Blockchain - Getting Started

A roadmap for understanding blockchain from scratch. Each topic builds on the previous one, so I’d recommend going in order if you’re new.

The Roadmap

flowchart TD
    A["Blockchain Basics<br/>What is a blockchain, blocks,<br/>nodes, consensus"] --> B["Proof of Work<br/>How Bitcoin stays secure"]
    A --> C["Proof of Stake<br/>The energy-efficient alternative"]
    B & C --> D["Smart Contracts<br/>Code that runs on the blockchain"]
    D --> E["Oracles<br/>Connecting blockchain to<br/>the real world"]
    E --> F["Chainlink<br/>Decentralized oracles<br/>in practice"]
    D --> G["Coins vs Tokens<br/>The difference and<br/>types of tokens"]
    G --> H["Staking<br/>Earning passive income<br/>with your crypto"]
    D --> I["Rollups<br/>How Ethereum scales"]
    I --> J["Polygon<br/>A specific L2 example"]
    D --> K["Liquidity Pools<br/>How decentralized<br/>trading works"]
    K --> L["Automated Market Makers<br/>The math behind<br/>pool pricing"]
    L --> M["Impermanent Loss<br/>The main risk for<br/>liquidity providers"]
    M --> N["Yield Farming<br/>Maximizing DeFi returns"]

Reading Order

Part 1: Foundations

Start here. This covers how blockchain works at a fundamental level.

1. blockchain-basics — What a blockchain is, what blocks and nodes are, what consensus means, key terms glossary
2. proof-of-work — How Bitcoin uses energy-intensive puzzles to stay secure (mining, nonces, 51% attacks)
3. proof-of-stake — The energy-efficient alternative used by Ethereum (validators, staking, slashing)

Part 2: Smart Contracts and the Real World

What makes blockchain more than just digital money.

4. smart-contracts — Code that executes automatically on the blockchain, the immutability tradeoff, real-world use cases
5. oracles — Why blockchains can’t see the outside world, and how oracles bridge that gap
6. chainlink — The biggest decentralized oracle network, how it aggregates data, the LINK token

Part 3: Tokens and Earning

Understanding what you’re actually buying and how to earn.

7. coins-vs-tokens — The difference between coins and tokens, wrapped tokens, the 5 types of tokens
8. staking — How to earn passive income by staking, solo vs liquid vs exchange staking, risks

Part 4: Scaling

How Ethereum handles its speed problem.

9. rollups — Optimistic rollups vs ZK rollups, rollups vs sidechains, why they matter
10. polygon — A popular Layer 2 solution, its history, how it works, comparison with other L2s

Part 5: DeFi (Decentralized Finance)

How people trade, lend, and earn without banks.

11. liquidity-pools — How decentralized trading works without an order book
12. automated-market-makers — The x * y = k formula that powers pool pricing (with worked examples)
13. impermanent-loss — The biggest risk for liquidity providers, with clear examples
14. yield-farming — How people maximize returns across DeFi, including leverage farming and its risks

External Resources

Whitepapers and Technical Docs

• Bitcoin Whitepaper by Satoshi Nakamoto — The 9-page paper that started it all. Surprisingly readable
• Ethereum Whitepaper — Vitalik’s original vision for a programmable blockchain
• Chainlink Whitepaper 2.0 — How decentralized oracles work technically
• Uniswap v2 Whitepaper — The AMM math explained formally
• Polygon Whitepaper — Polygon’s architecture and vision

Learning Platforms

• ethereum.org/learn — Ethereum Foundation’s own learning resources, very beginner-friendly
• Finematics (YouTube) — Excellent animated explainers for DeFi concepts
• Whiteboard Crypto (YouTube) — Visual explanations of blockchain topics
• Chainlink Education — Beginner-friendly oracle and smart contract explainers

Tools and Explorers

• Etherscan — Explore Ethereum transactions, blocks, and smart contracts live
• DeFi Llama — Track total value locked across all DeFi protocols
• L2Beat — Compare Layer 2 solutions by TVL, risk, and technology
• Dune Analytics — Community-built dashboards with on-chain data

For Developers

• CryptoZombies — Learn Solidity by building a game (free, interactive)
• Solidity by Example — Practical Solidity code snippets
• Hardhat — The most popular Ethereum development framework
• Alchemy University — Free, structured blockchain development course

A Note on These Posts

I originally wrote these notes back in 2023 while learning blockchain. The first version was mostly AI-generated summaries — honestly not very useful. I’ve since rewritten everything to actually explain things clearly with real examples and diagrams.

These notes are meant to give you a solid conceptual foundation. They won’t make you a blockchain developer, but they’ll help you understand what people are talking about and evaluate projects and protocols with some actual knowledge.

If something’s unclear or wrong, let me know.