The content provided here is split into module topics to guide you from the basic principles of the space to specific sub-sectors in crypto to allow you to find your own interest in the space to carve out your own path.
This is a reading list, essentially for those that are just getting started in the blockchain space + wish to get to know the space better.
This is an introduction into the design principles and guiding ideology behind the crypto/web3 space at-large. As you work through these readings, think about the following questions:
Why do we even need web3? How do we situate the ideology of web3 in the history of the Internet?
Why is it important to have blockchains in web3? What role does "crypto tokens" play in this?
Why does crypto have such a distinct and unique subculture, as opposed to other emerging technologies, such as AI, AR, and robotics?
How are Bitcoin and Ethereum paradigmatic case studies of crypto innovation?
Reading List
"The Ideology of Web3" by Jay Yu. Oct 2022. Published on Medium.
"#35 - Read Write Own: Chris Dixon on Building the Next Era of the Internet". Jan 2024. Interview and Article, published on the Stanford Blockchain Review.
Optional Reading List
Read Write Own by Chris Dixon. Full book - 2024.
"The Most Important Scarce Resource is Legitimacy" by Vitalik Buterin. March 2021. Published on Vitalik's blog. (There's some technical difficulty here)
Now that you have a basic idea of the principles of crypto and what the industry is aiming for, we can now look at how these principles may touch upon our everyday lives.
In particular, we will focus on the application of two important crypto primitives: ERC-20 standard fungible tokens, and ERC-721 standard Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), and how they relate to everyday life. As you read through the following articles, think about the following:
Now if you have done your reading up to this point, you should have a basic idea of some of the potential applications that crypto may be building towards, let's do a deep dive into one of the core promises and principles of crypto – decentralization.
Why is decentralization important? How do we design and maintain decentralized applications?
In this series of reading, we will examine this crypto ideal with case studies in Decentralized Finance (DeFi), Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePIN), and Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs).
In reading these, think about the following questions:
Thus far, we've primarily focused on understanding crypto from the application layer. Now it's time to dive under the hood and look at the infrastructure that makes all of these applications possible. Because much of the crypto industry today is focused on building infrastructure, unfortunately we can't possibly cover everything. We're selecting the following projects for their representativeness on the various approaches towards some of the core infrastructure problems in blockchain.
In this section, ask yourself these questions:
Finally, let's look at where crypto as an industry is at now, in September of 2024.
As you read through these, think about the areas, topics, and sectors that you'd like to explore, and how we can as an industry move forward to ultimately reinvent the Internet as we know it.
I hope that you read the suggested materials, and that you were able to gain insight and understanding as to what web3 and decentrilization truly is and capabilities it provides. Please use your knowledge to empower yourself and your community.