Deep Dive: A Primer on Cryptocurrencies
What are cryptocurrencies and how do they work? What are some notable cryptocurrencies in the ecosystem today? Which aspects of the crypto ecosystem create value?
In July, President Trump spoke at a Bitcoin conference and told the audience he would make the United States "the crypto capital of the planet". The crowd went wild.
Since then, President Trump won the presidential election with an unprecedented sweep of all seven battleground states, Gary Gensler announced his departure from the SEC next month, and earlier today, Bitcoin passed the $100,000 milestone.
The cryptocurrency market now commands $3.5 trillion in value, with over 15 million daily active users across all decentralized networks.
Yet many people are still puzzled by what Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies actually are, and some people still can't see past all the speculation and scams to understand the real use cases driving this ecosystem.
Moreover, I've read many articles and flipped through many slide decks on crypto, but they all miss something crucial – those key "a-ha" moments that help someone really understand what's going on in this space.
For people still skeptical, I've realized that people don't necessarily need more information – they need the right guide to navigate the crypto rabbit hole.
Our fundamental goal with this deep dive is to deliver those "a-ha" moments in an accessible way. We start from first principles and review crypto's evolution from Bitcoin to smart contract platforms, to stablecoins and "P'nut the Squirrel" memecoins.
If we've done our job right, by the end of the deck, you should have a more visceral understanding of why cryptocurrencies command trillions of dollars in value, what projects in the ecosystem have achieved varying levels of product-market fit, as well as what are some of the takeaways from failed experiments.
For people that have already experienced those "a-ha" moments, I think this deep dive is a great framework to zoom out from the fractal edges and review everything that's happened since Satoshi's white paper was published.
By the way, I want to give a special thanks and shout-out to Pranav (X), Gabe (X), and the team at VanEck for their contributions to this deep dive. Their expertise and understanding of the space was invaluable.
I hope you enjoy reading, and let me know what you think.
Chamath