Simple Blockchain in Rust

This is a basic implementation of a blockchain in Rust. It showcases the basic principles of blockchain: creating blocks with data, adding them to the blockchain, and ensuring the integrity and validity of the chain through a simple proof-of-work mechanism.

Installation

1. First, make sure you have Rust installed on your machine. If you don't have Rust installed, you can install it using rustup. Instructions for installing rustup can be found on the official Rust website.

2. Clone the repository to your local machine:

git clone https://github.com/deepak-likes-code/rust-blockchain

3. Navigate to the project directory and build the project:

cd rust_blockchain
cargo build

Usage

The entry point for this application is the cargo run command.

Commands

The following commands are available in the CLI:

1. printchain: This command prints all the chain blocks. Usage:

   cargo run  printchain
   

2. getbalance: This command retrieves the balance of a given address in the blockchain. Usage:

   cargo run  getbalance [ADDRESS]
   

   Replace [ADDRESS] with the address you want to retrieve the balance for.

3. create: This command creates a new blockchain and sends the genesis block reward to the specified address. Usage:

   cargo run  create [ADDRESS]
   

   Replace [ADDRESS] with the address where you want to send the genesis block reward.

4. send: This command sends an amount from one wallet to another in the blockchain. Usage:

   cargo run  send [FROM] [TO] [AMOUNT]
   

   Replace [FROM] with the source wallet address, [TO] with the destination wallet address, and [AMOUNT] with the amount to send.

5. createwallet: This command creates a new wallet. Usage:

   cargo run  createwallet
   

6. listaddresses: This command lists all wallet addresses. Usage:

   cargo run  listaddresses
   

7. reindex: This command reindexes the UTXOSet. Usage:

   cargo run  reindex
   

Error Handling

If an error occurs while executing any of the commands, the program will display a descriptive error message and exit with status 1.

Understanding the Code

Here is a brief overview of the important parts of the code:

• Block: This struct represents a block in the blockchain. Each block contains data (in the form of a string), a timestamp, a nonce, a hash, the hash of the previous block, and its height in the blockchain.

• Blockchain: This struct represents the blockchain itself, which is a list of blocks.

• Block::new_block: This function is used to create a new block. It computes the block's hash using a simple proof-of-work mechanism.

• Block::proof_of_work: This function attempts to find a nonce such that the hash of the block's data, the nonce, and some other information starts with a certain number of zeroes.

• Blockchain::new: This function creates a new blockchain, starting with a genesis block.

• Blockchain::add_block: This function adds a block with given data to the blockchain.

The tests module contains a simple test that demonstrates creating a blockchain and adding blocks to it.

Author

Deepak Komma (deepakkomma@gmail.com)

Version

0.1

This README is always evolving. If you think it's missing something crucial, please don't hesitate to suggest improvements.