Lesson 1Token supply mechanics: issuance schedules, inflation, halving, minting, burning, capped vs. uncapped supplyThis part looks at token supply mechanics like issuance, inflation, halvings, minting, and burning. You'll compare capped and uncapped supplies, model dilution effects, and see how supply rules shape prices and incentives.
Genesis allocations and vesting schedulesBlock rewards, emissions, and tail inflationHalving events and supply shock narrativesMinting, burning, and fee-burn mechanismsDilution, float, and fully diluted valuationLesson 2Reading and extracting key information from whitepapers and protocol specificationsHere you'll learn to read whitepapers and protocol docs with a sharp eye. It covers their structure, main economic and tech claims, token distribution, governance, and spotting warning signs, gaps, or overblown promises.
Typical whitepaper structure and sectionsIdentifying core problem, scope, and audienceConsensus, security, and threat assumptionsToken distribution, unlocks, and incentivesRed flags, omissions, and unverifiable claimsLesson 3Staking, delegation, and validator economics: rewards, slashing, lock-ups, and effects on circulating supplyThis part explains staking, delegation, and validator economics in proof-of-stake setups. It covers rewards, slashing penalties, lock-ups, liquid staking, and how these impact security, liquidity, and circulating supply.
Validator roles, hardware, and responsibilitiesReward schedules, APR, and real yieldSlashing conditions and risk managementDelegation models and staking poolsLiquid staking tokens and rehypothecationLesson 4How tokens capture economic value: utility, governance, payment, and commodity-like characteristicsHere we break down how token types grab and share economic value. It separates utility, governance, payment, and commodity-style tokens, looking at fee flows, value capture, and rules that apply to each.
Utility tokens and access-rights designGovernance tokens and voting powerPayment tokens and medium-of-exchange rolesCommodity-like and asset-backed token traitsValue accrual, buybacks, and fee-sharing modelsLesson 5On-chain activity metrics and interpretation: active addresses, transaction counts, fees, throughput, and gas dynamicsYou'll learn to read on-chain metrics like active addresses, transactions, fees, and gas. Connect these numbers to user activity, network health, congestion, and whether protocols can sustain themselves economically.
Active addresses, users, and sybil concernsTransaction counts, throughput, and batchingGas, base fees, and priority fees explainedMEV, reorgs, and fee market dynamicsInterpreting dashboards and avoiding misreadsLesson 6Overview of blockchain architectures and consensus mechanisms (PoW, PoS, hybrid, layer-2 solutions)Get an overview of blockchain setups and consensus methods. Compare PoW, PoS, hybrids, and layer-2 scaling, focusing on security, spread-out control, speed, and real-world trade-offs.
Monolithic vs modular blockchain designsProof-of-Work security and incentivesProof-of-Stake variants and finality modelsHybrid and committee-based consensusLayer-2 rollups, channels, and data availabilityLesson 7Stablecoins, wrapped tokens, and cross-chain bridges: mechanics, use cases, and systemic implicationsThis explains stablecoins, wrapped tokens, and cross-chain bridges. Covers their designs, backing, bridge risks, and big-picture effects on liquidity, borrowing, and risks spreading across chains.
Fiat- and crypto-collateralized stablecoin modelsAlgorithmic and hybrid stablecoin stabilizationWrapped assets and synthetic token designBridge architectures and security assumptionsSystemic risks, depegs, and contagion channelsLesson 8Network effects and adoption curves: protocols, applications, and developer ecosystemsSee how network effects push protocol and app growth. Covers user and dev expansion, adoption paths, how things build on each other, and how ecosystems compete, team up, and hold strong over time.
Direct and indirect network effects in protocolsAdoption curves and S-curve modelingDeveloper ecosystems and tooling flywheelsComposability, liquidity pools, and moatsMultichain competition and winner-take-most
