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7 Ways to Learn Crypto and Blockchain

· 5 min read

How to start learning crypto and blockchain in 7 effective way

crypto

Increasingly more friends are getting interested in crypto and would like to learn more about it. In this part of the world, there is not a lot of publicly available information on this subject. What is easily available on social media is often associated with scams that target "chives" (韭菜 in Chinese or noobs who don't know any better). Information abounds, but good quality content is hard to find. So I compiled a list of content sources where you can start learning about it and stay up to date in this fast changing space.

News sites​

To get into the flow and receive relevant news from reputable sources, these three Wechat public accounts (微信公共号) are the best so far:

There are many other Wechat public accounts that try to feed into the insatiable curiosity and interest from general public on Bitcoin, Ethereum, Defi, etc. I find that these three accounts collectively provide solid breadth and depth on crypto industry with consistently quality updates and analytics that are sufficient for beginners and practitioners. It would not be a bad idea to read all the articles from them in recent six months.

Social Media​

Follow some influencers on Twitter and Weibo. Don't waste time on Wechat Moments (朋友圈). It's an echo chamber that adds very little new information. On Weibo,

... are good jump-off points that can lead to discovery of other interesting KOLs in China. Twitter is the basecamp of all things crypto and blockchain. This is where things are happening in real-time and dialogues are taking place that shape the future of ... the society.

Newsletters​

Subscribe to newsletters. Traditional centralized media is increasingly giving way to decentralized, independent media that is often in the form of newsletters written up by KOLs in the know.

Podcasts​

Listen to podcasts. The best long-form interviews are usually only available in podcast. My favorite podcast app is Castbox instead of Apple's default one. Tim Ferriss' podcast is not exclusively about blockchain/crypto, but his three below episodes with legendary Nick Szabo, Vitalik/Naval, and Balaji are required listens for everyone in this industry. They are intellectually stimulating and thought-provoking, spectacularly.

Follow L0/L1 Protocols​

Follow the social media of top 20 cryptos. Every noteworthy platform has its own token now and everyone is trying to grow its social media presence on Twitter, Telegram and Discord, besides its own newsletter subscriber base. The best way to get unfiltered news is to start from the source. Here's the cohort of top 20 by market cap as of May 24, 2021 according to coinmarketcap.com. Protocols outside of top 20 would have a hard time gaining critical mass adoption.

RANKNAMEMARKET CAP IN $B
1Bitcoin663.0
2Ethereum252.0
3Tether59.0
4Cardano42.0
5Binance41.0
6Dogecoin40.0
7XRP36.0
8The Internet Computer18.0
9Polkadot17.0
10USD Coin14.0
11Bitcoin Cash10.5
12Uniswap9.9
13Litecoin9.7
14Chainlink8.9
15Binance USD8.6
16Stellar8.5
17Polygon7.1
18Solana7.0
19Wrapped Bitcoin6.4
20Ethereum Classic6.1

Read Books​

Generally books may not be the best medium to go deep into crypto as the industry is evolving too fast for writers to keep up with, but a few books have been holding up pretty well and are still very relevant in 2021.

  • The Bitcoin Standard: The Decentralized Alternative to Central Banking by Saifedean Ammous
  • The Infinite Machine: How an Army of Crypto-hackers Is Building the Next Internet with Ethereum by Camila Russo
  • Mastering Ethereum: Building Smart Contracts and DApps by Andreas M. Antonopoulos and Gavin Wood
  • Mastering Bitcoin: Programming the Open Blockchain (2nd Edition) by Andreas M. Antonopoulos

Whitepapers​

Last but not the least, read the original writing from the creators.

This should be enough to get one started in crypto and blockchain, a journey that is full of creativity, audacity and excitement.