Analysis of the Cryptographic Tools for Blockchain and Bitcoin

Abstract

Blockchain is one of the most interesting emerging technologies nowadays, with applications ranging from cryptocurrencies to smart contracts. This paper presents a review of the cryptographic tools necessary to understand the fundamentals of this technology and the foundations of its security. Among other elements, hash functions, digital signatures, elliptic curves, and Merkle trees are reviewed in the scope of their usage as building blocks of this technology.