
A Guide to Crypto Currencies - frag
https://mycrypto.guide
======
irln
I recommend Perry G Mehrling [Columbia], (free) course on coursera [1] called
Economics of Money and Banking. It provides a great context for how the
current monetary system works. This context helps a bunch when comparing it to
crypto.

[1] [https://www.coursera.org/learn/money-
banking/home/welcome](https://www.coursera.org/learn/money-
banking/home/welcome)

~~~
doctorcroc
Thank you for sharing. Crypto is an interdisciplenary field, and we (folks on
HN) view it through the lens of CS, at the exclusion of the other ways to
approach the field.

Any other courses / topics you recommend?

~~~
irln
[1] Federal Reserve Economic Data (charting) - Treasure trove of data.

[2] Balance sheet of the fed

[3] Access to all the flows of the US Money System

[4] Monthly Treasury Statement (MTS) - The Bank money flows of all accounts of
the US Government

[1] [https://fred.stlouisfed.org/](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/)

[2]
[https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h41/](https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h41/)

[3]
[https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/current/](https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/current/)

[4]
[https://www.fiscal.treasury.gov/fsreports/rpt/mthTreasStmt/b...](https://www.fiscal.treasury.gov/fsreports/rpt/mthTreasStmt/backissues.htm)

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thinbeige
Don't read guides. They won't help you. Try to use the stuff. Get some money
on the exchanges, on MyEtherWallet, use the Ledger Nano, invest in some ICOs,
use the Etherscan API, etc.

I did the mistake reading too much about all this crypto stuff for too long
actually doing nothing.

Once you do something it clicks and you understand the whole picture much
better and you read automatically stuff that matters and which gives you a
deeper context.

Edit: Why the downvotes?

~~~
uoaei
Great advice for people with a disposable income.

Some people just want to understand.

Want to donate money to me so I can play around with it? Thanks!

~~~
pesfandiar
I doubt you need a lot of money just to get your feet wet. Anyone's
entertainment budget would suffice.

PS: at the risk of sounding pedantic, anyone with any income in a jurisdiction
with less than 100% tax has "disposable income". See:
[http://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/disposableincome.asp](http://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/disposableincome.asp)

~~~
uoaei
Considering my income is $0, I suppose my statement was correct.

~~~
waah_waah23
considering your income is $0, maybe you should fix that first.

but in any case, what's your point?

~~~
uoaei
Being a student is enough of a job, thanks.

Your assumption that I should have a job on top of this, without knowing my
life or financial situation, is evidence that people rarely consider lives
apart from their own on websites such as this.

------
sagitariusrex
For a quick video intro I recommend this video from 3Blue1Brown ("youtube
mathematician") [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBC-
nXj3Ng4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBC-nXj3Ng4)

IMHO the best intro to Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general.

------
jrimbault
Reading the introduction one question came to me: do the Big Five (Google,
Amazon etc) show interest in blockchain technology and/or cryptocurrencies ?
Google has invested in at least 2 companies that I know of (?)

~~~
guiomie
I was wondering the same thing ... I know Microsoft has sponsored some
Ethereum events and that is it. Perhaps blockchainization of the majority of
their core business would impact revenue negatively?

Another thing that I am wondering is the lack of coverage on the blokchain
technology on HN, I see articles every where except here?

~~~
paulgb
> Another thing that I am wondering is the lack of coverage on the blokchain
> technology on HN, I see articles every where except here?

Blockchain has become a word like AI, in that marketers have learned that
inserting it allows them to capitalize on hype even if the use of the block
chain is either overengineering or unnecessary.

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RichardHeart
This is missing byteball under the
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directed_acyclic_graph](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directed_acyclic_graph)
(that iota branded as "tangle") non blockchain using cryptocurrencies.

~~~
ringaroundthetx
I like byteball, more than IOTA, because of the supposedly private blackbyte
state.

Sleeper right there

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hisabness
Does anyone know a good way of determining global net savings held in
depository institutions? So basically fiat held on deposit globally? And
stated in USD?

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kcdev
Opinion request: What are the up-and-comers for popular adoption? Monero,
Ripple, EOS, Ethereum?

~~~
lojack
This is of course an opinion, but I've been following Ripple pretty closely.
It's taking a much different approach than BTC or Ethereum in the sense that
its getting the banks involved, and operates using a "web of trust". This
results in much quicker transactions.

You can also convert between currencies, assuming you can trust the third
party. This isn't that much of a stretch when you consider that we already do
it in markets like Coinbase's exchange (GDAX).

They market themselves as the "bridge currency" in the sense that you in
addition to sending money, it can easily bridge between multiple currencies.
USD sort of fits that niche at the current moment, when you look at forex
markets, most currencies (with some exceptions) are compared against USD.

~~~
kcdev
Good points. The fact that they are giving the big players a good reason to
get involved seems like it could dominate if those same big players decide to
promote it.

------
sayurichick
lot of biased (or to be blunt, incorrect) information from a quick glance.

There is a lack of protocol depth understanding from the author. Most of the
recommendations seem to serve as market "advice" if you want to call it that.

