Blockchain for Beginners

The only guide you need to understand blockchain!

Nobody was born understanding how blockchain works — in fact, odds are, you’re probably older than the technology itself!

We all had to start somewhere. After years of teaching our friends and other developers about the blockchain space, we decided to compile a list of sources that we’ve found most helpful in explaining the major concepts.

Without further ado…

1. Bitcoin Basics

We recommend that you start with bitcoin because it is the first blockchain and has a succinct white paper. First read the white paper, and then watch the video. After watching the video, go back and read the white paper again. It should make more sense the second time :)

1. Bitcoin white paper
2. Bitcoin explained (basic) video

2. Ethereum 101

Next, jump into Ethereum. At a high level, Ethereum is like bitcoin, but instead of just payments, the blocks can store and execute smart-contracts (programmable contracts). Read and watch the following, multiple times if necessary.

1. A Beginner’s Explanation in Plain English
2. Ethereum overview — just read the first page, you can explore the other pages later
3. Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin explains Ethereum
4. Ethereum history and development — read the parts that are interesting to you
5. This article covers all bases and introduces some of the largest players/projects in the space

Ethereum 2.0: As more and more transactions are added to the blockchain, how can Ethereum scale? These articles explore scalability in layer 1 (things like sharding or Proof of Stake rather than Proof of Work) and layer 2 (things like off chains).

1. Proof of Stake vs Proof of Work explanation
2. Ethereum Layer 1
3. Ethereum Layer 2

3. Why is Blockchain Important?

Now that you have a basic understanding of blockchain, read these articles to learn why blockchain matters, current use cases, and future implications.

1. Why decentralization matters
2. 5 best uses for blockchain
3. Blockchain’s potential uses cases by sector or read this similar summary of blockchain application to different industries
4. Current use cases — a bit hodge podge but interesting projects
5. Naval Ravikant’s Cryptocurrencies Tweets

4. Ethereum Block Details

For block details and blockchain mechanics, there are a few nuances to grasp. These details aren’t necessary to fully understand how blockchain works at a high level, so check them out at your own interest.

1. Ethereum is turing complete while bitcoin is not. In brief, we are used to programming languages that are Turing Complete, and can be programmed to solve any computational problem given enough time and space. Before most computer languages were turing complete, machines were not able to solve multiple computational problems — ie a machine can add, but not multiply. This is the most significant difference between Ethereum and Bitcoin, in that the Ethereum blockchain can be used for smart contracts since it is programmable.
2. Merkle Trees are the data structure of blocks on the blockchain. The key point is that its very fast/efficient to check if a transaction/block is true, although more computationally intensive to write. Read this piece on Merkle Trees and watch this video
3. What’s in a block?
4. Read actual Ethereum blocks as they are added
5. Get Logs is the most computationally expensive query

5. Developer Reading: for both technical and non-technical folks

1. Ethereum blockchain 101 — series of great guides
2. Tools summary
3. How to use Alchemy API as a node provider

6. Check Out Cool Projects in the Space

The blockchain ecosystem is growing at an astronomical speed. At Alchemy, we work with a lot of cool projects that are built on top of the Ethereum blockchain — get inspired by checking out some our customers and links to their platforms.

7. Get started with Alchemy

A wise person once said, “you can’t get abs by just reading about them.”

Your brain is also a muscle, so the best way to fully understand how the blockchain space works is by tinkering with a project of your own! Get started by joining the thousands of developers using Alchemy to build game-changing blockchain applications for free here.

Not sure where to start? Check out these tutorials below:

1. 👩‍💻 Simple Web3 Script
2. 💸 Sending Transactions Using Web3
3. 🌎 Hello World Smart Contract

We can’t wait to see what you’ll build! 🚀

Alchemy provides the leading blockchain development platform powering millions of users for 99% of countries worldwide. Our mission is to provide developers with the fundamental building blocks they need to create the future of technology, and lower the barrier to entry for developers to build blockchain applications. Alchemy currently powers 70% of the top Ethereum applications and over $15 billion in on-chain transactions, and have been featured on TechCrunch, Wired, Bloomberg and numerous other media outlets. The Alchemy team draws from decades of deep expertise in massively scalable infrastructure, AI, and blockchain from leadership roles at technology pioneers like Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Stanford, and MIT.

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