Chapter 16

Ten Types of Cryptocurrency Resources

IN THIS CHAPTER

Bullet Comparing cryptocurrency exchange rates

Bullet Using mining profitability estimation tools

Bullet Looking at cryptocurrency specific Wiki’s

Bullet Understanding cryptocurrency White Papers

Bullet Reviewing various visualization resources

A ton of helpful resources are online for aspiring cryptocurrency miners or those interested in learning more on the topic. We have split them into ten different categories, from resources that can help you track the price of cryptocurrencies to cryptocurrency whitepapers. Reviewing these resources can keep you busy for many happy hours!

Cryptocurrency Market Trackers

Following are sites that provide aggregated exchange rates and market capitalization for cryptocurrencies, a few of the more reliable sources in the industry. Note that in some cases exchanges have fed bad data to the tracking sites, but in general the data is good:

Mining Profitability Estimation Tools

We discussed how to calculate cryptocurrency mining profitability in Chapter 11, and we also cover how to use mining profitability tools found online. Use these tools often when considering which cryptocurrency to mine and when thinking about expanding. Here is a quick list of some popular profitability tools:

Cryptocurrency Reddit Pages

Reddit is among one of the top social media sites for cryptocurrency communities to discuss and debate the trending topics of the day. In this section, we give you a list of some of the top cryptocurrency Reddit pages.

Tip If you need a different one, just add your cryptocurrency’s name or symbol to the end of the URL; some cryptocurrency Reddit forums use the name, some the symbol — for example, www.reddit.com/r/XRP and www.reddit.com/r/zcash. Due to conflicts, some can use neither and have to come up with something else (TRON uses www.reddit.com/r/TRXTrading, for example), so you may have to search.

Blockchain Explorers

Blockchain explorers provide an easy way to audit blockchains directly from your web browser. They can search for blocks, transactions, hashes, and addresses. In this section, we offer a list of useful Bitcoin and Ethereum blockchain explorers. For other cryptocurrencies, try a search engine query. Many smaller cryptocurrencies are not popular enough to have explorers, but some do. We include a few explorers for small blockchains you’ve perhaps never heard of at the bottom of the list.

Data Visualizations

While blockchain explorers are good resources for finding textual and numerical data for your favorite blockchains, some creative individuals have taken this concept a step further. There are many visually appealing data visualizations for the Bitcoin and cryptocurrency space. Here are some of our favorites:

Cryptocurrency Data and Statistics

Cryptocurrency data, comparisons, and statistics websites can be very useful, helping you to compare between cryptocurrencies. Here are several good cryptocurrency data aggregators:

Cryptocurrency Wikis

Wikipedia has pages for most of the top cryptocurrencies, but these pages are often fairly short descriptions and not a deep dive resource that can cover every aspect of a typical cryptocurrency. Not to worry — some cryptocurrencies have their own (or multiple!) Wiki-style directories that define many of the terms and aspects associated with that cryptocurrency.

Some of the following Wikis also cover other cryptocurrencies. For example, BitcoinWiki has information on not only Bitcoin, but many other cryptocurrencies, too.

Cryptocurrency White Papers

The Bitcoin and cryptocurrency explosion that has occurred over the past decade all started out with Satoshi Nakamoto’s release of his idea to the Cypherpunk Mailing List (archives found at https://mailing-list-archive.cryptoanarchy.wiki), some code, and an accompanying whitepaper.

Since then, many (countless?) whitepapers have been released, describing a wide variety of cryptocurrency and blockchain systems. We have compiled a short list of links to read some of the most popular cryptocurrency whitepapers over the past decade. You can search for others, of course, but many cryptocurrencies were launched without whitepapers (Litecoin and Dogecoin, for example).

The Satoshi Nakamoto Institute

This site contains the entire known writings of Satoshi Nakamoto (whoever he/she/they is/are!; see Chapter 1), along with numerous other documents that “serve to contextualize Bitcoin into the broader story of cryptography and freedom.” It’s required reading and a great way for Bitcoin and cryptocurrency enthusiasts to go down the rabbit hole: https://nakamotoinstitute.org/literature.

A Cypherpunk’s Manifesto

A Cypherpunk’s Manifesto, written by Eric Hughes, is a foundational document that many cryptographers and cryptocurrency users have read over the years. It’s an interesting introduction to the politics behind the origins of cryptocurrency: www.activism.net/cypherpunk/manifesto.html.

Bitcoin Guides and Walkthroughs

After 13 years of Bitcoin, if anyone claims they completely understand Bitcoin, they’re either fooling you or fooling themselves. Bitcoin is a nice, humbling lesson in lifelong learning. Even as we type these words, we know we can’t cover everything about Bitcoin, and we’ve likely missed many important details, but the following resources should help. As the common Bitcoin saying goes, “Stay Humble, Stack Sats.”

There are more education resources available now than there ever have been for Bitcoin. It is easier than ever to become a basic Bitcoiner. Here are some of our favorite repositories of resources and learning tools:

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