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Degrees of Satoshi · Learn with evidence

Choose a learning path

Start with a question, learn the prerequisites, and test your understanding with a worked example.

Send and check a Bitcoin payment

Beginner · Read the payment request, check the fee, and understand what arrival means.

  1. How to receive Bitcoin: addresses, amounts and arrival checks
  2. Bitcoin payment requests and QR codes: what a scan actually tells you
  3. How to send Bitcoin: review the destination, amount and fee
  4. Bitcoin received but missing from your wallet: what to check
  5. Bitcoin refunds: why returning a payment requires a new transaction

Practice: Follow a Transaction.

Understand an Ethereum wallet problem

Beginner · Separate access, missing balances, connection errors and suspicious requests.

  1. MetaMask password and recovery phrase: which one restores access?
  2. Why are accounts missing after restoring MetaMask?
  3. Why does an Ethereum token balance not appear in my wallet?
  4. Why won’t an Ethereum app connect to my wallet?
  5. Fake wallet websites: how phishing reaches a real Ethereum account

Follow a stablecoin payment

Beginner to intermediate · Check the network, recipient requirements, fees and the record of payment.

  1. How stablecoin cross-border payments work
  2. USDT TRC-20 vs ERC-20: the network difference
  3. Stablecoin deposit memos and destination tags
  4. Stablecoin sent but not credited: a diagnostic guide
  5. Reconciling stablecoin payments with invoices

Practice: Follow a Transaction.

Read a lending position

Intermediate · Connect collateral, debt, available liquidity and the effect of each action.

  1. Turning collateral on or off: supply balance is not borrowing power
  2. Does supplied collateral earn interest? Read the market accounting
  3. Repaying a DeFi loan: debt asset, accrued interest and the final balance
  4. Withdrawing lending supply: liquidity, collateral and transaction limits
  5. Lending liquidity versus solvency: can assets be withdrawn or recovered?

Start with Bitcoin

Beginner · Learn what the ledger records, who validates it, and how a payment moves.

  1. What is Bitcoin? Money that runs on a public network instead of a bank
  2. What is a blockchain, and what does Bitcoin’s actually record?
  3. What is a UTXO? How Bitcoin keeps track of coins without any accounts
  4. Bitcoin confirmations: what they mean, why six became the convention, and why none is final
  5. How to read a block explorer: transactions, fees, confirmations and addresses

Practice: Follow a Transaction.

Understand Ethereum

Beginner to intermediate · Move from accounts to transactions, fees, contracts, and finality.

  1. What is Ethereum? A shared network for running programs
  2. Ether and Ethereum: the asset, the network and the units
  3. Ethereum accounts: keys, contract code and delegated accounts
  4. Ethereum transactions and nonces: how requests stay in order
  5. Ethereum gas fees: units, prices and the amount actually paid
  6. Smart contracts: programmed rules, examples and outside promises
  7. Ethereum proof of stake: blocks, votes and checkpoint finality

Practice: Follow a Transaction.

Inspect a stablecoin

Beginner · Separate the peg from the backing, and possession from redemption rights.

  1. What is a stablecoin? A target price and the system behind it
  2. A stablecoin peg is a target; its market price is a trade
  3. Cash-backed stablecoins: what sits behind the token?
  4. Crypto-backed stablecoins: debt, collateral and liquidation
  5. Who can mint or redeem a stablecoin?
  6. Attestations, audits and proof of reserves answer different questions
  7. Stablecoin freezes and issuer control

Understand a swap

Beginner to intermediate · Follow the pool arithmetic, execution limits, and dependencies behind a quote.

  1. What is DeFi? Financial applications built from smart contracts
  2. Decentralized exchanges: how a token trade reaches settlement
  3. Automated market makers: trading against a programmed inventory
  4. Constant-product pools: deriving the output from x times y
  5. Slippage and price impact: two reasons a swap rate can differ
  6. DeFi composability: reusing capabilities and inheriting dependencies

Practice: Swap Lab.

Know who controls the funds

Beginner · Compare keys, custodial promises, wallet requests, and spending permissions.

  1. Bitcoin wallets explained: hot, cold, hardware, custodial, and what they actually store
  2. Private keys, public keys and seed phrases: what actually controls your bitcoin
  3. Reading Ethereum wallet requests: connection, signing and calls
  4. Token approvals: what a spender can do after you authorize it
  5. Protocol upgrades and admin powers: who can change what

Follow a transaction

Beginner to intermediate · Compare UTXO payments, account transfers, tokens, and rollup settlement.

  1. What is a UTXO? How Bitcoin keeps track of coins without any accounts
  2. Ethereum accounts: keys, contract code and delegated accounts
  3. ERC-20 tokens: balances, decimals and spending permissions
  4. Transferring a stablecoin is not redeeming it
  5. Optimistic rollups: state claims, challenges and withdrawal waits
  6. Ethereum proof of stake: blocks, votes and checkpoint finality

Practice: Follow a Transaction.