External Resources
Blockchains, tokenisation, web 3, digital assets, crypto ... it can become overwhelming.
Here is a collection of sites and documents that you might find useful in your journey.
Note that these are external links, and no endorsement of any views should be inferred; these are presented as sources of information and insight.
Please let us know if you have any suggestions for additions, or if you find broken links below.
Bitcoin is where it all began. This is a technical explanation of Bitcoin for non technical people. Satoshi's original Bitcoin paper is here.
"Where it came from, what it all means, and why it still matters", by Matt Levine on Bloomberg. This is a brilliant and entertaining look at the space from a writer with a strong financial background and a nice line in skepticism.
Finematics is a great resource for learning about DeFi, via articles and a YouTube channel. Mostly focused on the DeFi summer of 2020, but very sound on the core principles.
"Building the next era of the internet", by Chris Dixon. Dixon is a partner at Andreesen Horowitz, and lays out in this book his explanation of what blockchains imply, as the next iteration of computing.
Other books to check out: The Truth Machine, by Michael Casey and Paul Vigna – a good introduction to blockchains; Blockchain Revolution, by Don & Alex Tapscott – another general introduction; Layered Money, by Nik Bhatia – Bitcoin as the basis for all money, i.e. digital gold.
CBDC
Almost all central banks around the world have conducted some kind of exercise with Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). There are two good sites with summaries and links to details: the Atlantic Council and CBDC Tracker.
Andreessen Horowitz are one of the biggest venture capital investors in crypto and blockchain businesses. Their list of resources - the "crypto canon" - is comprehensive, and organised by topic. We probably could have just linked to this and left it at that.
RLN
The concept of a Regulated Liability Network (RLN) starts from the position that blockchains are just the next technology that can be applied to money. The blockchain network can have multiple types of regulated liability represented on it, starting with central bank money, commercial bank money, and e-money. Projects in the US and UK have explored these ideas, using blockchains as financial markets infrastructure.
Coindesk is a news site dedicated to crypto and blockchain reporting. The mainstream media does not have the appetite or - in most cases - expertise to cover this broad and complex topic effectively. Sites like Coindesk and CoinTelegraph do.
Coinbase are the largest US based exchange, and have a comprehensive set of materials on their site for learning about crypto. It's designed to get you trading, so proceed with caution.