable expectations.
