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Explainers
Every long read on this site assumes you know a few things. These pages are where you learn them, in about five minutes each, with no jargon that is not explained on the spot.
What is a token?
A unit of value or rights, recorded on a shared ledger nobody owns. The word also means something completely different in artificial intelligence, which is a genuine source of confusion.
02How a blockchain works
A ledger copied across thousands of computers, extended by a rule everyone can check, where changing the past would mean redoing everything after it.
03Proof of work and proof of stake
Two ways to make adding a block expensive. One burns electricity, the other locks up capital, and the choice shapes everything about a network.
04What is the halving?
Every four years the reward for adding a Bitcoin block is cut in half. It is written in the code, everyone can see it coming, and it happens regardless of price.
05What is a stablecoin?
A token that promises to be worth one dollar. Whether it is depends entirely on what the issuer holds and whether it will give it back.
06Wallets, keys and custody
A wallet does not hold coins. It holds the key that lets you move them, and losing that key is the same as losing the coins.
07What is tokenization?
Issuing a token that represents something in the real world. It changes how the asset settles and moves, and it does not change who owns it under the law.
08What is DeFi?
Lending, trading and derivatives rebuilt as programs that run on a blockchain. No company holds your money, and no company can help you either.
09What is a layer 2?
A second network that does the work and posts the result to the main chain, so you get the main chain’s security at a fraction of the fee.
10What is a spot ETF?
A fund that holds the actual asset and trades on a stock exchange. It let a very large pool of money buy bitcoin without touching a wallet.
11How large language models work
A very large function that predicts the next chunk of text. Everything these models can do is a consequence of doing that extremely well.
12Why AI needs GPUs
A neural network is millions of multiplications that can all happen at once. A graphics chip was already built to do exactly that.
13What is a humanoid robot?
A robot shaped like a person, so that it fits the spaces and tools built for people. That is the entire argument, and it is a better one than it sounds.
14What is a data center?
A building full of computers, power and cooling. For AI the interesting unit is not square metres but megawatts, and that is the constraint on the whole industry.