一份「区块链」学习清单

据说中国会成为第一个政府发布数字货币的国家，这与我们之前谈过的 Libra 形成鲜明对比。

Libra 主流企业&机构参与的组织形式是相对松散和开放的，解决了比特币过于自由和完全去中心的问题，这种联盟的形式也有利于推广和运营；另外一方面，基于 Fabric 的联盟链发展迅速，适应了企业的实际业务需求。这种「大中心+小卫星」的中庸模式，才是符合人类实际生活需求的。

那国家主导的数字货币会是如何的呢？可能「唯一中心+众多小卫星」的模式才是符合国内现状的，像极了我们的五星红旗。

为了避免成为韭菜，也是为了探寻知识的本源，我们非常有必要对其学习一番。 投资机构 a16z 为此做了一个「必读清单」 ，提供了多篇文章和多个视频，从区块链和加密货币基本知识入手，以不同形式详细介绍了区块链和加密货币到底是什么以及未来还有什么潜力。

Building Blocks and Basics

WTF is the blockchain? — understanding the problem it solves before defining it

by Mohit Mamoria

https://hackernoon.com/wtf-is-the-blockchain-1da89ba19348

Ever wonder how bitcoin (and other cryptocurrencies) actually work?

from 3Blue1Brown

https://youtu.be/bBC-nXj3Ng4

How the bitcoin protocol actually works

by Michael Nielsen

http://www.michaelnielsen.org/ddi/how-the-bitcoin-protocol-actually-works/

Ethereum in 25 minutes

by Vitalik Buterin

https://youtu.be/66SaEDzlmP4

How does Ethereum work, anyway? — how it functions at a technical level, without complex math

by Preethi Kasireddy

https://medium.com/@preethikasireddy/how-does-ethereum-work-anyway-22d1df506369

Decrypting crypto, from bitcoin and blockchain to ICOs

by Alex Rampell

https://a16z.com/2017/12/08/summit-crypto-alex-rampell/

An introduction to crypto

by Linda Xie

https://a16z.com/2018/05/04/intro-to-crypto/

Cryptographic hash function — what they are, properties of, etc.

by Khan Academy

https://youtu.be/0WiTaBI82Mc

Basic primer on blockchain — ledger basics, why it matters

by Chris Berg, Sinclair Davidson, and Jason Potts

https://medium.com/@cryptoeconomics/the-blockchain-economy-a-beginners-guide-to-institutional-cryptoeconomics-64bf2f2beec4

Basic terminology for Ethereum — from gas to dapps (distributed apps)

by Matt Condon

https://medium.com/@mattcondon/getting-up-to-speed-on-ethereum-63ed28821bbe

A basic glossary of terms — a few short and simple definitions

https://tangelo.co/insights/blog/techs-must-have-reference-guide-to-blockchain-and-cryptocurrency

Beginner’s guide series on cryptoassets (series) — from ethereum to litecoin

by Linda Xie

https://medium.com/@linda.xie/beginners-guide-series-on-cryptoassets-d897535d887

Foundations (& History)

Bitcoin whitepaper (2009): A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System（必读！）

by Satoshi Nakamoto

https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf

Ethereum whitepaper (2013+): A Next-Generation Smart Contract and Decentralized Application Platform

by Vitalik Buterin et al

https://github.com/ethereum/wiki/wiki/White-Paper

The Byzantine Generals Problem (1982)

by Leslie Lamport, Robert Shostak, and Marshall Pease

https://people.eecs.berkeley.edu/~luca/cs174/byzantine.pdf

The Agoric papers series (1988)

by Mark Miller and K. Eric Drexler

https://agoric.com/references/#aos

The idea of smart contracts (1997)

by Nick Szabo

http://www.fon.hum.uva.nl/rob/Courses/InformationInSpeech/CDROM/Literature/LOTwinterschool2006/szabo.best.vwh.net/idea.html

Why bitcoin matters (2014)

by Marc Andreessen

https://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/01/21/why-bitcoin-matters/

Bitcoin’s academic pedigree (2017)

by Arvind Narayanan and Jeremy Clark

https://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=3136559

Key Concepts

Beyond the bitcoin bubble

by Steven Johnson

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/16/magazine/beyond-the-bitcoin-bubble.html

Crypto tokens: A breakthrough in open network design

by Chris Dixon

https://medium.com/@cdixon/crypto-tokens-a-breakthrough-in-open-network-design-e600975be2ef

Crypto tokens and the coming age of protocol innovation

by Albert Wenger

http://continuations.com/post/148098927445/crypto-tokens-and-the-coming-age-of-protocol

Fat protocols

by Joel Monegro

https://www.usv.com/blog/fat-protocols

Cryptocurrencies, app coins, and investing in protocols

Olaf Carson-Wee, Chris Dixon, and Sonal Chokshi

https://a16z.com/2017/04/03/cryptocurrencies-protocols-appcoins/

Getting applications into people’s hands

Juan Benet and Chris Dixon

https://a16z.com/2017/09/14/networks-protocols-labs-tokens/

Blockchain: what is it good for? — including smart contracts

by Ed Felten

http://freedom-to-tinker.com/2018/02/26/blockchain-what-is-it-good-for/

How the U.S. government used blockchain to fight fraud

by Kathryn Haun

https://youtu.be/507wn9VcSAE

Bitcoin network effects

by Elad Gil

http://blog.eladgil.com/2017/12/bitcoin-network-effects_11.html

Keepers: workers that maintain blockchain networks — when designed correctly, tokens can act like rocket-fuel for driving network effects by incentivizing desired behaviors

by Ryan Zurrer

https://medium.com/@rzurrer/keepers-workers-that-maintain-blockchain-networks-a40182615b66

The quiet master of cryptocurrency — Nick Szabo in conversation with Naval Ravikant

by Tim Ferris

https://tim.blog/2017/06/04/nick-szabo/

Why crypto tokens matter

Fred Ehrsam and Chris Dixon

https://a16z.com/2017/09/28/cryptocurrencies-networks-tokens/

What are cryptonetworks and why are tokens fundamental? — with full deck

by Nick Grossman

https://www.nickgrossman.is/2018/cryptonetworks-and-why-tokens-are-fundamental/

Why it’s hard to “get” bitcoin: the blockchain spectrum

by Dhruv Bansal

https://blog.unchained-capital.com/blockchain-spectrum-806847e1c575

Money, blockchains, and social scalability

by Nick Szabo

http://unenumerated.blogspot.com/2017/02/money-blockchains-and-social-scalability.html

What do we mean by “blockchains are trustless”?

by Preethi Kasireddy

https://medium.com/@preethikasireddy/eli5-what-do-we-mean-by-blockchains-are-trustless-aa420635d5f6

Why decentralization matters — from eras of the internet to cryptonetworks

by Chris Dixon

https://medium.com/@cdixon/why-decentralization-matters-5e3f79f7638e

The meaning of decentralization — but what does that actually mean? nuances, depth

by Vitalik Buterin

https://medium.com/@VitalikButerin/the-meaning-of-decentralization-a0c92b76a274

Quantifying decentralization — we must be able to measure blockchain decentralization before we can improve it

by Balaji Srinivasan and Leland Lee

https://news.earn.com/quantifying-decentralization-e39db233c28e

The truth about blockchain — framework for adoption to help big company executives understand state of development; strategic investments; challenges, resources, processes to facilitate adoption

by Marco Iansiti and Karim Lakhani

https://hbr.org/2017/01/the-truth-about-blockchain

The slow death of the firm

by Nick Tomaino

https://thecontrol.co/the-slow-death-of-the-firm-1bd6cc81286b

Vitalik Buterin, creator of Ethereum — Unchained: big ideas from the worlds of blockchain and cryptocurrency

by Laura Shin

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/unchained-big-ideas-from-worlds-blockchain-cryptocurrency/id1123922160

Mental models for understanding tokens

Nick Tomaino and Chris Dixon

https://a16z.com/2018/01/21/mental-models-tokens-crypto-trends/

Hard forks, soft forks, defaults, and coercion — illustrating fork types, benefits, addressing criticisms

by Vitalik Buterin

https://vitalik.ca/general/2017/03/14/forks_and_markets.html

Governance

An overview of governance in blockchains — introduction slides to a working paper

by Odysseas Sclavounis and Nic Carter

https://www.docdroid.net/ddz6VzP/overview-governance-blockchains-nc-zcon.pdf

Governance deep dive — slides from Blockchain at Berkeley

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/10cLFnYaR0r58DyPVYwMgJq3nJOFVkO02hxJf1hxGnJ0/edit?usp=sharing

by Alexandra Tran and Steven Elleman

The myth of the irrational token holder — why blockchain governance doesn’t fit squarely into any existing model

by Kathleen Breitman

https://medium.com/@kathleenbreit/the-myth-of-the-irrational-token-holder-c12438709afd

Blockchain governance/ governance 101 — talk from Ethereum Foundation at BeyondBlock Taipei 2017

by Vlad Zamfir

https://youtu.be/9RtSod8EXn4

Blockchain governance — design components, approaches, suggestions

by Fred Ehrsam

https://medium.com/@FEhrsam/blockchain-governance-programming-our-future-c3bfe30f2d74

Against on-chain governance — refuting (and rebuking) the above post

by Vlad Zamfir

https://medium.com/@Vlad_Zamfir/against-on-chain-governance-a4ceacd040ca

On-chain vote buying and the rise of dark DAOs — on on-chain voting and governance

by Philip Daian, Tyler Kell, Ian Miers, and Ari Juels

http://hackingdistributed.com/2018/07/02/on-chain-vote-buying/

Thoughts on governance and network effects

Luke Duncan

https://blog.aragon.one/thoughts-on-governance-and-network-effects-f40fda3e3f98

Notes on blockchain governance

by Vitalik Buterin

http://vitalik.ca/general/2017/12/17/voting.html

Tezos position paper — a self-amending crypto-ledger

by Arthur and Kathleen Breitman

https://www.tezos.com/static/papers/position_paper.pdf

Cosmos governance and constitution — includes principles used by other cryptonetworks as well

by Cosmos Network/ Interchain Foundation et al

https://github.com/cosmos/constitution/wiki/Governance-and-Constitution

Privacy and Security

Privacy on the blockchain

by Vitalik Buterin

https://blog.ethereum.org/2016/01/15/privacy-on-the-blockchain/

Securing smart contracts (series) — 6 Solidity vulnerabilities and how to avoid them

from Loom

https://medium.com/loom-network/how-to-secure-your-smart-contracts-6-solidity-vulnerabilities-and-how-to-avoid-them-part-1-c33048d4d17d

https://medium.com/loom-network/how-to-secure-your-smart-contracts-6-solidity-vulnerabilities-and-how-to-avoid-them-part-2-730db0aa4834

Ethereum smart contract best practices

by ConsenSys Diligence

https://consensys.github.io/smart-contract-best-practices/

Town Crier: an authenticated data feed for smart contracts

by Fan Zhang, Ethan Cecchetti, Kyle Croman, Ari Juels, and Elaine Shi

https://eprint.iacr.org/2016/168.pdf

Devcon3 panel on formal verification

Phil Daian, Everett Hildenbrandt, Yoichi Hirai, and Loi Luu, moderated by Reto Trinkler

https://youtu.be/DrDIcirrhWM

What are zk-SNARKs?

by Jay Graber

https://z.cash/technology/zksnarks.html

Introduction to zero-knowledge proofs — Zero Knowledge podcast episode 21, examples and underlying concepts

by Fredrik Harrysson and Anna Rose

https://www.zeroknowledge.fm/21

Understanding zero-knowledge proofs — a summary based on the above episode of Zero Knowledge (with Fredrik Harrysson and Anna Rose)

by Nicole Zhu

https://blog.goodaudience.com/understanding-zero-knowledge-proofs-through-simple-examples-df673f796d99

Zk-SNARKs: under the hood (series) — assumes basic knowledge of zk-SNARKs (zero-knowledge succinct non-interactive argument of knowledge)

by Vitalik Buterin

https://medium.com/@VitalikButerin/zk-snarks-under-the-hood-b33151a013f6

STARKs, part I: proofs with polynomials — general-purpose technology that can be used for all sorts of use cases ranging from verifiable computation to privacy-preserving cryptocurrency

by Vitalik Buterin

https://vitalik.ca/general/2017/11/09/starks_part_1.html

Scalable, transparent, and post-quantum secure computational integrity — on transparent zk-SNARKs (zk-STARKs) as a solution to the tension between personal privacy and institutional integrity

by Eli Ben-Sasson, Iddo Bentov, Yinon Horesh, and Michael Riabzev

https://eprint.iacr.org/2018/046.pdf

Succinct non-interactive zero knowledge for a von Neumann Architecture

by Eli Ben-Sasson, Alessandro Chiesa, Eran Tromer, and Madars Virza

https://eprint.iacr.org/2013/879.pdf

Scaling

Blockchains don’t scale — not today, at least… but there’s hope

by Preethi Kasireddy

https://hackernoon.com/blockchains-dont-scale-not-today-at-least-but-there-s-hope-2cb43946551a

The decentralized-consistent-scale (DCS) triangle — on the “trilemma” of scalability, tradeoffs between decentralized, consistent, or scalable

by Trent McConaghy

https://blog.bigchaindb.com/the-dcs-triangle-5ce0e9e0f1dc

Models for scaling trustless computation — on the “trilemma” of scalability, tradeoffs between safety, scalability, and decentralization of block production

by Kyle Samani

https://multicoin.capital/2018/02/23/models-scaling-trustless-computation/

What are zk-SNARKs and why do they matter? (a fable) — a tale of Ethereum scalability

by Eric Gorski

https://blog.gnosis.pm/the-parrot-and-the-viper-a-tale-of-ethereum-scalability-3d121df3de87

Platform currencies may soon be obsolete — here is my claim: within 5 years the biggest cryptocurrency by market cap will be an application token

by Aleksandr Bulkin

https://blog.coinfund.io/platform-currencies-may-soon-be-obsolete-78d9b263d902

The importance of layer two — an HTTP of bitcoin and blockchains

by Elizabeth Stark

https://youtu.be/3PcR4HWJnkY

What is the Lightning Network and how can it help bitcoin scale?

by Elizabeth Stark

https://coincenter.org/entry/what-is-the-lightning-network

Making sense of Ethereum’s Layer 2 scaling solutions: state channels, Plasma, and Truebit

by Josh Stark

https://medium.com/l4-media/making-sense-of-ethereums-layer-2-scaling-solutions-state-channels-plasma-and-truebit-22cb40dcc2f4

On managing tradeoffs between Layer 1 and Layer 2 innovations

by Vitalik Buterin

https://vitalik.ca/general/2018/08/26/layer_1.html

Scaling Tezos — scaling with recursive SNARKs (succinct non-interactive zero-knowledge proofs of knowledge)

by Arthur Breitman

https://hackernoon.com/scaling-tezo-8de241dd91bd

Ethereum Foundation research initiatives — primary topics in both pure and applied research

by Ethereum Foundation

http://notes.eth.sg/CwIwZgbAjADAxgUwLQEMUIKxOCsWCcIEwShAHCgEwJj4qyVA

Ethereum scalability research and development subsidy programs

by Vitalik Buterin

https://blog.ethereum.org/2018/01/02/ethereum-scalability-research-development-subsidy-programs/

A beginner’s guide to Ethermint

by Tendermint

https://blog.cosmos.network/a-beginners-guide-to-ethermint-38ee15f8a6f4

Construction of a plasma chain 0x1

by David Knott

https://blog.omisego.network/construction-of-a-plasma-chain-0x1-614f6ebd1612

Accounts, transactions, gas, and block gas limits in Ethereum

by Hudson Jameson

https://hudsonjameson.com/2017-06-27-accounts-transactions-gas-ethereum/

Interplanetary linked computing: separating Merkle Computing from blockchain computational courts

by Simon de la Rouviere

https://media.consensys.net/interplanetary-linked-computing-separating-merkle-computing-from-blockchain-computational-courts-1ade201ecf8a

Ethereum sharding: overview and finality

by Hsiao-Wei Wang

https://medium.com/@icebearhww/ethereum-sharding-and-finality-65248951f649

Consensus

What it means to have consensus in a distributed system — brief basics of distributed systems and distributed “consensus”

by Preethi Kasireddy

https://medium.com/@preethikasireddy/lets-take-a-crack-at-understanding-distributed-consensus-dad23d0dc95

Decentralization in bitcoin and ethereum

by Adem Efe Gencer, Soumya Basu, Ittay Eyal, Robbert van Renesse, and Emin Gün Sirer

http://hackingdistributed.com/2018/01/15/decentralization-bitcoin-ethereum/

A proof of stake design philosophy

by Vitalik Buterin

https://medium.com/@VitalikButerin/a-proof-of-stake-design-philosophy-506585978d51

Delegrated proof of stake: Features and tradeoffs

by Myles Snider

https://multicoin.capital/2018/03/02/delegated-proof-stake-features-tradeoffs/

Seeking consensus on consensus — DPOS (delegated proof of stake) and the Two Generals’ problem

by Ian Grigg

https://steemit.com/eos/@iang/seeking-consensus-on-consensus-dpos-or-delegated-proof-of-stake-and-the-two-generals-problem

Consensus Compare: Casper vs. Tendermint; Tendermint BFT vs. EOS dPoS

from Tendermint

https://blog.cosmos.network/consensus-compare-casper-vs-tendermint-6df154ad56ae

https://blog.cosmos.network/consensus-compare-tendermint-bft-vs-eos-dpos-46c5bca7204b

Ethereum Casper 101

by Jon Choi

https://medium.com/@jonchoi/ethereum-casper-101-7a851a4f1eb0

The history of Casper  (series)

by Vlad Zamfir

https://medium.com/@Vlad_Zamfir/the-history-of-casper-part-1-59233819c9a9

Inflation and participation in stake-based token protocols

by Doug Petkanics

https://medium.com/@petkanics/inflation-and-participation-in-stake-based-token-protocols-1593688612bf

Cryptoeconomics, Cryptoassets, and Investing

Making sense of cryptoeconomics — the term and the concept

by Josh Stark

https://hackernoon.com/making-sense-of-cryptoeconomics-5edea77e4e8d

A crash course in mechanism design for cryptoeconomic applications — understanding the basic fundamentals of cryptoeconomics

from BlockChannel

https://medium.com/blockchannel/a-crash-course-in-mechanism-design-for-cryptoeconomic-applications-a9f06ab6a976

The security token thesis — when a broad array of assets moves to blockchain records of ownership (represented by tokens)

by Stephen McKeon

https://hackernoon.com/the-security-token-thesis-4c5904761063

Cryptoasset valuations — a theory and framework for evaluating

by Chris Burniske

https://medium.com/@cburniske/cryptoasset-valuations-ac83479ffca7

An (institutional) investor’s take on cryptoassets

by John Pfeffer

https://s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/john-pfeffer/An+Investor%27s+Take+on+Cryptoassets+v6.pdf

Comments on the above (tweetstorm) — network effects?; programmability as feature of money

by Kyle Samani

https://twitter.com/KyleSamani/status/943277077037506560

On value, velocity, and monetary theory — a new approach to cryptoasset valuations

by Alex Evans

https://medium.com/blockchannel/on-value-velocity-and-monetary-theory-a-new-approach-to-cryptoasset-valuations-32c9b22e3b6f

On the quantity theory of money for tokens — take from a former research officer at Federal Reserve Bank (Minneapolis)

by Warren Weber

https://blog.coinfund.io/the-quantity-theory-of-money-for-tokens-dbfbc5472423

On medium-of-exchange token valuations

by Vitalik Buterin

http://vitalik.ca/general/2017/10/17/moe.html

Understanding token velocity

by Kyle Samani

https://multicoin.capital/2017/12/08/understanding-token-velocity/

A process for evaluating new tokens

by Nick Tomaino

https://thecontrol.co/our-process-for-evaluating-new-tokens-4627ed97f500

Token classification framework — a multi-dimensional tool for understanding and classifying crypto tokens

by Thomas Euler

http://www.untitled-inc.com/the-token-classification-framework-a-multi-dimensional-tool-for-understanding-and-classifying-crypto-tokens/

On cryptocurrency communities

by Nick Tomaino

https://thecontrol.co/on-cryptocurrency-communities-f592b5ce6b0b

Fat protocols are not an investment thesis

by Jake Brukhman

https://blog.coinfund.io/fat-protocols-are-not-an-investment-thesis-17c8837c2734

Skin-in-the-game coins

by Ryan Selkis

https://medium.com/tbis-weekly-bits/skin-in-the-game-coins-da0afdfdc650

Fundraising and Token Distribution

Thoughts on tokens

by Balaji Srinivasan

https://news.earn.com/thoughts-on-tokens-436109aabcbe

Funding the evolution of blockchains

by Fred Ehrsam

https://medium.com/@FEhrsam/funding-the-evolution-of-blockchains-87d160988481

The bitcoin model for crowdfunding

by Naval Ravikant

https://startupboy.com/2014/03/09/the-bitcoin-model-for-crowdfunding/

How to make bonding curves for the economic web — a novel token distribution mechanism for building healthy communities, a technical primer

by Slava Balasanov

https://hackernoon.com/how-to-make-bonding-curves-for-continuous-token-models-3784653f8b17

Separating the staking token from the fee token — introducing the Photon (the Hard Spoon explained)

by Tendermint

https://blog.cosmos.network/cosmos-fee-token-introducing-the-photon-8a62b2f51aa

Explanation of DAICOs

by Vitalik Buterin

https://ethresear.ch/t/explanation-of-daicos/465

The SAFT Project

https://saftproject.com/

Regulatory environment and considerations — updates and explainers

from Coin Center

https://coincenter.org/our-work

Decentralized Exchanges

State of decentralized exchanges, 2018

by Nathan Sexer

https://media.consensys.net/state-of-decentralized-exchanges-2018-276dad340c79

Networked liquidity — projects solving the chicken and egg problem

by Radar Relay

https://medium.com/radarrelay/networked-liquidity-2030d85af897

List of decentralized exchanges — of cryptocurrencies and tokens (does not yet include column for degree of decentralization)

https://github.com/PYMERVAL/decentradexchange

Stablecoins（必读）

Stablecoins: A holy grail in digital currency

by Nick Tomaino

https://thecontrol.co/stablecoins-a-holy-grail-in-digital-currency-b64f3371e111

An overview of stablecoins