What Is Cryptocurrency?
A plain-English introduction to cryptocurrency: what it is, what makes it different from the money in your bank account, and what it is not.
Read the explainer →Library
All articles
11 explainers, organised by topic. Start with The Basics if you're new.
The Basics
See all 4 →How Does a Blockchain Work?
Blocks, hashes, and consensus in plain English: how thousands of strangers keep one shared record that nobody can quietly rewrite.
Read the explainer →How Bitcoin Mining Works
What miners actually do, why the puzzle exists, where new bitcoins come from, and why mining uses so much electricity. Proof of work in plain English.
Read the explainer →Proof of Stake Explained
How proof of stake secures a blockchain with collateral instead of electricity: validators, staking rewards, slashing, and the trade-offs versus mining.
Read the explainer →Wallets & Security
See all 1 →Crypto Wallets and Private Keys
What a crypto wallet actually stores, how private keys and seed phrases work, custodial versus self-custody, and the mistakes that empty wallets.
Read the explainer →Markets & Exchanges
See all 2 →How Crypto Exchanges Work
What happens when you buy crypto on an exchange: order books, spreads and fees, what the platform does with your deposit, and why exchanges fail.
Read the explainer →What Are Stablecoins?
How stablecoins try to hold a fixed value, the difference between reserve-backed, crypto-backed, and algorithmic designs, and what happens when the peg breaks.
Read the explainer →Risk
See all 1 →Crypto Risks, Explained Honestly
The real ways people lose money with crypto: volatility, failed tokens, platform collapses, scams, irreversible mistakes, regulation, and tax.
Read the explainer →Glossary
See all 3 →Seed Phrase
The 12 or 24 words that can recreate an entire crypto wallet. What a seed phrase is, how it works, and how to keep it safe.
Read the explainer →Gas Fee
The fee paid to process a transaction on Ethereum and similar blockchains. What gas is, how the fee is calculated, and why it sometimes spikes.
Read the explainer →The Halving
The scheduled event that cuts Bitcoin's new supply in half roughly every four years. How it works, the arithmetic behind the 21 million cap, and what it does and doesn't mean.
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