Blue Belt (1 Day)

If you want a little more background, but don’t have much more than a day, check out the following resources.

What are Cryptocurrencies?

Crypto can be confusing and intimidating to newcomers. To get started, I recommend checking out the following two newbie-friendly resources:

• Cryptopia: Bitcoin, And The Future of the Internet on Amazon Prime provides a beginner-friendly and broad introduction to the space, and it takes about 90 minutes to watch

• While I don’t agree with everything in Kevin Roose’s The Latecomer’s Guide to Crypto, it nonetheless is a good guide for newbies (bonus points if you want to read ahead by clicking the links at the bottom for NFTs, web3, DAOs and DeFi)

Why are Cryptocurrencies Important?

In a word, “decentralization”. Decentralization refers to the ability for crypto to exist outside of the purview of centralized third parties. This brings a host of benefits such as the potential to create a borderless currency that isn’t controlled by governments, a financial system that isn’t controlled by banks and a web that isn’t controlled by Big Tech companies such as Facebook, Amazon, Apple and Google (also known as “Web3”). Nine articles to understand this better are:

• Fred Wilson’s AVC Blog was one of the first to recognize the potential of a currency not controlled by governments or banks

• Chris Dixon’s Why I’m Interested in Bitcoin and Why Decentralization Matters

• Kyle Samani dicusses the potential of open finance, Web3 and global, state-free money in Multicoin Capital’s Crypto Mega Thesis

• Balaji Srinivasan notes how Bitcoin was already creating value in 2018 in his work And What Has the Blockchain Ever Done for Us?

• Packy McCormick discusses how cryptocurrencies are already creating value and will likely continue to do so in the future in Web 3 Use Cases Part I and Part II

• Nick Tomaino explains how cryptocurrencies could replace corporations in The Slow Death of the Firm

• Joel Monegro lays the groundwork for Web3 by discussing how crypto could return value to creators in Fat Protocols

How Does Crypto Work?

Cryptocurrencies rely on three distinct technologies – blockchains, digital key cryptography and consensus mining – to maintain decentralization. The following resources describe how this system works:

• Finematics explains why we need centralize parties to establish trust in the Two Generals Problem

• Preethi Kasireddy explains the concept of trustlessness in What do We Mean by “Blockchains are Trustless”?

• Whiteboard Crypto breaks down each of these primitives in three articles: 1) What is a Blockchain? ,2) Public and Private Keys (Asymmetric Encryption Animated) and 3) What is Proof of Work?

• 3Blue1Brown ties it all together in But How Does Bitcoin Actually Work?

What are the Key Components of the Crypto Ecosystem?

Since its creation, crypto has evolved into a number of verticals. Let’s dig a bit deeper into each of these:

• Decentralized Money: A cryptocurrency is a form of money that is created, distributed and owned directly by the public (as opposed to the government). There are three main types of “decentralized money” that you need to know: 1) Bitcoin: Bitcoin is the grandaddy of all cryptocurrencies, and you can learn more about it in the official Bitcoin Whitepaper, 2) Ethereum: After Bitcoin came Ethereum, a form of “programmable money”. Linda Xie gives a great explanation in A Beginner’s Guide to Ethereum, Fred Ehrsam talks about its disruptive potential in Ethereum is the Forefront of Digital Currency and David Hoffman argues that ETH is the perfect form of money in Ether: The Triple Point Asset,3) Stablecoins: Stablecoins are a very important form of decentralized money. You can learn more about them in What is a Stablecoin? by Whiteboard Crypto

• Smart Contract Platforms: Ethereum expanded on the technology of Bitcoin by turning it into a decentralized “world computer”, known primarily as a smart contract platform (or “Layer-1”). Whiteboard Crypto gives a good overview of smart contracts in What are Smart Contracts in Crypto? And Finematics gives another good one in Code is Law? Smart Contracts Explained. Finally, Grayscale dives into to most important smart contract platforms in Get Smart on Smart Contract Platforms by Grayscale

• DeFi: DeFi, or Decentralized Finance, refers to a global, peer-to-peer network that is built to replace the traditional banking system. Finematics explains more in What is DeFi?

• NFTs: An NFT – or “non-fungible token”– is a certificate of ownership for a digital good that is recorded onto a blockchain. Whiteboard Crypto elaborates in What is an NFT?

• DAOs: DAOs are blockchain-based organizations that may replace the modern corporation. Packy McCormick highlights their potential impact in The Dao of DAOs

• Metaverse: The metaverse is an interconnected network of virtual worlds that will replace the web as the primary way in which we access information. Matthew Ball provides a nine-part overview in The Metaverse Primer

• Web: Web3 refers to an internet that is owned by the users instead of companies such as Google, Facebook, Amazon and Apple. Whiteboard Crypto explains more in What is Web 3.0

What Does the Future Hold for Crypto?

Ultimately, cryptocurrencies have the potential to grow massively and even create a new nations. A few more resources are below:

• Cathie Wood explains how Ethereum and Bitcoin still have the potential to 100x in her Big Ideas 2022 Report (note: free download required, you can skip to the sections on Public Blockchains, Bitcoin, Ethereum & Defi and Web3)

• David Hoffman and Ryan Sean Adams describes how cryptocurrencies are forming new nations in A Bankless Nation Part I and Part II

• Tascha continues with the “nation-state” thesis in Public Blockchains Are the New National Economies of the Metaverse