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Acknowledgements

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Author

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1 Blockchain: Is it a hype or a hoax?

1

Blockchain invention  1

What is blockchain?  1

Blockchain objectives  2

Blockchain benefits and limitations  2

Crypto (Bitcoin) evolution  2

Who created Bitcoin?  2

Features of Bitcoin  3

Cryptocurrency overview  3

Key layers of the cryptocurrency (CC) ecosystem  3

Ethereum overview  5

Ethereum smart contract overview  5

Alternative currencies overview  5

Overview of ICO  7

How does blockchain work?   7

Blockchain technology summary  8

Types of blockchain (public/private/consortium/hybrid)  8

Consensus algorithm  9

Blockchain consensus algorithms  10

DeFi (Decentralised Finance) overview  12

Most popular types of DeFi applications  15

Examples of DeFi projects  16

Use cases of DeFi  17

Asset management  17

Compliance and Know Your Transactions (KYTs)  17

DAOs  17

Data and analytics  17

Contents