Lesson 1Token supply mechanics: issuance schedules, inflation, halving, minting, burning, capped vs. uncapped supplyThis section looks at token supply mechanics, including issuance, inflation, halvings, minting, and burning. Learners will compare capped and uncapped supplies, model dilution, and see how supply policies affect price 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 specificationsThis section teaches learners to read whitepapers and protocol specs carefully. It covers structure, key economic and technical claims, token distribution, governance, and how to spot red flags, missing data, 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 section explains staking, delegation, and validator economics in proof-of-stake systems. It covers 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 section analyses how different token types capture and share economic value. It distinguishes utility, governance, payment, and commodity-like tokens, and looks at fee flows, value accrual, and regulatory implications for each design.
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 section teaches how to interpret on-chain activity metrics like active addresses, transactions, fees, and gas. Learners will connect raw metrics to user behaviour, network health, congestion, and 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 section introduces core blockchain architectures and consensus mechanisms. It compares PoW, PoS, hybrid designs, and layer-2 scaling, focusing on security, decentralisation, throughput, and trade-offs in real-world 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 section explains how stablecoins, wrapped tokens, and cross-chain bridges work. It covers design models, collateralisation, bridge security risks, and systemic impacts on liquidity, leverage, and contagion across 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 section explores how network effects drive protocol and application adoption. It covers user and developer growth, adoption curves, composability, and how ecosystems compete, coordinate, and entrench 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
