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Without proper guidance, obtaining crypto knowledge can be a daunting challenge. Regardless of how you get involved with cryptocurrencies, crypto education is a critical component of your journey. You may be an investor looking to buy your first coins or an everyday user or enthusiast who wishes to know more. Whichever category you belong in, crypto knowledge is power - so be mindful of which sources you choose to learn from.
Without proper guidance, obtaining crypto knowledge can be a daunting challenge. Regardless of how you get involved with cryptocurrencies, crypto education is a critical component of your journey. You may be an investor looking to buy your first coins or an everyday user or enthusiast who wishes to know more. Whichever category you belong in, crypto knowledge is power - so be mindful of which sources you choose to learn from.
While the internet has swarms of detailed pages on crypto knowledge, much of it is utterly useless for those who take learning seriously.
What Are the Best Sources for Crypto Knowledge?
Inevitably, the first thought that popped into your mind was the internet. You’re certainly not wrong, but dissecting this singular worldwide source into smaller pieces is key to finding the most reliable, truthful material available on the young industry we call cryptocurrency.
While the internet has swarms of detailed pages on crypto knowledge, much of it is utterly useless for those who take learning seriously. Imagine a beginner football enthusiast trying to learn the one-footed rainbow! I have no idea what that is and I would surely be discouraged if it were the first trick I attempted to learn. Quite simply, most material about cryptocurrency is too complex.
To make things simpler, we will cover the following 5 sources. They will help you learn both on and offline:
- Khan Academy
- Whitepapers
- Youtube
- Forums
- Books
1. Khan Academy
The fact that I’m starting with Khan Academy does not mean it's my favorite. Rather than a brilliant all-rounder education program, Khan Academy comes across as a brief crash course on blockchain technology focusing primarily on BitcoinBitcoin
The first blockchain-based cryptocurrency, launched in 2009. Bitcoin remains the most influential and widely recognized coin. All other cryptocurrencies are known as "altcoins," simply because they are not Bitcoin.
Anyhow, the course is completely functional and allows you to learn in a user-friendly environment about the security of blockchains, transactions, how they work, and what they can be used for. The great thing about Khan Academy is its cost - or lack thereof. The service is completely free to use online. While it has it’s limitations with content, I do recommend giving it a try.
2. Whitepapers
Whitepapers are perhaps my top source to acquire new crypto knowledge in recent months. Find yourself a solid cryptocurrency project and dig into their whitepaper. If you take a good look, you are bound to find wisdom.
I recommend that users start looking into whitepapers of technically-sound projects when they’ve acquired an intermediate understanding of blockchain basics and basis of crypto education. Some great ones to investigate include Tron, Cardano, Civic and NEO. Once you start to make sense of the lines and lines of essay-like material, your understanding of these platforms will get much deeper. By simply looking at the consensus algorithm of a project, you will start to realize how it is different from those you already know and - more importantly - how it works and how transactions are confirmed.
3. Youtube
Videos are brilliant for learning. The top 100 crypto YouTuber list on Medium (created in June 2018) is a great place to look for content.
YouTube is an environment where you’ll find everything from rank beginners pretending to know what they're talking about all the way to true cryptocurrency experts who deserve serious financial compensation for the information they share. The former group is easily distinguished from the latter. Crypto charlatans betray their lack of experience with constant stalling, heavy scripting, unprepared body language, and nonsense dialogue.
Have a look at the top guys and girls covering cryptocurrencies on YouTube - many of them specialize in investment, trading, and beginner advice. Browse the comments sections of videos to see their general reception before you watch. Despite all the trolls, comments are usually a great way to gauge a video’s merits.
4. Forums
Forums could be considered the dinosaurs of online crypto knowledge, but they are dinosaurs that have survived and continue to roam about. Forums like BitcoinTalk have gathered humongous followings over the years. BitcoinTalk was actually created by Satoshi Nakamoto, the original creator of Bitcoin back in 2009.
Forums are a great way to interact with the community and find common ground with like-minded individuals. The quality of information available on forums is generally quite high - most spammers and scammers get banned quickly. Other great forums include the likes of Moon Forum or CryptoInTalk.
Crypto knowledge is arguably the largest niche that has attracted the general non-tech population’s attention and triggered people to find out more since the internet came along.
5. Books
Does Crypto Knowledge Exist in Paper Form? Absolutely. If you’re into holding a source of information in your hands, books might be your preferred source of crypto education. There are already hundreds of published books on cryptocurrencies which are worthy of being labeled as ‘crypto knowledge sources.’ Many books have been written by industry experts in the realms of blockchain and various cryptocurrencies. These books contain top-grade information about functionality and technicalities.
Selecting the right book, however, is critical and can be difficult. The flow of information on paper is so much slower and more limited when compared to the internet. Books quickly become out of date and unusable when new breakthroughs or discoveries are made. The last thing you want to do is read out-of-date content about cryptocurrencies when forming the base structure of your knowledge. Read lots of reviews to ensure you select the right books if you choose to study the old fashioned way.
Are Current Resources Suitable for Crypto Investment?
Make no mistake, useful resources are out there. Are they as good as they can be, though? I think not. Crypto education is a topic far more complex than conventional subjects - but that hasn’t stopped people from flocking to it. Crypto knowledge is arguably the largest niche that has attracted the general non-tech population’s attention and triggered people to find out more since the internet came along.
The main issues that make crypto education a tough puzzle to solve include:
- Rate of change
- Lack of perspective
- Irrelevance
- Lack of depth
- Difficulty to find
Why Should Resources Change Quickly?
Who on earth wants to learn something out-of-date? While it could be useful for perspective, the actual knowledge will be less valuable than its up-to-date counterpart. For this reason, selecting the resources which embrace the rate of change in the crypto knowledge sector is paramount to ensuring you receive the crypto education you deserve.
I don’t want to give books a bad name, but they’re a perfect example of the rate of change dilemma. I, myself, have barely read any books on cryptocurrencies. I generally prefer to access up-to-date information online.
How In-Depth Is a Good Knowledge Source?
Just because a piece of learning material is simple does not mean it’s unusable or incomplete. Remember, most material is targeted at different audiences with different levels of experience. In academia, we don’t expect freshmen to understand Ph.D. material; why should we expect beginners to fully grasp whitepapers?
Intermediate and advanced blockchainBlockchain
A digital, distributed ledger which contains data for all the transactions that have ever taken place using a given cryptocurrency.
What Are Some Beneficial Crypto Knowledge Sources?
Get your surfing shoes on and turn on your computer. It is the key to your fresh, frequently updated crypto knowledge sources. The first step is to determine your specific area of interest and read about it to your heart’s content. Doing this will inevitably spark another area of interest and you will be ready to enroll yourself into a high-quality cryptocurrency program.
Alternatively, there are already programs out there with macro-details, aiming to help complete newcomers and beginners grasp the basics of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology in a user-friendly, non-technical way to start with. Our very own program falls into this category.
Where Should I Learn About Cryptocurrency?
Different people learn differently, so there’s no one-size-fits-all crypto knowledge resource. Try a few different options and see which resonate with you the most.
One excellent option is to check our bunch of free guides.
We simplify the technical jargon, eliminate the misinformation that is found on most digital currency websites and, most importantly, we show you how to invest in cryptocurrency safely, effectively and responsibly.
Start with what is Bitcoin or how to invest in Bitcoin today.
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