How to begin with crypto from scratch

Two years ago, I decided to make serious inroads and join the “crypto revolution.”

By serious, I mean limiting myself to only working with cryptocurrency companies and getting paid in crypto. Basically, all-in.

By baby steps, I mean making a standalone effort to grasp the basics without having it regurgitated to me by paid analysts or free Youtubers.

Therefore, serious baby steps.

But why??

As a seasoned T-shaped marketer with a decade-long reputation in more ‘traditional’ tech verticals, I could be among the last folks on Earth to be ‘disrupted’ by this interesting new innovation. Why did I decide to drop all of that and start in this industry from scratch? Why didn’t I just port my domain reputation earned in other industries and turn intro a crypto influencer or a brand ambassador? Why start from scratch?

Crypto is not just lines of code but a new value system. Understanding the amalgamation of several technologies into what we know as the blockchain is important not just for the clients I build value for, but for myself as well. It is both, business and personal.?

Crypto is not just a generational wealth creation opportunity for young zealous working professionals like me but also the last stop on the road to self-sovereignty. And I like self-sovereignty. I like leveling the playing field. I like being able to compete with the best and finest and not being limited by the lottery of birth. I didn’t mind the extra responsibility that came in return, I didn’t mind replacing comfy 8-character passwords for colossal seed phrases. I like being early and using scrappy DeFi interfaces meant for early adopters built by developers with zero concerns over “user journey”. I don’t mind living in the future, today.

Here’s how the initial journey into crypto looked like for me.

- I read “Mastering Bitcoin” аnd “Mastering Ethereum” by Andreas Antonopoulos. Then I read those again, slowly.

- I read “Blocksize Wars” to understand the political currents inside the Bitcoin project. We are in it for the code is an idealistic stance, it is only natural that political currents of this or that side eventually appear and push the project in a certain direction.

- I befriended a Solidify developer to introduce me to the basics of the Solidity programming language. I am not a developer but I deemed it necessary to at least be able to edit basic smart contract functions on Etherscan.io

- I befriended a former Chainalysis employee. I got introduced to him via another person I met in a Telegram group. I still remember our Zoom call, his narrow disorganized room befitting a nerd, where a massive dog walked around occupying at least half the space.

The analyst that dude introduced me to, gave me a quick training on blockchain analytics, and transaction tracking, which in return taught me to recognize scamming patterns and other security issues to better protect myself.

- I signed with Rabbithole.gg to boost my skills in using emerging DeFi protocols while hoping to catch the next ENS-type airdrop

- I learned to use the basic types of smart contracts including atomic swaps, token locks, liquidity locks, mixers, and staking.

- I learned how to use cross-chain bridges and how they work fundamentally

- I made my first DAO contribution and got paid in governance tokens. I used those governance tokens to vote on several DAO proposals and witness the power of Organization 2.0 - organization without a top-down approach. One could also purchase government tokens and participate in the protocol’s governance but in my opinion, it is way better to earn them.

- I participated in launchpads and made some nice exits.

- I regularly read the investment memos of some of the best crypto venture capital firms such as Polychain Capital, Multicoin capital, and Panterra. These teams have proven fantastic in sorting through the noise and picking crypto projects which solve actual problems.

This is not necessarily the sort of crypto journey one would hear for example, from get-rick quick moon boys. It is more boring but necessary.?

Much of the population is introduced to crypto via memecoins while having no idea how smart contracts work and why they are revolutionary.??

Another set of people looks at crypto through macroeconomic lenses – reflected through their quest for the so-called sound money system, which again misses the point.?

“Being in it for the technology” is probably the best frame of mind in approaching crypto as a beginner. Not as a trader. Not as a sound money adherent. Not through the lens of politics. But as a neutral ignoramus.

Crypto is just too vast and too necessary to approach it from a polar opposite. Start with an empty mind. Tinker around the technology. Play with protocols. See why employees of Fortune 500 companies are dropping out, to contribute to DAOs.

We didn’t have to know how Facebook’s Open graph works under the hood until another Web2 company insisted we should, but this won’t be the case with crypto. Crypto is the ultimate way for each of us to learn to love technology and understand it each for ourselves. Because crypto is both business, and personal.

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