Blockchain

Blockchain is a revolutionary technology that enables peer-to-peer transfer of digital assets without any intermediaries, and is predicted to be just as impactful as the Internet. Blockchains are best known for their crucial role in cryptocurrency systems, such as Bitcoin, for maintaining a secure and decentralized record of transactions. Sounds exciting? Read along to get started.

Introduction

Start with the Blockchain Specialization course on Coursera by the University at Buffalo and The State University of New York.

This 4-course specialization will help you understand foundational blockchain concepts, design and implement smart contracts, develop decentralized applications on the blockchain, and learn about the ongoing specific industry-wide blockchain frameworks.

Focus on the following:

• Understanding the basics of blockchain technology

• Key features of blockchain

• Hashing algorithms and their role in blockchain security

• Distributed peer-to-peer networks and their role in blockchain

• Mining and Consensus Protocols

• Overview of different types of blockchain

Bitcoin

Bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency created and is now the most traded and well-known.

• The Bitcoin Whitepaper is the original thesis paper written under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto on October 31, 2008 that set the basic structure of the Bitcoin network.

• Refer to this video by 3blue1brown: But how does bitcoin actually work?

• PRDV151: Bitcoin for Everybody & CS120: Bitcoin for Developers I by Saylor Academy provide the foundations necessary for understanding, working with, and building on Bitcoin and other open cryptocurrency systems. Focus on:

  • Bitcoin's monetary policy

  • Understanding Mining

  • Transactions and mempools in Bitcoin - what are block explorers?

  • Bitcoin wallets and keys: public and private

• Follow this book: Mastering Bitcoin by Andreas M. Antonopoulos

Ethereum

Ethereum is the community-run technology powering the cryptocurrency ether (ETH) and thousands of decentralized applications. Read the documentation.

• Introduction to Ethereum and its underlying technology

• Etherscan: the Block Explorer and Analytics Platform for Ethereum.

• PolygonScan: Blockchain explorer for the Polygon ecosystem.

• Understanding smart contracts - Role in DApps

• The Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and Gas

• Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) and their role in governance

• Understanding hard and soft forks in Ethereum

• Overview of the DAO attack and its aftermath

• Introduction to Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) and alternative coins (altcoins)

• Follow this book: Mastering Ethereum by Andreas M. Antonopoulos

Transitioning to Web 3.0

Web 2.0

One must be familiar with the following languages and frameworks:

• HTML

• CSS

• JavaScript: Video & Book (You Don't Know JS by Kyle Simpson)

• Next.js

• Node.js

• Git

• Rest API

Web 3.0

• Solidity

  • Introduction to Solidity: Solidity by Example

  • Installing MetaMask: extension for accessing Ethereum enabled distributed applications, or "Dapps" in your browser!

  • RemixIDE is a powerful toolset for developing, deploying, debugging, and testing Ethereum and EVM-compatible smart contracts.

    • ABI and ByteCode

    • EVM

    • Block Explorer

    • Gas and fees

• Hardhat

• Openzepllin Contracts

• Etherjs

• Testing

• Integrations

Advanced concepts of DeFi

• Uniswap and DEX's

• Aave v3

• Flash loans

• Web3Auth

• NFT Marketplace

• Oracles