Chapter 17

Ten (Or So) Free Blockchain Resources

IN THIS CHAPTER

Bullet Discovering free blockchain education resources

Bullet Getting involved in the Blockchain community

Bullet Staying up to date on the latest blockchain news

Bullet Deepening your knowledge of other blockchain resources

In this chapter, I outline interesting free resources across the blockchain ecosystem that will help you stay informed and get involved in the community. Here, you can find free tools for making oracles (the data feeds that allow smart contracts to execute), videos that will expand your knowledge, and organizations that are shaping the future of the industry.

Ethereum

Ethereum is an open-source crowdfunded project that built the Ethereum blockchains. It’s one of the most important projects in the space because it has pioneered building a programing language within a blockchain. Due to its built-in programing language, the Ethereum network allows you to create smart contracts, create decentralized organizations, and deploy decentralized applications.

Ethereum 101 (www.ethereum.org) is a website started by the members of the Ethereum community. It’s a curated repository for high-quality educational content about blockchain technology and the Ethereum network. Anthony D’Onofrio, Ethereum’s Director of Community, oversees the project.

DigiKnow

DigiByte is a decentralized payment network inspired by Bitcoin. It allows you to move money over the Internet and offers faster transactions and lower fees than Bitcoin. The network is also open to those who want to mine its native token.

The founder of DigiByte, Jared Tate, created a video series on YouTube, called DigiKnow, that teaches you just about everything you need to know to utilize DigiByte. Here is a link to his first video, where he walks you through the basics of how blockchains work and how the DigiByte network adds value: https://youtu.be/scr6BzFddso.

Blockchain University

Blockchain University is an educational website that teaches developers, manager, and entrepreneurs about the blockchain ecosystem. It offers public and private training programs, hackathons, and demo events. Its programs are solution-oriented design thinking and hands-on experiential training. You can find Blockchain University in Mountain View, California, or at https://theblockchainu.com and https://dlt.education.

Bitcoin Core

Bitcoin Core (https://bitcoin.org) was originally used by Satoshi Nakamoto to host his whitepaper on Bitcoin protocol. It’s home to educational material on Bitcoin core protocol and downloadable versions of the original Bitcoin software.

The site is dedicated to keeping Bitcoin decentralized and accessible to the average person.

Remember It’s a community-run project, and not all the content is managed by the core team. Keep this in mind while perusing the site.

Blockchain Alliance

The Blockchain Alliance was founded by the Blockchain Chamber of Digital Commerce and the news organization Coincenter. It’s a public-private collaboration by the blockchain community, law enforcement, and regulators. They share a common goal to make the blockchain ecosystem more secure and to promote further development of technology. They do this by combat criminal activity on the blockchain by providing education, technical assistance, and periodic informational sessions regarding Bitcoin and other digital currencies and those utilize blockchain technology.

You can learn more about their events or join their organization at www.blockchainalliance.org.

Multichain Blog

Multichain is a company that helps organizations rapidly build applications on blockchains. They offer a platform that can issue millions of assets on a private blockchain and you can also track and verify activity on your network through their tools. Beyond their toolset and platform, they’ve been thought leaders in the blockchain space.

These are my favorite posts from their blog (www.multichain.com/blog):

HiveMind

Paul Sztorc founded Truthcoin, a peer-to-peer oracle system and prediction marketplace for Bitcoin. It utilizes a proof-of-work sidechain that stores data on the state of prediction markets. Bitcoin can support financial derivatives and smart contracts through HiveMind, the platform developed out of the Truthcoin whitepaper. Check out their resources and education materials at http://bitcoinhivemind.com.

Smith + Crown

Smith + Crown is a blockchain research organization focusing on global trends, industry intelligence, and blockchain systems structure. They’ve created research tools to expand blockchain companies. Smith + Crown looks for impact, application, and accessibility. They’ve made most of their research publicly available and free of charge. You can take advantage of the research tools, countless reports, and databases of all noteworthy projects in the blockchain space. Smith + Crown are the researchers and advisors to several prominent blockchains and cryptocurrency advocacy groups, such as the Chamber for Digital Commerce, the Token Alliance, and Social Alpha. Check them out at https://www.smithandcrown.com.

Unchained and Unconfirmed Podcasts

The Unchained and Unconfirmed podcasts are amazing and up-to-date interviews with top industry folks in the blockchain and cryptocurrency space. Unchained is a weekly, hour-long podcast by Laura Shin, a former senior editor of Forbes and the first mainstream reporter to cover crypto assets full-time. Shin does impressive and well-thought-out deep dives into the people and companies building the decentralized Internet. She can help you get a better understanding of regulation, security, and privacy issues that are inherent in blockchain technology. You can listen to her podcast at https://unchainedpodcast.com.

Here are a few good episodes to listen to:

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