I am sure you’d have heard of Bitcoins and Blockchain. After all, they are the trending and getting a lot of attention right now. Everyone is talking about it whether they understand it or not.
I have been dabbling in this field and knowing where to start can be a little difficult. That’s the purpose of this post — a curated list of crypto readings and resources, all in one place. All of these are curated based on if it’s an inspiring read or a valuable resource. I hope this curated list help you get started on what you need to know about crypto and blockchain at a deeper level and form a informed opinion about this space.
It’s organized from building blocks and key concepts — followed by specific topics such as governance, scaling, security, consensus, token distribution, decentralized exchanges, among other topics. It also includes developer tutorials, newsletters, podcasts and courses section at the end.
Readings on the Blockchain and Crypto Basics
How the Bitcoin protocol actually works_Many thousands of articles have been written purporting to explain Bitcoin, the online, peer-to-peer currency. Most of…_www.michaelnielsen.org
**Ever wonder how bitcoin (and other cryptocurrencies) actually work?**from 3Blue1Brown
WTF is The Blockchain?_The ultimate 3500-word guide in plain English to understand Blockchain._hackernoon.com
Ethereum in 25 Minutes by Vitalik Buterin
How does Ethereum work, anyway?_Introduction_medium.com
Decrypting Crypto, From Bitcoin and Blockchain to ICOs_On the surface, the story of cryptocurrencies has been a story about new financial opportunities - whether it's people…_a16z.com
An Intro to Crypto: Building Blocks_From the quest for digital money and history of bitcoin, to the emergence of ethereum and smart contracts, this…_a16z.com
**Cryptographic hash function — what they are, properties of, etc.**by Khan Academy
The Blockchain Economy: A beginner’s guide to institutional cryptoeconomics_Chris Berg, Sinclair Davidson and Jason Potts are from the RMIT Blockchain Innovation Hub, the world’s first social…_medium.com
Getting Up to Speed on Ethereum_Go from zero to 💯 without all the nonsense._medium.com
Tech's Must-Have Reference Guide to Blockchain and Cryptocurrency_Learn how new blockchain technology and cryptocurrency, like Bitcoin, are disrupting entire industries and paving the…_tangelo.co
https://hackernoon.com/blockchain/home
Blockchain and Crypto — Key Concepts
Beyond the Bitcoin Bubble_To see how enormous but also invisible the benefits of such protocols have been, imagine that one of those key…_www.nytimes.com
Crypto Tokens: A Breakthrough in Open Network Design_It is a wonderful accident of history that the internet and web were created as open platforms that anyone — users…_medium.com
Crypto Tokens and the Coming Age of Protocol Innovation_HTTP as the underlying protocol of the web allows for decentralized publishing. Anyone can operate a web server and…_continuations.com
Blockchain: What is it good for?_Blockchain and cryptocurrencies are surrounded by world-historic levels of hype and snake oil. For people like me who…_freedom-to-tinker.com
Bitcoin Network Effects_One force people underestimate are network effects. Network effects allowed Twitter survive its fail-whale period when…_blog.eladgil.com
Cryptonetworks and why tokens are fundamental_"Cryptonetworks" can help us build a more competitive, innovative, secure and decentralized Internet. "Tokens" (also…_www.nickgrossman.is
Why It’s Hard to “Get” Bitcoin: The Blockchain Spectrumblog.unchained-capital.com
Why Decentralization Mattersmedium.com
The Meaning of Decentralization_“Decentralization” is one of the words that is used in the cryptoeconomics space the most frequently, and is often even…_medium.com
Hard Forks, Soft Forks, Defaults and Coercion_One of the important arguments in the blockchain space is that of whether hard forks or soft forks are the preferred…_vitalik.ca
Crypto Governance
An overview of governance in blockchains — by Odysseas Sclavounis and Nic Carter
Governance deep dive — by Alexandra Tran and Steven Elleman
The myth of the irrational token holder — why blockchain governance doesn’t fit squarely into any existing model by Kathleen Breitman
Blockchain governance — design components, approaches, suggestionsby Fred Ehrsam
Thoughts on governance and network effects — by Luke Duncan
Notes on blockchain governance — by Vitalik Buterin
Tezos position paper — a self-amending crypto-ledger by Arthur and Kathleen Breitman
Privacy and Security
Privacy on the Blockchain_Blockchains are a powerful technology, as regular readers of the blog already likely agree. They allow for a large…_blog.ethereum.org
How to Secure Your Smart Contracts: 6 Solidity Vulnerabilities and how to avoid them (Part 1)_In a previous post we discussed the future of Ethereum’s scalability by analyzing the concepts presented at Devcon3…_medium.com
How to Secure Your Smart Contracts: 6 Solidity Vulnerabilities and how to avoid them (Part 2)_While Part 1 discussed some more high profile or obvious vulnerabilities, this post will be about vulnerabilities that…_medium.com
Ethereum Smart Contract Best PracticesBy Consensys Diligence consensys.github.io
Zcash - How zk-SNARKs work in Zcash_In order to have zero-knowledge privacy in Zcash, the function determining the validity of a transaction according to…_z.cash
Scaling Blockchains
Blockchains don’t scale. Not today, at least. But there’s hope._The first Bitcoin paper was first released in 2008. My excitement about the potential of blockchain technology has been…_hackernoon.com
The DCS Triangle_Decentralized, Consistent, Scalable. Pick any two._blog.bigchaindb.com
Models For Scaling Trustless Computation - Multicoin Capital_Each of the major smart contract platforms is making a unique set of trade-offs. These trade-offs are not simply the…_multicoin.capital
Ethereum Sharding: Overview and Finality_A preliminary brief of Ethereum sharding design concept and how explicit finality benefits sharding mechanism._medium.com
Making Sense of Ethereum’s Layer 2 Scaling Solutions: State Channels, Plasma, and Truebit_👉Interested in helping build layer 2 to scale ethereum? L4 is actively hiring._medium.com
The importance of layer two — an HTTP of bitcoin and blockchainsby Elizabeth Stark
Accounts, Transactions, Gas, and Block Gas Limits in Ethereum_Chinese translation (中文翻译) courtesy of EthFans French Translation (traduction française) courtesy of Ethereum France…_hudsonjameson.com
Consensus in Blockchains
Decentralization in Bitcoin and Ethereum_We have been examining the state of the Bitcoin and Ethereum networks over time. In a recent study, we examine the…_hackingdistributed.com
A Proof of Stake Design Philosophy_Systems like Ethereum (and Bitcoin, and NXT, and Bitshares, etc) are a fundamentally new class of cryptoeconomic…_medium.com
Delegated Proof of Stake: Features and Tradeoffs - Multicoin Capital_A short overview is presented below. To download our full 19-page report, please click the link below: Intro…_multicoin.capital
Seeking Consensus on Consensus - DPOS or Delegated Proof of Stake and the Two Generals' Problem …_Laying down the rails for a high performance financial blockchain-based ecosystem is well understood if controversial…_steemit.com
Consensus Compare: Casper vs. Tendermint_This technical deep dive is written by Chjango Unchained. Enjoy._blog.cosmos.network
Consensus Compare: Tendermint BFT vs. EOS dPoS_This technical deep dive is written by Chjango Unchained. Enjoy._blog.cosmos.network
Token Distribution
Thoughts on Tokens_Tokens are early today, but will transform technology tomorrow._news.earn.com
Funding the Evolution of Blockchains_Blockchains are digital organisms. As organisms evolve through changes in their DNA, blockchain protocols evolve…_medium.com
The Bitcoin Model for Crowdfunding_Bitcoin is not just a protocol or money, it's a new business model for Open Source Software. Prior to Bitcoin, you had…_startupboy.com
Cosmos Fee Token—Introducing the Photon_The Ethermint Hard Spoon will happen after launch. Here’s the scoop on what’s in store for you and your Photons._blog.cosmos.network
Explanation of DAICOs_The following is a quick exposition of an idea I had for improving the ICO model by merging in some of the benefits of…_ethresear.ch
Decentralized Exchanges
State of decentralized exchanges, 2018 — by Nathan Sexer
Networked liquidity — by Radar Relay
List of decentralized exchanges — of cryptocurrencies and tokens
Developer Tutorials
Learn Blockchain: Blockchain Learning Center | Codementor_A collection of curated resources to help you learn blockchain programming and keep up-to-date with the latest…_www.codementor.io
Learning Solidity Part 1: Contract Dev with MetaMask_What you will need ✅ 1. The Chrome web browser - Download here 2. The Metamask Chrome extension - Download here…_karl.tech
Learning Solidity Part 2: Commit-Reveal Voting_Karl Floersch Loving Ethereum, Casper, Cryptoeconomics, blockchain, open source, and of course Meditation To understand…_karl.tech
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Smart Contracts in Ethereum_Updated Oct 6th 2017, for Truffle v3.4.11 and Solidity v0.4.15._blog.zeppelin.solutions
How to Code Your Own CryptoKitties-Style Game on Ethereum_CryptoKitties has done a great job of demonstrating what blockchains can be used for beyond just simple financial…_medium.com
CryptoZombies - Learn to code games on Ethereum. Powered by Loom Network_CryptoZombies is an interactive code school that teaches you to write smart contracts in Solidity through building your…_cryptozombies.io
Blogs and Newsletters
Token Daily —place to discover trending news and products in crypto and blockchain.
Token Economy — most interesting news & events in cryptocurrencies, blockchains, dapps & the growing token economy
Week in Ethereum News — tracking developments in the Ethereum ecosystem by Evan Van Ness
The Control — on the entrepreneurs, projects and protocols that are putting control of power in the hands of the people by 1confirmation
Token Economy —Keeping track of new developments in the distributed ledger technology space by Stefano Bernardi and Yannick Roux
Proof of Work — projects and progress in crypto by Eric Meltzer
Podcasts on Crypto and Blockchain
Unchained: Big Ideas From The Worlds Of Blockchain And Cryptocurrency_Crypto assets and blockchain technology are about to transform every trust-based interaction of our lives, from…_unchainedpodcast.co
Block Zero_Kevin Rose interviews cryptocurrency builders and experts. Learn more about Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple and other new…_www.blockzero.show
Epicenter - Weekly Podcast on Blockchain, Ethereum, Bitcoin and Distributed Technologies_Enjoy weekly interviews with some of the brightest and most influential minds driving the blockchain and distributed…_epicenter.tv
The Crypto Street Podcast_The Crypto Street Podcast is a cryptocurrency podcast hosted by @K1llerWh4le, @CryptoDale and @13Prince31 Business…_cryptostreetpod.podbean.com
Courses on Cryptocurrency
Cryptocurrency (2018)by Susan Athey and Kathryn Haun
Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies (2015)by Arvind Narayan, Joseph Bonneau, Edward Felten, Andrew Miller
Advanced topics in computer science: Bitcoin and cryptocurrency technologies (2014)by Arvind Narayan
A graduate course in applied cryptography (2017–2018)by Dan Boneh and Victor Shoup
That’s it for now. Did I miss any awesome blogs/videos/resources? Let me know on Twitter or comments.
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This list was originally curated on Nucleus, a place to curate and share the best of web on your favorite topics.