1: Cryptocurrency Basics
Review:
- A cryptocurrency is like digital cash but without any banks involved. Instead, there’s a global network of people exchanging value without any intermediaries (so it’s peer-to-peer).
- Crypto is borderless, transactions are fast and cheap, immutable (permanently recorded), permission-less and censorship resistant.
- A blockchain is a decentralized computer network that processes and records transactions. Blockchain transactions are grouped into blocks which get recorded to the ledger in chronological order (which forms a “chain” of blocks”).
- Consensus mechanisms such as proof-of-work and proof-of-stake help blockchains prevent counterfeiting.
- Blockchains process transactions differently.
- “Crypto” can describe a cryptocurrency, a culture, a community or an asset.
Research Question:
- Why are there so many different Layer 1 blockchains?
Digging Deeper:
- Read (or at least glance at) Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin white paper for a deeper understanding of Bitcoin, to read a piece of history and to gain a deeper appreciation for the technicalities behind the world’s most famous cryptocurrency.
- Link: Bitcoin White Paper