Lesson 1Token supply mechanics: issuance schedules, inflation, halving, minting, burning, capped vs. uncapped supplyThis part looks into token supply mechanics, covering issuance, inflation, halvings, minting, and burning. Learners will compare capped and uncapped supplies, model dilution effects, and evaluate how supply policies impact price and incentives in real scenarios.
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 specificationsThis part teaches learners to critically read whitepapers and protocol specs. It covers their structure, main economic and technical claims, token distribution, governance, and spotting red flags, missing info, and unrealistic 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 systems. It includes reward structures, slashing, lock-ups, liquid staking, and how these affect 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 characteristicsThis part analyses how various token types capture and share economic value. It differentiates utility, governance, payment, and commodity-like tokens, and looks at fee flows, value accrual, and regulatory effects for each type.
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 dynamicsThis part teaches how to interpret on-chain activity metrics like active addresses, transactions, fees, and gas. Learners will link raw metrics to user behaviour, network health, congestion, and the economic sustainability of protocols.
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)This part introduces main blockchain architectures and consensus mechanisms. It compares PoW, PoS, hybrid designs, and layer-2 scaling, focusing on security, decentralisation, throughput, and trade-offs in actual networks.
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 part explains how stablecoins, wrapped tokens, and cross-chain bridges function. It covers design models, collateralisation, bridge security risks, and systemic effects on liquidity, leverage, and contagion in blockchain ecosystems.
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 ecosystemsThis part explores how network effects drive protocol and application adoption. It covers user and developer growth, adoption curves, composability, and how ecosystems compete, coordinate, and build lasting advantages 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
