The Everything of Web3

Welcome!

The purpose of this encyclopedia-isque page titled ‘The Everything of Web3’ is to provide new entrants and/or enthusiasts of Web3 a quick-start guide. Almost all the links referenced in this page are taken from internet, from various sources such as white papers, official websites, analysis forums, opinion pages, podcasts and socials.

If any topics are missing, please drop a comment. Appreciate your time.

Please note, this is built only to serve as a knowledge base and in no way a promoter of a business.

Cover Photo by Uriel SC on Unsplash

grade 0: general principles to get started with web3

Web3 in a nutshell by Eshita

Why decentralization matters by Chris Dixon

5 Mental Models for Web3 by Chris Dixon

How to make it in crypto as a normal person by punk6529

A Normie’s guide to becoming a crypto person by NYMag

Beginner’s guides by Linda Xie for: NFTs, DeFi

Must learn about web3 in 2023 by Misha

Canons from a16z crypto on: Crypto, Zero Knowledge, Consensus, DAOs, NFT

use cases for web3

practical applications

grade 1: terms and concepts

Protocol: A protocol is a set of rules or procedures that govern a system. In networking, it is a common program executed by **multiple computers on the same network.
Node: A node is a device that participates in a network by following the network protocol.
Proof-of-work: A proof-of-work demonstrates the use of computers to solve a special type of math problem (or millions of them) that take at least a certain amount of time.
Blockchain: A blockchain is a tamper-proof ledger organized into a series of linked “blocks” containing data.
Cryptocurreny: Cryptocurrencies can be considered as a unit of account, store of value, and medium of exchange within the system.
Smart contract: A smart contract is a persistent computer program that runs on a blockchain network.
Gas: Gas is the fee paid to the miners of a blockchain to execute the code of a smart contract.
Proof-of-stake: “validators” post a bond or “stake” to a smart contract, earning rewards or “interest” for properly validating the state of the blockchain.
Sharding: Sharding is a technique in distributed systems that reduces the load on the nodes participating in a network by eliminating the requirement that each node process every transaction.
dApps: Decentralized applications are just like other computer applications — except their code is written in a smart contract.
DeFi: Decentralized Finance is a common term used to refer all dApps used for finance related activities, such as exchange, lending and saving.
DAO: Decentralized Autonomous Organization are the entities formed by decentralized community with the primary goal of on-chain governance.
Zero Knowledge Proof: Form of cryptography which enables one party to prove that they know the answer to a question, without ever revealing the answer to that question.
Stablecoins: Stablecoins are digital currencies minted on the blockchain that are typically identifiable by one of four underlying collateral structures: fiat-backed, crypto-backed, commodity-backed, or algorithmic
Tokens: Tokens are a digital representation of an asset. They are of two types, fungible or non-fungible (commonly known NFTs). NFTs are a form of social tokens.
Public and private keys: Public and private keys allow you to send and receive crypto without requiring a third party to verify the transactions.
Tokenomics: Tokenomics, short for token economics, is the science that explores the elements that make a cryptoasset valuable.