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Ask HN: A good primer on cryptocurrencies?

• shiado 9y ago
  I definitely suggest reading mastering bitcoin. The second edition appears to have recently been released. http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920049524.do http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920049524.do
  • meritt 9y ago
    The source for this book is freely available from the author at https://github.com/bitcoinbook/bitcoinbook https://github.com/bitcoinbook/bitcoinbook
• olalonde 9y ago
  The paper that started it all is still a good read: https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf
  • Cshelton 9y ago
    Not just still a read, I'd say it is one of the most important reads for somebody just getting into blockchain/crypto world.
    • ecesena 9y ago
      After Diffie, Hellman, New directions in cryptography https://www-ee.stanford.edu/~hellman/publications/24.pdf https://www-ee.stanford.edu/~hellman/publications/24.pdf
  • esquevin 9y ago
    Thank you I just had a blast reading it =)
  • sprt 9y ago
    After that you may wanna read this: https://www.igvita.com/2014/05/05/minimum-viable-block-chain/ https://www.igvita.com/2014/05/05/minimum-viable-block-chain...
  • globuous 9y ago
    Fermatlibrary's got anotated versions of bitcoin and ethereum whitepapers why are both great reads : - http://fermatslibrary.com/s/bitcoin http://fermatslibrary.com/s/bitcoin - http://fermatslibrary.com/s/ethereum-a-next-generation-smart-contract-and-decentralized-application-platform http://fermatslibrary.com/s/ethereum-a-next-generation-smart...
• FullMtlAlcoholc 9y ago
  This may be a more comprehensive resource in you're looking for but Princeton is offering a course on bitcoin via Coursera: https://www.coursera.org/learn/cryptocurrency https://www.coursera.org/learn/cryptocurrency
• Dnguyen 9y ago
  Khanh Academy has a very good course https://www.khanacademy.org/economics-finance-domain/core-finance/money-and-banking/bitcoin/v/bitcoin-what-is-it https://www.khanacademy.org/economics-finance-domain/core-fi...
• satanic_pope 9y ago
  Cryptocurrencies with Tim Ferriss, Nick Szabo and Naval Ravikant [Podcast] https://medium.com/@giftedproducts/cryptocurrencies-with-tim-ferriss-nick-szabo-and-naval-ravikant-51a99d037e04 https://medium.com/@giftedproducts/cryptocurrencies-with-tim...
  • kchoudhu 9y ago
    Don't forget to link to Naval Ravikant's twitter encomium to blockchain: https://twitter.com/naval/status/877467629308395521 https://twitter.com/naval/status/877467629308395521 And the inevitable, highly necessary takedown: https://twitter.com/ZackKorman/status/878674839019679746 https://twitter.com/ZackKorman/status/878674839019679746
  • copperx 9y ago
    I didn't know that Tim Ferriss dabbled in math/crypto.
    • FusilliGary 9y ago
      He doesn't. That dude is a farce, I have no idea how he has convinced so many smart people to be on his show.
      • romanticreptile 9y ago
        Probably by being a good interviewer.
        • NoB4Mouth 9y ago
          No he's probably not boring rather. He's over-hyped because he's well connected in the Valley & known to heavy-weights like Sacca & Naval.
• Jimbabwe 9y ago
  This demo/primer on the blockchain itself is fantastic, if you're looking to understand the underlying technology: https://anders.com/blockchain/ https://anders.com/blockchain/
• meritt 9y ago
  Minimum Viable Blockchain: https://www.igvita.com/2014/05/05/minimum-viable-block-chain/ https://www.igvita.com/2014/05/05/minimum-viable-block-chain...
• wousser 9y ago
  While on a similar topic, what would be a good primer on blockchain?
  • beerealman91 9y ago
    I found this article being a good intro to some of the concepts of blockchain and how it works: http://www.banterly.net/2016/12/31/blockchain-beyond-the-hype-of-bitcoin-and-ethereum/ http://www.banterly.net/2016/12/31/blockchain-beyond-the-hyp...
  • hisnamewasjaan 9y ago
    I thought this 45 minute talk by Stefan Tilkov was great: https://youtu.be/li3rfBAP_fE https://youtu.be/li3rfBAP_fE
• jgalvez 9y ago
  I read this back to back and vouch for it: http://chimera.labs.oreilly.com/books/1234000001802 http://chimera.labs.oreilly.com/books/1234000001802 Bitcoin-centric, but covers a lot of ground.
  • dcw303 9y ago
    I'm working through the 2nd edition at the moment and finding it very good. I'd tried a lot of primers and summaries, but I needed something that goes into deep technical detail to have it really click in my head.
• bowaggoner 9y ago
  I recently was researching bitcoin, blockchain, etc, and I found it surprisingly difficult to find good but relatively short resources! I synthesized what I found into some slides that you might find helpful[1]. Apologies if this seems like self-promoting my own slides -- and I should say I am not at all an expert here -- but I created them mainly because I had trouble finding a "primer", so maybe they can help others in a similar position. [1] http://bowaggoner.com/talks/2017/bitcoin-etc.pdf http://bowaggoner.com/talks/2017/bitcoin-etc.pdf
  • alexpetralia 9y ago
    Excellent resource, thank you for sharing!
  • sandGorgon 9y ago
    hey - that's pretty cool. thanks for doing this. could you remake your slides for the web ? the slides are repeated (because of the transitions)
    • bowaggoner 9y ago
      Thanks - I took out a bunch of extraneous transition slides (except in one place where I think it's helpful to see).
• kumartanmay 9y ago
  I find the pictorial explanation of www.blockgeeks.com very very much interesting for a beginner. If anyone gets serious about it, the paper at bitcoin.org that started it all is a must read.
• mlla 9y ago
  One good resource for understanding on how Bitcoin works on a lower level is this article: http://www.samlewis.me/2017/06/a-peek-under-bitcoins-hood/ http://www.samlewis.me/2017/06/a-peek-under-bitcoins-hood/ It goes through the details of creating a tiny Bitcoin client that can send transactions so that they will get included in the blockchain.
• ivan_ah 9y ago
  I found this to be a good overview paper. Research Perspectives and Challenges for Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies http://www.jbonneau.com/doc/BMCNKF15-IEEESP-bitcoin.pdf http://www.jbonneau.com/doc/BMCNKF15-IEEESP-bitcoin.pdf
• corv 9y ago
  Andreas Antonopoulos' 'Mastering Bitcoin' book. In my opinion the best technical resource on Bitcoin. https://www.bitcoinbook.info https://www.bitcoinbook.info His book on Ethereum is still work-in-progress.
  • abglassman 9y ago
    Seconded, big time. Blockchain was a hand-wavy haze for me until I got my hands on this book. As a programmer it's frustrating to read most high-level summaries of cryptocurrency/blockchain because they are often geared to a general audience and raise more technical questions than they answer - not so in "Mastering Bitcoin." The author does an impressive job of creating motivating scenarios before diving into concrete details. The chapters are well-sequenced but they stand up well to a bit of jumping around as your curiosity takes you in different directions. I thought this book was a real pedagogical achievement. I'm looking forward to his book on Ethereum. In the meantime, Chris Dannen's "Introducing Ethereum and Solidity" is helping me to get a good grasp.
• delhanty 9y ago
  Four days ago I asked [1] for technical references on the differences between the Bitcoin and Ethereum blockchain length function, and @DennisP replied with 4 links [2] - Satoshi's classic paper and 3 good links on Ethereum. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14624714 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14624714 [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14625430 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14625430
• sudshekhar 9y ago
  Any good resources to understand the economics/finance impact of cryptocurrency and the broader scale implications of blockchains? Usage in different fields etc.
  • samscully 9y ago
    I've been reading "The Business Blockchain" [0], it's been good so far. [0] https://www.amazon.com/Business-Blockchain-Practice-Application-Technology/dp/1119300312 https://www.amazon.com/Business-Blockchain-Practice-Applicat...
• kumartanmay 9y ago
  Cryptocurrency explained in plain english: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/blockchain-plain-english-mike-bullock https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/blockchain-plain-english-mike...
• avery111 9y ago
  I recently read the white papers of both bitcoin and ethereum. I would definitely read bitcoin's white paper first. I actually read the annotated versions from Fermat's Library: - http://fermatslibrary.com/s/bitcoin http://fermatslibrary.com/s/bitcoin - http://fermatslibrary.com/s/ethereum-a-next-generation-smart-contract-and-decentralized-application-platform http://fermatslibrary.com/s/ethereum-a-next-generation-smart...
  • nightski 9y ago
    That site is obnoxious. I have habit of highlighting text as I read it. Every time I click on the text to highlight a huge tab pops in and out on the left side. Who thinks up this crap.
    • eps 9y ago
      People who don't have a habit of highlighting text when reading it?
    • Sholmesy 9y ago
      I do the same thing, reading articles on sites like medium is a nightmare since it demands I tweet my currently selected text. Annoying!
    • styts 9y ago
      I have this habit too, and always wondered about it. Wish someone would have done a study on it.
• thisisit 9y ago
  I am no expert on this but it depends on what is your interest? Is it from a use case perspective or a technical one? Technical perspective, people tend to conflate crypto currency with blockchain and vice-versa. Both are not the same. Crypto currencies are an implementation of the blockchain concept with their own twist on how to leverage blockchain. A good primer on blockchain is - https://anders.com/blockchain/ https://anders.com/blockchain/ Then there is the bitcoin paper which not only introduces blockchain but also explains bitcoin: http://fermatslibrary.com/s/bitcoin http://fermatslibrary.com/s/bitcoin The white papers of various currencies also provide the technical perspective and details on their implementation. Use case perspective, you will have to rely on white papers by the specific coins. They will delve into how they look at blockchain to solve their problems. Beware these papers tend to be verbose and full of marketing fluff. So unless, as Warren Buffett puts it[1], within your area of competence there is nothing to be gained. One thing I have realized over time is that many people writing stuff on cryptocurrency tend to be very verbose. Case in point: https://www.igvita.com/2014/05/05/minimum-viable-block-chain/ https://www.igvita.com/2014/05/05/minimum-viable-block-chain... This in my opinion, and I am known to be very wrong most of the time, is because it takes the technical route to explain things than standard expressions. Basic stuff like - what is a block is elongated with many technical terms. The simplest answer is "block is a public ledger and contains all transactions". Ledger is a legit word and you can find tons of articles explaining what is a ledger. But then you have tons of articles which skip this simple explanation in favor of a elongated explanation using technical terms and putting their own versions of what constitutes a transaction. [1] http://www.businessinsider.in/The-Circle-Of-Competence-Theory-Will-Help-You-Make-Vastly-Smarter-Decisions/articleshow/26921971.cms http://www.businessinsider.in/The-Circle-Of-Competence-Theor...
• fzaninotto 9y ago
  I wrote a three-part study on the Blockchain phenomenon a year ago, based on real experience with Ethereum. It's intended for web developers. It ends with an unusual conclusion. - https://marmelab.com/blog/2016/04/28/blockchain-for-web-developers-the-theory.html https://marmelab.com/blog/2016/04/28/blockchain-for-web-deve... - https://marmelab.com/blog/2016/05/20/blockchain-for-web-developers-in-practice.html https://marmelab.com/blog/2016/05/20/blockchain-for-web-deve... - https://marmelab.com/blog/2016/06/14/blockchain-for-web-developers-the-truth.html https://marmelab.com/blog/2016/06/14/blockchain-for-web-deve...
  • elmar 9y ago
    such a good study, thank you for taking the time to write it, do you know any major updates to the writings on things that changed in the last year?
  • eternalban 9y ago
    > you must use an assembly-like language, which isn’t even Turing-complete. Yikes. And then you go on to talk about how the contracts written in 'Turing Complete' languages are gagged and can't call APIs. So why "Yikes"? Using turing complete DSLs for contracts is both unnecessary and problematic.
  • haburka 9y ago
    Just read that whole series. I appreciate the time and effort you into writing that up. I feel like most of your complaints were valid and boiled down to, "Etherium is too new" and "as a honest person, I get no benefit to using it". Block chain is set up to be no trust so unless you're working with people who you can't trust, you shouldn't use it. The other main reason is that you want to avoid banks and government, which is certainly a smell that you may be a criminal. These benefits aren't for people who are honest.
    • thedarkproject 9y ago
      > The other main reason is that you want to avoid banks and government, which is certainly a smell that you may be a criminal. These benefits aren't for people who are honest. It is saddening that this argument is used even on HN. That's equivalent to the old "You don't need privacy if you got nothing to hide". Examples as in Cyprus [1] prove that you should always be careful when trusting banks or any centralized system. Your line of argument is very common among representatives of banks, governments or people who are simply uneducated on the subject. Or a combination thereof. http://www.businessinsider.com/r-amid-fears-of-greek-controls-cyprus-shows-restrictions-are-bearable-2015-6 http://www.businessinsider.com/r-amid-fears-of-greek-control...
• elorm 9y ago
  There's a ton of resources here as well https://github.com/Xel/Blockchain-stuff https://github.com/Xel/Blockchain-stuff
• ktta 9y ago
  To really understand cryptocurrencies, you must understand Bitcoin. Not just its inner workings but where it came from and how it became what it is today. The rest of the cryptocurrencies are only hoping to gain Bitcoin's popularity (which Ethereum is getting close to) that it maintained for nearly a decade. Back in the day the following links helped me understand bitcoin: http://www.michaelnielsen.org/ddi/how-the-bitcoin-protocol-actually-works/ http://www.michaelnielsen.org/ddi/how-the-bitcoin-protocol-a... http://www.imponderablethings.com/2013/07/how-bitcoin-works-under-hood.html http://www.imponderablethings.com/2013/07/how-bitcoin-works-... Once you properly understand bitcoin you are ready to understand other cryptocurrencies pretty easily. If some design choices don't make sense (secp256k1), then remember that Bitcoin's creation was close to when someone was caught doing something[1]. This is the answer to why many cryptocurrencies choose non-standard algorithms (aka. not NIST) [1]:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual_EC_DRBG https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual_EC_DRBG
  • Rmilb 9y ago
    Don't forget that it is not just the technical details that give it value, also the cryptoeconomic incentives that make it possible for a group of self interested miners to provide a network users can trust.
• fiatjaf 9y ago
  First try to imagine a way to have decentralized money on the internet by yourself.
• aml183 9y ago
  This is good: https://www.arilewis.com/blog/2017/6/1/9si827ayimpdnbkzpahpkgvpr0kxhm https://www.arilewis.com/blog/2017/6/1/9si827ayimpdnbkzpahpk... Disclosure: I wrote it.
• azophy 9y ago
  Aside from many 'theoritical' reading suggested by others here, I found that this tutorial is incredibly helpful: https://medium.com/@lhartikk/a-blockchain-in-200-lines-of-code-963cc1cc0e54 https://medium.com/@lhartikk/a-blockchain-in-200-lines-of-co... I myself have also made the PHP version of the code implemented there. You could see it here: https://github.com/azophy/naivechain-php https://github.com/azophy/naivechain-php Hope it helps
• criddell 9y ago
  I first learned about Bitcoin when Steve Gibson did an episode of his podcast Security Now on the topic: https://www.grc.com/sn/sn-287.htm https://www.grc.com/sn/sn-287.htm If you have an understanding of basic cryptography primitives, then I think it's an excellent introduction, especially if you learn well via audio.
• thedarkproject 9y ago
  I was looking for a good primer and I found the original Bitcoin paper itself to be a pretty good starting point: https://bitcoin.org/en/bitcoin-paper https://bitcoin.org/en/bitcoin-paper Furthermore, I suggest the Princeton cryptocurrency intro course on coursera [1]. If you have CS background, you can skip the explanations of hashing etc and concentrate on the mechanics and incentives in cryptocurrencies, which are illustrated quite nicely. [1] https://www.coursera.org/learn/cryptocurrency https://www.coursera.org/learn/cryptocurrency
  • davidgl 9y ago
    I'll second the Princeton course
• s_dev 9y ago
  Alec Benzer -- How Bitcoin Works https://blog.alecb.me/how-bitcoin-works-a82bb2cd32ec https://blog.alecb.me/how-bitcoin-works-a82bb2cd32ec
  • alecbenzer 9y ago
    Thanks for the shout-out. :)
• adim86 9y ago
  This is a funny post, but it will give you the very basics on cryptocurrencies and set you up to understand the more complex parts as you read more technical documents: http://blog.adimofunne.com/crypto-in-the-hood/ http://blog.adimofunne.com/crypto-in-the-hood/
• aaronhoffman 9y ago
  Bob Murphy's free ebook http://understandingbitcoin.us/ http://understandingbitcoin.us/
• krosaen 9y ago
  I've found the Unchained Podcast helpful: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/forbes-podcast-network/unchained-big-ideas-from-the-worlds-of-blockchain-and-fintech http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/forbes-podcast-network/uncha... This episode in particular: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/forbes-podcast-network/unchained-big-ideas-from-the-worlds-of-blockchain-and-fintech/e/46007989 http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/forbes-podcast-network/uncha...
• Temasik 9y ago
  If your looking for a cryptocurrency that doesn't use a blockchain but Directed Acyclic Graph https://iota.org/IOTA_Whitepaper.pdf https://iota.org/IOTA_Whitepaper.pdf
  • ddalex 9y ago
    Ethereum ?
• jmeyers44 9y ago
  Nader Theory has a post "The Ultimate Layman's Guide to Bitcoin" that is great: http://www.nadertheory.com/#!/main/articles/post-08-the-ultimate-laymans-guide-to-bitcoin http://www.nadertheory.com/#!/main/articles/post-08-the-ulti... Since you will no longer be a layman, you can then follow that up with his post "The Intelligent Cryptocurrency Investor" : http://www.nadertheory.com/#!/main/articles/post-09-the-intelligent-cryptocurrency-investor http://www.nadertheory.com/#!/main/articles/post-09-the-inte... Edit: include article titles
• kerkeslager 9y ago
  I'd love to understand how zcash shielded-address-to-shielded-address transactions work. Any good technical explanations of that algorithm?
  • silverdrake11 9y ago
    The Princeton Coursera class has an entire section on it
• djohnston 9y ago
  Read and reread the Bitcoin white paper. As you read it, ask yourself questions like, "what if I do x, could I then double spend?" I've read it 3 times over the course of a year or two and it's always served as a good conceptual foundation.
• bootsz 9y ago
  +1 to the Coursera course by Princeton that others have mentioned. Just finished it and really feel like I came away with a pretty thorough understanding of the fundamentals. Got exactly what I was looking for.