Crypto cheatsheet

A short intro to crypto for those inclined

Feb 4

I put this together after several friends asked about where to start learning/using crypto. This is not at all comprehensive and, at the time of your reading, is likely out-of-date (crypto moves fast), but it’s a decent place to start. I hope it's useful!

Getting started

I think the best strategy is to simply own the "blue chips" and avoid most projects and hype. It is an easy way to participate, you're still early , and you'll have an incentive to learn and keep up with the space. While also avoiding the many scams and taking on unnecessary risk.

Setup a Coinbase Pro account
- Free account + lower transaction fees than regular Coinbase.
Buy the "blue chips" - Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH)
- Allocate some small percentage of your portfolio that you're prepared to lose.
Aside from the two above, I also like:
1. Solana (SOL)
  - Alternative to Ethereum that has gained in popularity recently. L1 (see below) chain meant to have a much higher transaction volume than Ethereum and lower fees (gas).
  - Hypothesis: Ethereum has a serious issue with the cost of gas (fees). There are two ways to solve this problem:
    1. A new chain (L1)
    2. An L2 chain on top of Ethereum.
    SOL is #1.
2. Polygon (MATIC)
  - L2 chain (see below) on top of Ethereum. Attempting to solve the same problems as SOL, but as an L2 chain rather than an L1.
  - Hypothesis: Ethereum has a serious issue with the cost of gas (fees). There are two ways to solve this problem:
    1. A new chain (L1)
    2. An L2 chain on top of Ethereum.
    MATIC is #2.
3. Stacks (STX)
  - Enables dapps and smart contracts (see below) on Bitcoin. Enables the programmability of Ethereum, but on the Bitcoin chain.
  - Hypothesis: Bitcoin maximalists believe Bitcoin is the only legitmate chain. If this is true, STX is critical to enable Ethereum-like utility on the Bitcoin chain.

Learn

Podcasts

The Tim Ferriss Show (episode) - high level overview of Bitcoin and blockchain from 2017

Invest Like the Best (episode) - overview of the NFT and DeFi space with Chris Dixon of Andreesen Horowitz

Modern Finance (show) - Kevin Rose's (Digg) show covering crypto projects

Common terms

NFT - Non-fungible token

DeFi - Decentralized Finance

DApps - Decentralized Apps

DAO - Decentralized autonomous organization

L1 Chain - Layer 1 chains such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana

L2 Chain - Layer 2 chains are chains built on top of an L1 chain. Example: Polygon

Projects & Companies

Exchanges I use

Coinbase Pro - Recommended. Free, but lower fees than regular Coinbase.

Binance - For advanced users. Sometimes has earlier access to tokens.

Uniswap - Best decentralized exchange. High fees. Runs on Ethereum.

Tokens/Blockchains I think are interesting

Solana - a new blockchain for decentralized apps and marketplaces; alternative to Ethereum

Chainlink - connect smart contract to real-world data

Flow - NFT-focused blockchain. Developed by Dapper Labs.

Filecoin - decentralized storage (i.e. decentralized AWS S3)

Stacks - dapps and smart contracts on the Bitcoin blockchain

Wallets I use

Metamask - browser-based software wallet for Ethereum

You'll use a wallet like this to buy NFTs on exchanges like OpenSea.

Ledger - a hardware wallet for "cold storage"

I have and use the Nano S.
I recommend this once you have a significant amount of money in crypto (whatever "significant" is to you). Otherwise, not really necessary.

Decentralized Apps (DApps)

BitClout - crypto social network

Development

OpenZeppelin - Ethereum development platform

BuildSpace - learn how to code for Web3

Solidity - programming language for Ethereum

Rust - programming language for Solana

ThirdWeb - SDKs for Web3 apps

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