New Kids on the Block

Resources to get up to speed on blockchain technology

If you’re new to the blockchain space and wanting to learn more about the technology, here are some resources I’ve compiled to help get you started on your journey.

101 Materials

Start with bringing yourself up to speed on the technology. It used to be a lot harder to find information on bitcoin and blockchain, but there’s tons of it out there now. A good google search will yield results, but here are a few good places to start.

• Andreas Antonopoulos “Explain Bitcoin to my mother”
• The Seven Best Bitcoin Explainer Videos
• ACLU Interview with Edward Snowden
• Coincenter’s Learn Page
• Go buy bitcoin — the best way to understand the tech is to interact with it. Go buy some bitcoin or ether or whatever and give it your best shot even if you don’t really know what you’re doing.
• Andreas Antonopoulos’ Youtube Channel — Andreas is one of the early adopters of crypto and one of the only people in the early days who could effectively communicate its value.
• Blockgeeks.com — Blockgeeks offer a number of educational options, and I’m a particular fan of their free guides.
• The bitcoin whitepaper — this is a must read for anyone getting into the space. Don’t worry — it’s easier to read than you’d think and only 9 pages long.
• The Ethereum Whitepaper — equally important foundational document.
• Jameson Lopp’s Bitcoin Resources website — everything you could ever want to know about bitcoin.

Books

You will never find the latest information on the technology in a book. But in case you really want information in that format, here are a few to check out.

• The Blockchain Revolution by Alex and Don Tapscott
• Mastering Bitcoin by Andreas Antonopoulos
• The Truth Machine by Michael J. Casey
• Blockchain: Blueprint for a New Economy by Melanie Swan

The Bleeding Edge

Now that you’re starting to understand the technology, you need to be where the real action is.

• Reddit — r/bitcoin and r/ethereum among others.
• Twitter — Here’s a great list of people to follow
• Local Meetups- Meetup.com has hundreds of meetups around the world where people who are excited about crypto get together to drink beer and talk about it.
• EthGlobal hackathons — EthGlobal runs the highest quality ethereum hackathons around the world. Hackathons are a great way to learn how to code, prototype an idea, and meet new people in the space.
• Secret telegram and whatsapp groups

Media & Podcasts

There’s a specific cadre of journalists and media just for the crypto space. Be warned that some of the lesser publications are low on ethics and will often charge to post articles about new companies. Here are a few of the more well respected sources.

• Coindesk — one of the most reputable media sources in crypto
• Cointelegraph
• Bitcoin Magazine
• CCN
• Unchained with Laura Shin
• The Blockchain Show
• Epicenter
• Let’s Talk Bitcoin

Events

While most interaction happens decentrally… or online as everyone else calls it, the blockchain community is at its best when we come together in person. There are hundreds of blockchain events these days and they are not all created equal. Here are a few to aim for.

• Consensus — The largest and most commercial of the events, Consensus is the main draw for blockchain week in NY in May. My recommendation… don’t go to the conference. Just be in NY when it’s on.
• Devcon — The ethereum developers conference held once a year in November. One of the best events in the space. As a result, tickets are hard to get!
• Token summit — Part of blockchain week in NY
• Blockchain Africa Summit— There are some really exciting projects coming out of the continent. This is the place to be to get the inside view.
• LAbitconf — Likewise for Latin America