2023 Theses
Going into 2023, I remain focused on the Ethereum and Cosmos ecosystems. There are a handful of projects I'm watching in the privacy, middleware, P2P infrastructure, and staking areas.
Modular vs Monolithic Blockchain
Modular blockchains are on the rise, but monolithic chains still have merit in the form of application specific chains.
Bitcoin Lightning Network
The Lightning Network (LN) is a layer 2 scaling solution [link to layer 2 article] for Bitcoin. Specifically, Lightning Network is a payment channel.
EIPs (Ethereum Improvement Proposals)
Proposals to update the Ethereum network/ecosystem are known as Ethereum Improvement Proposals, or EIPs.
Layer 2 Scaling
Layer 2 means the solution is built ‘on top’ of the Layer 1 and therefore does not make any changes to the core protocol.
Aztec Network
Aztec’s scaling technique can be described as a zk-zk-SNARK. Zero knowledge is used to obfuscate transactions, and then used again to roll up a batch of transactions for scalability.
Merkle Trees
A Merkle Tree is a binary tree data structure in which every leaf is a cryptographic hash of a data block and every branch is a hash of its children.
Sybil Attacks
A Sybil Attack is a type of attack on a peer-to-peer network where a malicious actor operates many fake identities simultaneously.
Smart Contracts
A smart contract is a digital vending machine. They facilitate reliable, transparent, and trustless interactions on blockchains.
Monero View Tags
The Monero v15 hard fork update on 13th August 2022 included the addition of view tags to reduce wallet sync times by 30-40%. Let's look at how they work.
Onion Routing
Onion routing is a technique for anonymous communication. Multiple layers of encryption are applied to the messages, and they're removed one at a time by different parties, analogous to peeling back the layers of an onion.
Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange (DHKE)
Diffie-Hellman key exchange is a method for securely agreeing on a shared key between two communication partners. This method is used in protocols such as ZKP, SSH, TLS, and SSL.
Chainlink VRF
Chainlink VRF (Verifiable Random Function) produces fair and unbiased randomness in a gas-efficient way. This allows for the level of trust needed to participate in complex on-chain interactions.
Stablecoins
Stablecoins are digital representations of dollars, euros, or commodities pegged to the value of their backing. They're vital for interacting on a blockchain without subjecting yourself to the volatility of the crypto market.
Asymmetric Encryption
Asymmetric encryption, also known as public-key encryption, involves using a pair of keys to encrypt and decrypt a message - a public key and a private key. Popular algorithms include Elliptic Curve Cryptography, RSA, and Diffie-Hellman.
Blockchain Validation of Physical Items
Using short-range radio frequencies, tags in physical products (sneakers, watches, handbags, etc) can be used to identify and validate unique physical products.
NextJS Link not scrolling to top of page
With NextJS, Link scrolls to the top of a new page by default. You can override this with scroll={false}. overflow-x: hidden will also override the default setting.
Why do so many coins’ symbols start with ‘X’?
Quick Crypto Tips: ISO 4217 provides code for supranational currencies.
Retirement Accounts – 401k’s, IRA’s
Tax advantaged retirement accounts include 401k’s, IRA’s, and less common options such as SEP, SIMPLE, 403b. Within 401ks and IRAs, they can be broken down into traditional or roth accounts.
Passive Education With Communities
Learning about personal finance can be difficult if you try to dive in head first. You may find a ‘relaxed approach’ to learning to be more successful. I retain information best when I’m receiving it on frequent small intervals, such as reading a twitter thread here and there.
Project: Shroomies - Polygon NFT Collection
I created an NFT collection on Polygon. This collection was made as a proof-of-concept for the various methods involved in the process. There is absolutely no utility and they have no value; they’re just for fun.
Personal Finance Guide
A Personal Finance Guide for Budgeting, Saving, and Tracking Your Financial Goals
MetaMask: Get Set Up
MetaMask is a free hot wallet for Ethereum. In addition to Ethereum, you can manually add other networks such as Binance Smart Chain or Avalanche Network. Check out our guide to get set up.
Nano XNO: Fast, Feeless, and Green
Nano transactions are instant, cost nothing in fees, and have negligible energy consumption. All of that while being completely scalable.
Monero XMR: Fungible Money
Monero is a censorship-resistant, fungible, and anonymous currency. The king of privacy. Most cryptocurrencies, including BTC and ETH, have public blockchains and are at best, pseudonymous.
DeFi: Why Do We Need It?
Decentralized finance is all about regaining autonomy of your money. Censorship resistant, permissionless, fungible money is the only true form of money.
Liquidity Mining
Liquidity mining is the strategy of offering your assets as a trading pair in exchange for financial rewards
How To Deploy an NFT Collection
This is an extremely high-level overview on the necessary steps to launch your own NFT collection. Art generation, metadata, hosting, smart contracts, and dapps!
Ethereum ETH: Digital Gas
Ethereum is a decentralized, open-source blockchain with smart contract functionality
Cryptocurrency Categories
Smart contracts, oracles, payment systems, infrastructure, and more use cases for blockchains
Token v Coin: What’s the Difference
A coin is an asset native to its blockchain, while a token is created on an existing blockchain.