
Ask HN: What are some good resources to learn about Crypto/Altcoins? - sk2code
How do you develop your knowledge or keep your self upto date on Cryptos&#x2F;Altcoins? Please suggest books&#x2F;blogs&#x2F;websites&#x2F;person to follow.
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bootsz
I recommend the Princeton course on Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies,
available free on Coursera:

[https://www.coursera.org/learn/cryptocurrency](https://www.coursera.org/learn/cryptocurrency)

I took this last year and found it very informative

~~~
wdrw
The Princeton bitcoin textbook is also excellent (see
[https://citp.princeton.edu/the-princeton-bitcoin-textbook-
is...](https://citp.princeton.edu/the-princeton-bitcoin-textbook-is-now-
freely-available/) \- it is easy to find PDFs online)

~~~
john_jake
I confirm, the course on Coursera is excellent!

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exolymph
Realistically, almost all of the real-time discussion happens on Reddit,
Twitter, and in various private chat groups (Telegram, etc). But you have to
be savvy about sorting the shilling and nonsense from actual useful
information.

~~~
is0tope
If you are interested in looking at what reddit is saying about any coins you
are researching you can try [http://bitreddit.com](http://bitreddit.com).
Disclosure: this is a side project I am working on to learn react.

~~~
midhunsezhi
That is a nice website. Congrats on shipping it!

~~~
is0tope
Thanks for trying! It's not quite finished yet, but when it is I'll do a Show
HN.

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muzani
From an investment or technical perspective? I'll assume investment.

I do it the hard way as the summaries often leave out a lot or bias facts.
Especially mass media.

Start with the coin official site. If you like the pitch, skim the white
paper. Abstract and conclusion tells you a lot.

You can learn a surprising amount from just the tone of the founders.

Next, check out the community. Usually Reddit or Slack. Read both sides, e.g.
for ETH and ETC. As a general rule, don't invest in something until you know
its downsides. If there are no downsides, then you don't understand enough
about it.

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car
Stanford CS always has great resources.

[https://crypto.stanford.edu/cs251/](https://crypto.stanford.edu/cs251/)

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boysabr3
If you're starting from scratch, I'd recommend this Khan academy course (it's
short and sweet): [https://www.khanacademy.org/economics-finance-domain/core-
fi...](https://www.khanacademy.org/economics-finance-domain/core-
finance/money-and-banking/bitcoin/v/bitcoin-what-is-it)

There's a lot more advanced stuff out there (as you can see in the other
comments) that I would touch on once I have a rough overview.

A lot changes in the crypto world month-to-month, and so forums like Reddit
and Twitter are usually the best to stay up to date. Unfortunately, there's a
lot of useless chunder on these forums you'll have to learn to filter to get
access to the quality stuff.

Personally, I avoid the fanboys/girls and like following people who are more
critical of the space. Because of this, I've discontinued following r/Bitcoin
on Reddit (I'm sure there're smart people out there—there was just too much I
didn't agree with and decided to leave).

Some of my favorites today are:

\- patio11 on Twitter

\- prestonbyrne.com website and Twitter

\- buttcoin on Twitter

\- Tim Swanson (ofnumbers on Twitter)

\- Bitfinexd on Twitter

\- [http://thereformedbroker.com/2017/11/27/it-just-got-
real/](http://thereformedbroker.com/2017/11/27/it-just-got-real/)

I know this is more of a crypto pessimist crowd but I tend to agree with their
views way more than the rest of the herd. I think they're a lot more rational
and highlight some great things to look out for.

I would encourage you to fish for some of the rational optimists as well. If
anyone has recommendations, I'm all ears!

~~~
patio11
I would recommend Naval Ravikant (@naval) and Nick Svabo (@NickSvabo4) as the
smartest people I know who are heavily engaged in cryptocurrency
professionally.

~~~
boysabr3
Correction: Nick Szabo (@NickSzabo4)

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jimnotgym
From a couple of months ago

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15762485](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15762485)

There is a lot of information on Reddit about what is new, but it lacks the
same quality filters that HN has so I have not really enjoyed it.

[https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/](https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/)
is a place to start

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DrNuke
[http://www.Bitcointalk.org](http://www.Bitcointalk.org) for the huff & puff +
[http://www.coinmarketcap.com](http://www.coinmarketcap.com) for the money
talk + [http://www.icodrops.com](http://www.icodrops.com) for entering at the
penny stage

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Tr0naldDump
If you are just getting started, you might wanna check out this page:

[http://cryptocurrencyfacts.com/](http://cryptocurrencyfacts.com/)

I think it is good for an initial overview

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zMiller
[https://lopp.net/bitcoin.html](https://lopp.net/bitcoin.html)

Great resource that covers a array of topics on a spectrum of levels for
different audiences.

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drdrey
The book mastering Bitcoin is available for free on github, it is really well
made. I also secong the Princeton course (available on YouTube).

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aymeric
[http://cryptopanic.com](http://cryptopanic.com)

