Crypto Reading List
Here are my favorite readings about cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. This list will continue to be updated regularly.
Building Blocks:
- Philosophy
- Introduction
- Blockchains
- Bitcoin
- Ethereum
- Web 3
- Tokens
Special Topics:
- Consensus
- Cryptoeconomics
- Cryptography
- Custody
- Decentralized Exchanges
- Decentralized Finance
- Governance
- Identity
- Infrastructure
- Interoperability
- Miner Extractable Value
- Mining
- Non-Fungible Tokens
- Privacy
- Regulation
- Scalability
- Stablecoins
- Trading
Philosophy
Why Decentralization Matters
Chris Dixon, February 18, 2018
https://medium.com/@cdixon/why-decentralization-matters-5e3f79f7638e
Control as Liability
Vitalik Buterin, May 9, 2019
https://vitalik.ca/general/2019/05/09/control_as_liability.html
The Meaning of Decentralization
Vitalik Buterin, February 6, 2017
https://medium.com/@VitalikButerin/the-meaning-of-decentralization-a0c92b76a274
Beyond the Bitcoin Bubble
Steven Johnson, January 16, 2018
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/16/magazine/beyond-the-bitcoin-bubble.html
Introduction
But how does bitcoin actually work?
3Blue1Brown, July 7, 2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBC-nXj3Ng4
An Introduction to Crypto
Linda Xie, May 4, 2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dgdGWyJoK4
Decrypting Crypto: From Bitcoin and Blockchain to ICOs
Alex Rampell, December 8, 2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiRCdMgkkFY
A Letter to Jamie Dimon: And anyone else still struggling to understand cryptocurrencies
Adam Ludwin, October 6, 2017
https://blog.chain.com/a-letter-to-jamie-dimon-de89d417cb80
Blockchains
To Blockchain or To Not Blockchain
Mohammed ElSeidy, August 28, 2018
https://medium.com/zkcapital/to-blockchain-or-to-not-blockchain-40e6a3a60f46
The Appchain Universe: The Risks and Opportunities
Mohamed Fouda, September 22, 2022
https://medium.com/alliancedao/the-appchain-universe-the-risks-and-opportunities-9a22530e2a0c
The Inevitability of UNIchain
Dan Elitzer, September 29, 2022
https://medium.com/nascent-xyz/the-inevitability-of-unichain-bc600c92c5c4
Bitcoin
Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System
Satoshi Nakamoto, October 31, 2008
https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf
Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies
Arvind Narayanan
https://www.coursera.org/learn/cryptocurrency
Digital Gold: Bitcoin and the Inside Story of the Misfits and Millionaires Trying to Reinvent Money
Nathaniel Popper, May 24, 2016
https://www.amazon.com/Digital-Gold-Bitcoin-Millionaires-Reinvent/dp/006236250X
The Great Monetary Inflation
Paul Tudor Jones, May 7, 2020
https://www.lopp.net/pdf/BVI-Macro-Outlook.pdf
The Lightning Network
Jordan Clifford, December 19, 2018
https://medium.com/@jcliff/the-lightning-network-cf836329626b
A New Sidechain Design for Bitcoin
Hasu and Su Zhu, October 17, 2019
https://blog.deribit.com/insights/a-new-sidechain-design-for-bitcoin/
Ethereum
Getting Up to Speed on Ethereum
Matt Condon, August 7, 2017
https://medium.com/@mattcondon/getting-up-to-speed-on-ethereum-63ed28821bbe
How does Ethereum work, anyway?
Preethi Kasireddy, September 27, 2017
https://medium.com/@preethikasireddy/how-does-ethereum-work-anyway-22d1df506369
Introduction to Ethereum 2.0
ConsenSys, May 15, 2020
https://media.consensys.net/introduction-to-ethereum-2-0-3771ea2e3923
What to Expect When ETH’s Expecting
James Prestwich, January 15, 2019
https://hackernoon.com/what-to-expect-when-eths-expecting-80cb4951afcd
How open is too open?
Lane Rettig, December 30, 2018
https://medium.com/@lrettig/how-open-is-too-open-bfc412cf0d24
Ethereum Will Be the Backbone of the New Internet
James Martin Duffy, June 4, 2018
https://medium.com/loom-network/ethereum-will-be-the-backbone-of-the-new-internet-88718e08124f
Ethereum is the Forefront of Digital Currency
Fred Ehrsam, May 24, 2016
https://blog.coinbase.com/ethereum-is-the-forefront-of-digital-currency-5300298f6c75
Web 3
Making Sense of Web 3
Josh Stark, June 6, 2018
https://medium.com/l4-media/making-sense-of-web-3-c1a9e74dcae
Understanding Web 3 — A User Controlled Internet
Emre Tekisalp, August 29, 2018
https://blog.coinbase.com/understanding-web-3-a-user-controlled-internet-a39c21cf83f3
4 eras of blockchain computing: degrees of composability
Jesse Walden, December 12, 2018
https://jessewalden.com/4-eras-of-blockchain-computing-degrees-of-composability/
Power in the Age of the Feudal Internet
Richard Chen, November 24, 2017
https://medium.com/@rchen8/power-in-the-age-of-the-feudal-internet-20e106a2e2ce
Tokens
Comparing DeFi Token Models
dYdX, August 10, 2020
https://integral.dydx.exchange/comparing-defi-token-models/
Liquidity Mining: A User-Centric Token Distribution Strategy
Dmitriy Berenzon, October 1, 2020
https://medium.com/bollinger-investment-group/liquidity-mining-a-user-centric-token-distribution-strategy-1d05c5174641
The Uniswap Airdrop — Lessons for the Industry
J. Hackworth, November 23, 2022
https://dune.com/blog/uni-airdrop-analysis
On Token Value
Nick Tomaino, August 6, 2017
https://thecontrol.co/on-token-value-e61b10b6175e
Where is the value in tokens?
Boris Wertz, March 20, 2019
https://versionone.vc/where-is-the-value-in-tokens/
Consensus
On consensus
Jordan Clifford, October 3, 2018
https://medium.com/@jcliff/on-consensus-e47920cd8914
Let’s take a crack at understanding distributed “consensus”
Preethi Kasireddy, November 13, 2018
https://medium.com/@preethikasireddy/lets-take-a-crack-at-understanding-distributed-consensus-dad23d0dc95
Finality in Blockchain Consensus
Alexis Gauba, August 30, 2018
https://medium.com/mechanism-labs/finality-in-blockchain-consensus-d1f83c120a9a
Why Proof of Stake
Vitalik Buterin, November 6, 2020
https://vitalik.ca/general/2020/11/06/pos2020.html
Proof of Stake’s security model is being dramatically misunderstood
Viktor Bunin, October 1, 2019
https://medium.com/@viktorbunin/proof-of-stakes-security-model-is-being-dramatically-misunderstood-4ed7b19ca419
Rewriting History: A Brief Introduction to Long Range Attacks
Evangelos Deirmentzoglou, May 31, 2018
https://blog.positive.com/rewriting-history-a-brief-introduction-to-long-range-attacks-54e473acdba9
Demystifying “Snowflake to Avalanche”
Mohammed ElSeidy, July 8, 2018
https://medium.com/zkcapital/demystifying-snowflake-to-avalanche-966f56c33fd7
Cryptoeconomics
Making Sense of “Cryptoeconomics”
Josh Stark, November 16, 2017
https://medium.com/l4-media/making-sense-of-cryptoeconomics-5edea77e4e8d
Cryptoeconomics: Paving the Future of Blockchain Technology
Kyle Wang, July 21, 2017
https://hackernoon.com/cryptoeconomics-paving-the-future-of-blockchain-technology-13b04dab971
Hard Problems in Cryptocurrency: Five Years Later
Vitalik Buterin, November 22, 2019
https://vitalik.ca/general/2019/11/22/progress.html
Quadratic Payments: A Primer
Vitalik Buterin, December 7, 2019
https://vitalik.ca/general/2019/12/07/quadratic.html
Cryptography
Zero Knowledge Proofs: An illustrated primer
Matthew Green, November 27, 2014
https://blog.cryptographyengineering.com/2014/11/27/zero-knowledge-proofs-illustrated-primer/
Look! There! Where? Emerging Use Cases For ZKPs in 2019
Anna Rose, January 3, 2020
https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/52004/look-there-where-emerging-use-cases-for-zkps-in-2019
A Cambrian Explosion of Crypto Proofs
Eli Ben-Sasson, January 8, 2020
https://nakamoto.com/cambrian-explosion-of-crypto-proofs/
Custody
Digital Asset Custody — Primer and Landscape
Chris McCann, May 18, 2019
https://medium.com/proofofcapital/digital-asset-custody-primer-and-landscape-a88979e05115
Decentralized Exchanges
The Future of Crypto Trading: Decentralized Exchanges
Deniz Kahramaner, January 4, 2018
https://medium.com/@denizkahramaner/the-future-of-crypto-trading-decentralized-exchanges-30b41a20dd01
A Comparison of Decentralized Exchange Designs
Richard Chen, April 18, 2019
https://thecontrol.co/a-comparison-of-decentralized-exchange-designs-1deef249f56a
What explains the rise of AMMs?
Haseeb Qureshi, July 22, 2020
https://medium.com/dragonfly-research/what-explains-the-rise-of-amms-7d008af1c399
Constant Function Market Makers: DeFi’s “Zero to One” Innovation
Dmitriy Berenzon, April 23, 2020
https://medium.com/bollinger-investment-group/constant-function-market-makers-defis-zero-to-one-innovation-968f77022159
Decentralized Finance
A Beginner’s Guide to Decentralized Finance (DeFi)
Sid Coelho-Prabhu, January 6, 2020
https://blog.coinbase.com/a-beginners-guide-to-decentralized-finance-defi-574c68ff43c4
A beginner’s guide to DeFi
Linda Xie, January 3, 2020
https://nakamoto.com/beginners-guide-to-defi/
Decentralized Finance: On Blockchain- and Smart Contract-Based Financial Markets
Fabian Schär, February 5, 2021
https://research.stlouisfed.org/publications/review/2021/02/05/decentralized-finance-on-blockchain-and-smart-contract-based-financial-markets
Where does yield come from, anyway?
Julian Koh, February 21, 2021
https://juliankoh.medium.com/where-does-yield-come-from-anyway-fc818c114bd5
What You Should Know Before Putting Half a Million DAI in Compound
Ameen Soleimani, September 4, 2019
https://medium.com/@ameensol/what-you-should-know-before-putting-half-a-million-dai-in-compound-fafdb2645f77
Synthetic Assets in DeFi: Use Cases & Opportunities
Dmitriy Berenzon, September 7, 2019
https://medium.com/zenith-ventures/synthetic-assets-in-defi-use-cases-opportunities-19b11f57a776
DeFi Usage Numbers
Richard Chen, April 29, 2020
https://thecontrol.co/defi-usage-numbers-7e5e2cd5ab2e
Governance
Blockchain Governance: Programming Our Future
Fred Ehrsam, November 27, 2017
https://medium.com/@FEhrsam/blockchain-governance-programming-our-future-c3bfe30f2d74
A beginner’s guide to DAOs
Linda Xie, March 12, 2021
https://linda.mirror.xyz/Vh8K4leCGEO06_qSGx-vS5lvgUqhqkCz9ut81WwCP2o
DAO Landscape
Cooper Turley, June 24, 2021
https://coopahtroopa.mirror.xyz/_EDyn4cs9tDoOxNGZLfKL7JjLo5rGkkEfRa_a-6VEWw
Unbundling venture capital via DAOs
Peter Pan, May 5, 2022
https://medium.com/1kxnetwork/unbundling-the-unit-economics-of-venture-capital-via-daos-9fbda3e8113b
Becoming Decentralized Enough: The Case For DAOs
Mohamed Fouda, August 9, 2019
https://www.tokendaily.co/blog/becoming-decentralized-enough
Blockchain Voter Apathy
Roy Learner, March 29, 2019
https://medium.com/wave-financial/blockchain-voter-apathy-69a1570e2af3
Blockchains should not be democracies
Haseeb Qureshi, April 26, 2018
https://hackernoon.com/blockchains-should-not-be-democracies-14379e0e23ad
An Introduction to Futarchy
Vitalik Buterin, August 21, 2014
https://blog.ethereum.org/2014/08/21/introduction-futarchy/
Identity
Understanding Decentralized Identity
Richard Chen, September 7, 2018
https://thecontrol.co/understanding-decentralized-identity-433abb343279
Handshake, ENS and Decentralized Naming Services Explained
Imran Khan, August 8, 2018
https://medium.com/zkcapital/handshake-ens-and-decentralized-naming-services-explained-2e69a1ca1313
Infrastructure
An Overview of the Crypto Wallet Landscape
Richard Chen, October 21, 2019
https://thecontrol.co/an-overview-of-the-crypto-wallet-landscape-533a18bcd124
An Introduction to IPFS
Christian Lundkvist and John Lilic, February 17, 2016
https://medium.com/@ConsenSys/an-introduction-to-ipfs-9bba4860abd0
The State of Decentralized Storage
Myles Snider, September 27, 2017
https://multicoin.capital/2017/09/27/state-decentralized-storage/
The State Growth Problem Facing Blockchains
Richard Chen, July 22, 2019
https://thecontrol.co/state-growth-a-look-at-the-problem-and-its-solutions-6de9d7634b0b
So you want to use a price oracle
Sam Sun, November 9, 2020
https://samczsun.com/so-you-want-to-use-a-price-oracle/
On Staking Pools and Staking Derivatives
Georgios Konstantopoulos and Hasu, April 23, 2021
https://research.paradigm.xyz/staking
Interoperability
Blockchain Bridges: Building Networks of Cryptonetworks
Dmitriy Berenzon, September 8, 2021
https://dberenzon.medium.com/blockchain-bridges-5db6afac44f8
With Bridges, Trust is a Spectrum
Arjun Chand, April 28, 2022
https://blog.li.fi/li-fi-with-bridges-trust-is-a-spectrum-354cd5a1a6d8
A Guide to NFT Platform Security
Alex Connolly, April 11, 2022
https://immutablex.medium.com/a-guide-to-nft-platform-security-30d7129cedd3
A Deep Look Into Cosmos — the Internet of Blockchains
Julian Koh, September 29, 2018
https://medium.com/@juliankoh/a-deep-look-into-cosmos-the-internet-of-blockchains-af3aa1a97a5b
A brief summary of everything Substrate and Polkadot
Fabian Schulz, March 18, 2019
https://medium.com/polkadot-network/a-brief-summary-of-everything-substrate-and-polkadot-f1f21071499d
5 Differences between Cosmos & Polkadot
Julian Koh, April 26, 2019
https://medium.com/@juliankoh/5-differences-between-cosmos-polkadot-67f09535594b
Demystifying Cosmos: Atomic Swaps, Ethereum, Polkadot and the Path to Blockchain Interoperability
Jason Choi, March 31, 2019
https://medium.com/the-spartan-group/demystifying-cosmos-atomic-swaps-ethereum-polkadot-and-the-path-to-blockchain-interoperability-d1a2d75c20d6
Miner Extractable Value
Ethereum is a Dark Forest
Dan Robinson, August 28, 2020
https://medium.com/@danrobinson/ethereum-is-a-dark-forest-ecc5f0505dff
Liquidators: The Secret Whales Helping DeFi Function
Tom Schmidt, January 14, 2020
https://medium.com/dragonfly-research/liquidators-the-secret-whales-helping-defi-function-acf132fbea5e
We Live In A Mempool: Backrunning the MEV Crisis
Tom Schmidt, July 12, 2021
https://medium.com/dragonfly-research/we-live-in-a-mempool-backrunning-the-mev-crisis-a4ea0b493b05
Mining
The State of Cryptocurrency Mining
David Vorick, May 13, 2018
https://blog.sia.tech/the-state-of-cryptocurrency-mining-538004a37f9b
Fundamentals of Proof of Work
David Vorick, January 14, 2019
https://blog.sia.tech/fundamentals-of-proof-of-work-beaa68093d2b
MEV and Me
Charlie Noyes, February 5, 2021
https://research.paradigm.xyz/MEV
Non-Fungible Tokens
A beginner’s guide to NFTs
Linda Xie, January 4, 2021
https://linda.mirror.xyz/df649d61efb92c910464a4e74ae213c4cab150b9cbcc4b7fb6090fc77881a95d
Stories, Scarcity and Mimetic Desire
Nick Tomaino, March 21, 2021
https://thecontrol.co/stories-scarcity-and-mimetic-desire-c4a344fa74e1
NFTs and a Thousand True Fans
Chris Dixon, February 27, 2021
https://a16z.com/2021/02/27/nfts-and-a-thousand-true-fans/
The NFT Bible: Everything you need to know about non-fungible tokens
Devin Finzer, January 10, 2020
https://opensea.io/blog/guides/non-fungible-tokens/
Show me the Liquidity: Evaluating NFT Financialization Methods
Nichanan Kesonpat, February 24, 2022
https://medium.com/1kxnetwork/show-me-the-liquidity-evaluating-nft-financialization-methods-f3c30bf8f08c
You’re Sleeping on Crypto Art
Derek Schloss and Stephen McKeon, September 10, 2020
https://medium.com/collab-currency/youre-sleeping-on-crypto-art-7df920ec038e
Fungible Non-fungibles: The Financialization of NFTs
Dmitriy Berenzon, April 27, 2021
https://medium.com/1kxnetwork/fungible-non-fungibles-the-financialization-of-nfts-32565adf454a
Privacy
An Overview of Privacy in Cryptocurrencies
Richard Chen, August 9, 2018
https://thecontrol.co/an-overview-of-privacy-in-cryptocurrencies-893dc078d0d7
Privacy Is a Feature Not a Product
Ryan Gentry, September 24, 2019
https://multicoin.capital/2019/09/24/privacy-is-a-feature/
Introduction to Privacy-Preserving Smart Contracts
Julian Koh, August 21, 2018
https://medium.com/@juliankoh/introduction-to-privacy-preserving-smart-contracts-e7bdc1a121b1
Mixers and ring signatures
Matt Luongo, September 12, 2017
https://blog.keep.network/mixers-and-ring-signatures-51f3f125485b
Zero-knowledge proofs, Zcash, and Ethereum
Matt Luongo, September 18, 2017
https://blog.keep.network/zero-knowledge-proofs-zcash-and-ethereum-f6d89fa7cba8
Mimblewimble: The Good and the Bad
Mohamed Fouda, November 9, 2018
https://www.tokendaily.co/blog/mimblewimble-the-good-and-the-bad
Bitcoin as a Privacycoin: This Tech is Making Bitcoin More Private
Aaron van Wirdum, September 3, 2018
https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/bitcoin-privacycoin-tech-making-bitcoin-more-private/
Ekiden — A Hardware Approach to Privacy-Maintaining Smart Contracts
Mohammed ElSeidy, July 27, 2018
https://medium.com/zkcapital/ekiden-a-hardware-approach-to-privacy-maintaining-smart-contracts-c75ba67915b2
Regulation
Analogies, the Big Picture, and Considerations for Regulating Crypto
Scott Kupor and Sonal Chokshi, May 4, 2018
https://a16z.com/2018/05/04/considerations-for-regulating-cryptonetworks/
Progressive Decentralization: A Playbook for Building Crypto Applications
Jesse Walden, January 9, 2020
https://a16z.com/2020/01/09/progressive-decentralization-crypto-product-management/
Crypto / web3 Fundraising with Token Side Letters or Token Warrants
Robin Ji, February 17, 2022
https://medium.com/@liquifi_finance/crypto-web3-fundraising-with-token-side-letters-or-token-warrants-33dce66f375e
The Current State of Initial Coin Offerings
CoinList, April 2, 2018
https://medium.com/@coinlist/the-current-state-of-initial-coin-offerings-96896a094d00
FinCEN’s new cryptocurrency guidance matches Coin Center recommendations
Peter van Valkenburgh, May 9, 2019
https://coincenter.org/entry/fincen-s-new-cryptocurrency-guidance-matches-coin-center-recommendations
Scalability
Scaling DeFi — Layer One
Remco Bloemen, September 1, 2020
https://blog.0xproject.com/scaling-defi-layer-one-7eeb24aca4f0
Making Sense of Ethereum’s Layer 2 Scaling Solutions: State Channels, Plasma, and Truebit
Josh Stark, February 12, 2018
https://medium.com/l4-media/making-sense-of-ethereums-layer-2-scaling-solutions-state-channels-plasma-and-truebit-22cb40dcc2f4
Overview of Layer 2 approaches: Plasma, State Channels, Side Chains, Roll Ups
Alexander Skidanov, June 20, 2019
https://nearprotocol.com/blog/layer-2/
Evaluating Ethereum L2 Scaling Solutions: A Comparison Framework
Alex Gluchowski, June 12, 2020
https://medium.com/matter-labs/evaluating-ethereum-l2-scaling-solutions-a-comparison-framework-b6b2f410f955
The Life and Death of Plasma
Ashwin Ramachandran, January 27, 2020
https://medium.com/dragonfly-research/the-life-and-death-of-plasma-b72c6a59c5ad
Making Sense of Rollups, Part One: Optimistic vs. Zero Knowledge
Ben Simon, May 17, 2021
https://insights.deribit.com/market-research/making-sense-of-rollups-part-one-optimistic-vs-zero-knowledge/
(Almost) Everything you need to know about Optimistic Rollup
Georgios Konstantopoulos, January 27, 2021
https://research.paradigm.xyz/rollups
The State of Optimistic Rollup
Daniel Goldman, February 20, 2020
https://medium.com/molochdao/the-state-of-optimistic-rollup-8ade537a2d0f
The different types of ZK-EVMs
Vitalik Buterin, August 4, 2022
https://vitalik.eth.limo/general/2022/08/04/zkevm.html
Why sharding is great: demystifying the technical properties
Vitalik Buterin, April 7, 2021
https://vitalik.ca/general/2021/04/07/sharding.html
The authoritative guide to Blockchain Sharding
Alexander Skidanov, December 5, 2018
https://medium.com/nearprotocol/the-authoritative-guide-to-blockchain-sharding-part-1-1b53ed31e060
Unsolved Problems in Blockchain Sharding
Alexander Skidanov, December 12, 2018
https://medium.com/nearprotocol/unsolved-problems-in-blockchain-sharding-2327d6517f43
Security and Scalability in Committee-Based Blockchain Sharding
John Adler, December 26, 2019
https://medium.com/@adlerjohn/security-and-scalability-in-committee-based-blockchain-sharding-58fab3901193
The scalability problem, (very) simply explained
bloXroute Labs, April 19, 2018
https://medium.com/@bloxroutelabs/the-scalability-problem-very-simply-explained-5c0656f6e7e6
Stablecoins
Stablecoins: designing a price-stable cryptocurrency
Haseeb Qureshi, February 19, 2018
https://hackernoon.com/stablecoins-designing-a-price-stable-cryptocurrency-6bf24e2689e5
The Business of Stablecoins
Aleks Larsen, December 6, 2018
https://medium.com/blockchain-capital-blog/business-models-behind-stablecoins-cae801533798
The Macroeconomics of Stablecoins
Richard Chen, January 3, 2018
https://medium.com/@rchen8/the-macroeconomics-of-stablecoins-5bb7f36afc07
Maker for Dummies: A Plain English Explanation of the Dai Stablecoin
Gregory DiPrisco, November 20, 2017
https://medium.com/cryptolinks/maker-for-dummies-a-plain-english-explanation-of-the-dai-stablecoin-e4481d79b90
Trading
A History Of Crypto Exchanges: A Look At Our Industry’s Most Powerful Institutions
Nathaniel Whittemore and Clay Collins, November 14, 2019
https://blog.nomics.com/essays/crypto-exchanges-history/
An Overview of the Cryptocurrency Derivatives Landscape
Max Bronstein, January 27, 2020
https://unexpected-values.com/cryptocurrency-derivatives/
Algorithmic Trading in Crypto
Kevin Zhou, February 25, 2019
https://medium.com/galois-capital/algorithmic-trading-in-crypto-430431da1e0a
What are perpetual swaps?
Aditya Palepu, May 19, 2020
https://medium.com/derivadex/what-are-perpetual-swaps-130236587df2
Sci-Finance: Crypto trading in the next decade
Tarun Chitra, December 27, 2019
https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/51618/sci-finance-crypto-trading-in-the-next-decade
