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Open Learning Path

Blockchain basics: the full learning path

Six modules, eighteen lessons, about three hours of reading in total. Follow them in order — each step builds on the last.

  1. 1

    Foundations

    Module 1: Money, records and trust

    Before any technology, a question: how do people who don't know each other agree on who owns what? This module looks at records, the people who keep them, and the problem every digital system has to solve.

    1. 1.1 The double-spending problem 9 min · Beginner
    2. 1.2 Ledgers through history 10 min · Beginner
    3. 1.3 Centralised and distributed systems 11 min · Beginner
  2. 2

    Foundations

    Module 2: Cryptography basics

    Three tools from cryptography make blockchains possible. You don't need any maths to understand what each one does and why it matters.

    1. 2.1 Hash functions: digital fingerprints 10 min · Beginner
    2. 2.2 Public and private keys 10 min · Beginner
    3. 2.3 Digital signatures 9 min · Beginner
  3. 3

    Mechanics

    Module 3: How a blockchain works

    With hashes, keys and signatures in hand, you can now follow the machine itself: how transactions travel, how blocks are built and linked, and how thousands of computers agree on one history.

    1. 3.1 Blocks and chains 11 min · Beginner
    2. 3.2 Nodes and the network 9 min · Beginner
    3. 3.3 Reaching consensus: proof of work and proof of stake 12 min · Beginner+
  4. 4

    Mechanics

    Module 4: Bitcoin and smart-contract platforms

    Two families of design: Bitcoin, built to do one thing in a deliberately limited way, and smart-contract platforms, built to run general programs. This module looks at both as engineering, not as assets.

    1. 4.1 Bitcoin as a system 11 min · Beginner+
    2. 4.2 Smart contracts explained 11 min · Beginner+
    3. 4.3 Tokens and token standards 9 min · Beginner+
  5. 5

    Context

    Module 5: Keys, wallets and security

    The mathematics of blockchains is strong. People are the weak point. This module explains, without naming products, how keys are managed and how scammers try to take them.

    1. 5.1 What a wallet really is 9 min · Beginner
    2. 5.2 Recovery phrases and backups 8 min · Beginner
    3. 5.3 Scams and red flags 10 min · Beginner
  6. 6

    Context

    Module 6: Blockchain and society

    Technology does not exist in a vacuum. The last module looks at how blockchain ideas meet money, law and everyday life — and where their limits are.

    1. 6.1 Stablecoins and central bank digital currencies 10 min · Beginner+
    2. 6.2 Rules and regulation 11 min · Beginner+
    3. 6.3 Limits and trade-offs 11 min · Beginner+

Finished the path?

Twelve questions across all modules. No sign-up, no prizes — just a check of what stuck.

Take the final quiz