Vol -1
Scratch Notes-like post for pre-Vol 0: This is a copy of an email I sent to my family to give them some basic crypto thoughts/takes
Note: sent all of this in December 2021 — the market is fu#$ed right now, everything is down tremendously, tread carefully.
Extremely Simplified Token Breakdown
(1) ETH: the platform/ infrastructure of crypto, also known as the next evolution of the internet
(2) LINK: the #1 scaling solution for off-chain (which is any normal company that does not use blockchain tech) companies to utilize the major blockchain players (i.e. ETH), provide value to the blockchain, and gain profit from going on-chain.
(1) BTC: the gold of Web 3.0 - the market leader, the first mover, the most known international digital asset in the world. It has a specific amount that will never change.
(3) MATIC: a scaling solution specifically built for ETH, makes using ETH (like sending payments, querying data, building dashboards) quicker, cheaper- leading brand in that space
(3) GRT: a query tool for multiple block chains, think of this like the SQL of blockchain applications, or the Google of blockchain data.
(4) DOT: a "competing" blockchain platform to ETH, has unique benefits/drawbacks to ETH, has the ability to coexist with ETH (much like android and apple coexist, chrome vs. safari,
(5) LRC: a competitor to MATIC, about 1/4th of the size, utilizes a different technical framework but offers the same benefits.
(5) ONE*: a "competing" blockchain platform to ETH, has unique benefits/drawbacks to ETH, has the ability to coexist with ETH (much like android and apple coexist, chrome vs. safari, lyft vs uber)
(3) AVAX: a "competing" blockchain platform to ETH, has unique benefits/drawbacks to ETH, has the ability to coexist with ETH (much like android and apple coexist, chrome vs. safari, lyft vs uber)
(5) RSR*: the correlating token to the RSV "stable coin" tool that is used in developing and volatile countries, mostly Venezuela, something like 300,000 active users and 5,000 merchants accepting their tokens.
(2) ATOM: a competing chain to ETH, ONE, DOT, and others.
(3) MANA: one of the largest “metaverse” game/world plays. Big investments from big brands, including a casino built with Atari and a high-end metaverse fashion show. Buy virtual real estate, NFT clothes, the whole deal.
*not available on Coinbase app
The numbers represent my projected risk profile with 1 being the "safest investment". That being said, this entire space is extremely risky, so take that as you will. Price movement 20-40% on a given month is somewhat normal.
One way to get started by buying crypto:
- Download Coinbase (Ask jake or someone for referral code), KEEP PASSWORDS SAFE
- connect bank account
- buy something!
- complete the coinbase learning programs in the app
A risk averse spread that I gave one of my VC friends recently who had $5K to invest:
$2.5K Eth, $500 chainlink, $500 BTC, $500 MANA
Some recent articles I stumbled upon (now a bit outdated):
How Chainlink can transform insurance:
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/397515
RSR Update from founding team (sep):
https://medium.com/reservelodge/reserve-adoption-update-1a26fa52d453
Helpful Videos to Watch:
BlockChain Explained:
DEFI (decentralized finance) explained (a bit more heavy language here):
Smart Contracts Explained (the vending machine analogy):
Podcasts to Listen too (i'll come back with specific episodes):
Bankless
Empire with Jason Yanowitz
White Papers:
Whitepapers should be read if you want to get into the nitty gritty- remember, a white paper is like a company's business plan. It has research-paper aspects (analyzing issues in the space), as well as details on tokenomics (which every token has, this is what economic rules are set for each token, more to come here) and the vision of the product - solution.
ETH Whitepaper: https://ethereum.org/en/whitepaper/
BTC Whitepaper (considered the bible of crypto): https://bitcoin.org/en/bitcoin-paper
LINK Whitepaper: https://chain.link/whitepaper
These are super dense, took me many attempts to get through these, and still don't understand all of it. If you want to become a crypto wiz, you read things like this and google every single word you don't know. I did not know what an oracle or a node was before this.
Link to my article about NFTs: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/3-part-guide-nfts-jacob-horowitz/
Please please please ask me questions, let me know what is helpful or what is not.
Love Jake