Comprehensive Cryptocurrency Training

1. Introduction & learning path

This course is organised into graded modules. Each module contains theory, practical steps and short exercises. Expect to spend between 1 and 10 hours per module depending on depth.

1. Understand what a blockchain is and how consensus works.
2. Learn about tokens, mining, staking, gas and wallets.
3. Use exchanges, spot trading, limit orders, and manage risk.
4. Dive into DeFi: lending, AMMs, yield farming and risks.
5. Understand NFTs, marketplaces, and minting basics.
6. Security hygiene: private keys, seed phrases, multisig.
7. Build simple integrations with public APIs and a basic dApp example.

Who is this for? beginners to intermediate users, developers who want practical guidance, and anyone building crypto features for a website (like acryptod).

2. Blockchain fundamentals

What is a blockchain?

A blockchain is an ordered, append-only ledger replicated across many nodes. Blocks contain transactions; each block references the previous block via a hash. This creates an immutable chain of blocks.

Key concepts

• Hash function: deterministic, collision-resistant mapping from data to fixed-length output.
• Consensus: algorithm by which nodes agree on the chain state (Proof of Work, Proof of Stake, etc.).
• Node: a participant that stores and optionally validates the blockchain.
• Transaction: an operation that changes state on the chain (transfer, smart contract call).
• Smart contract: program deployed on-chain (EVM, WASM, etc.).

Proof of Work vs Proof of Stake

Proof of Work (PoW) requires miners to compute difficult puzzles; PoS requires validators to lock (stake) tokens. Each has tradeoffs in decentralization, energy, and finality.

Block finality & forks

When multiple chains exist due to conflicting blocks, the network decides which chain to follow (longest chain rule, highest stake weight, etc.). Understand reorg risk for recent transactions.

3. Crypto economics & tokens

Types of tokens

• Native coins: used for network fees and incentives (e.g., BTC, ETH).
• Fungible tokens: ERC-20, BEP-20 tokens; interchangeable units.
• Non-fungible tokens: unique assets (ERC-721, ERC-1155).
• Utility tokens: used within a platform for access or discounts.
• Governance tokens: allow holders to vote on protocol changes.

Supply mechanics

Token supply models include fixed supply (Bitcoin), inflationary models (some PoS networks), and burn mechanisms (deflationary design). Tokenomics affects price dynamics and incentives.

Market microstructure basics

Order book vs AMM markets, liquidity depth, slippage, and spread. Learn to interpret depth charts and understand how large orders impact price.

4. Wallets & key management

Wallet types

• Custodial wallets: third-party manages keys (exchanges, custodial services).
• Non-custodial software wallets: MetaMask, Trust Wallet, mobile and desktop wallets where user controls keys.
• Hardware wallets: Ledger, Trezor — private keys stored on a device.
• Paper wallets: printed keys/seed phrases — cold but fragile.

Seed phrases & derivation

BIP39 mnemonic seed phrase generates deterministic wallets via BIP32/BIP44 paths. Never share your seed phrase. Back it up in multiple safe locations.

Best practices

1. Never store the full seed phrase online or in cloud storage.
2. Use hardware wallets for significant funds.
3. Consider multisig for shared or business funds.
4. Test recovery before moving large amounts.

5. Exchanges & trading basics

Types of exchanges

• Centralized exchanges (CEX): Binance, Coinbase, Kraken — faster trading, custodial.
• Decentralized exchanges (DEX): Uniswap, SushiSwap — on-chain swaps, non-custodial.

Spot vs derivatives

Spot trading is immediate settlement of assets. Derivatives include futures and options; they allow leverage and complex strategies but increase risk.

Order types & fees

Market, limit, stop-loss. Understand maker/taker fees and how liquidity provision can reduce costs.

6. Decentralized Finance (DeFi)

Core primitives

• AMMs (Automated Market Makers): constant product formula (x*y=k) for liquidity pools.
• Lending/Borrowing: protocols like Aave or Compound allow overcollateralized loans.
• Yield Farming: strategies to earn returns via incentives and liquidity provision.

Risks in DeFi

1. Smart contract vulnerabilities and exploits.
2. Impermanent loss for liquidity providers.
3. Oracle manipulation affecting price feeds.

Practical walkthrough — swapping on a DEX

1. Connect a wallet (e.g., MetaMask) to the DEX.
2. Select token pair and check price impact and slippage tolerance.
3. Approve token if needed and execute swap; monitor transaction on block explorer.

7. NFTs & tokenized assets

NFTs (non-fungible tokens) represent unique digital items. Use cases include art, collectibles, virtual land, and identity.

Standards & marketplaces

• ERC-721 / ERC-1155: popular NFT standards on Ethereum.
• Marketplaces: OpenSea, Foundation, Rarible; creators can mint and list NFTs.

Minting and royalties

Minting creates an NFT on-chain. Royalties are enforced by marketplaces but may differ across chains and platforms.

8. Security best practices

Attack vectors

• Phishing sites and malicious dapps.
• Private key leakage via malware.
• Smart contract bugs and rug pulls.

Operational security (OpSec)

1. Use password managers and unique passwords for exchange accounts.
2. Enable 2FA (prefer hardware OTP like YubiKey if available).
3. Verify URLs and signatures; check contract addresses on official sources.

Cold storage & multisig

Keep long-term holdings in cold/hardware wallets and consider multisig solutions for team funds. Multisig reduces single-point-of-failure risk.

9. Regulation & tax considerations

Regulations vary by country. Track transactions for tax reporting and understand local classification (capital gains vs income). When building services, ensure KYC/AML compliance if operating as a custodian or exchange.

10. Building: dApps, APIs & integrations

This module focuses on practical developer tasks: calling public APIs, reading blockchain data, and building simple dApps.

Reading on-chain data

Use public RPC endpoints or third-party APIs (Infura, Alchemy, QuickNode). Example: get balance and transaction history (pseudo-steps):

// using web3.js (concept)
const Web3 = require('web3');
const web3 = new Web3('https://mainnet.infura.io/v3/YOUR_KEY');
const balance = await web3.eth.getBalance('0x...');
console.log(web3.utils.fromWei(balance, 'ether'));

Server-side: integrating crypto price data (PHP example)

Many sites need price feeds. Below is a simple PHP snippet using cURL to fetch price from a public API (example: CoinGecko).

<?php
$symbol = 'bitcoin';
$ch = curl_init();
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, "https://api.coingecko.com/api/v3/simple/price?ids={$symbol}&vs_currencies=usd");
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
$response = curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);
$data = json_decode($response, true);
echo 'BTC price (USD): ' . ($data[$symbol]['usd'] ?? 'N/A');
?>

Building a minimal dApp (frontend only)

1. Use a frontend library (React/Vue) or vanilla JS and MetaMask provider.
2. Detect provider: window.ethereum and request accounts via ethereum.request({ method: 'eth_requestAccounts' }).
3. Read token balances using ERC-20 ABI and eth_call.

Integrating with acryptod (suggestions)

Because your stack uses PHP & MySQL, implement a back-end endpoint that fetches prices on a cron (cache to DB), then serve a lightweight JS widget on pages for real-time display. Keep rate limits and API keys secure on the server.

11. Trading strategies & risk

Basic strategies

• Buy & hold (long-term investing)
• Dollar-cost averaging (DCA)
• Swing trading (short-term trends)
• Arbitrage (requires capital & speed)

Risk management

1. Never risk more than you can afford to lose.
2. Use position sizing and stop-loss orders.
3. Diversify and avoid overleveraging.

12. Glossary — quick reference

13. Exercises & quizzes

Short quiz

Hands-on projects

1. Build a small PHP script that calls CoinGecko and stores hourly prices in MySQL. Create a chart on the frontend that reads this cached data.
2. Deploy a simple ERC-20 token on a testnet and interact with it using MetaMask and a small web UI.
3. Create a monitoring script that alerts (email/webhook) when large transfers occur for an address you watch.

14. Further reading & resources

• Bitcoin whitepaper — Satoshi Nakamoto
• Ethereum whitepaper & Yellow Paper
• CoinGecko/CoinMarketCap for price data
• Official docs for MetaMask, Web3.js, Ethers.js

Tip: maintain a personal lab on testnets (Goerli, Sepolia, Polygon Mumbai) to practice without risking funds.