Mastering Blockchain: Deeper insights into decentralization, cryptography, Bitcoin, and popular Blockchain frameworks

by Imran Bashir

First, the three levels discussed below were originally described by Melanie Swan in her book Blockchain, Blueprint for a New Economy as tiers of blockchain categorized on the basis of applications in each category. In addition to this, Tier X or Generation X is discussed later. This is what the author thinks will become a reality when the blockchain technology becomes advanced enough. Blockchain 1.0 This was introduced with the invention of bitcoin and is basically used for cryptocurrencies. Also, as bitcoin was the first implementation of cryptocurrencies it makes sense to categorize Generation 1 of blockchain technology to only include cryptographic currencies. All alternative coins and bitcoin fall into this category. This includes core applications such as payments and applications. Blockchain 2.0 Generation 2.0 blockchains are used by financial services and contracts are introduced in this generation. This includes various financial assets, for example derivatives, options, swaps, and bonds. Applications that are beyond currency, finance, and markets are included at this tier. Blockchain 3.0 Generation 3 blockchains are used to implement applications beyond the financial services industry and are used in more general-purpose industries such as government, health, media, the arts, and justice. Generation X (Blockchain X) This is a vision of blockchain singularity where one day we will have a public blockchain service available that anyone can use just like the Google ...