Eric Jorgenson 📚 ☀️ Profile picture
Mar 24, 2021 20 tweets 6 min read Read on X
Ethereum 101 —

I’ve been exploring Ethereum (and buying, for full disclosure).

This is a plain-english recap of the very basics, to test my learning! (and maybe a frustrating oversimplification for the experts)
Bitcoin was the first blockchain. Every blockchain has a cryptocurrency. Bitcoin’s cryptocurrency is named bitcoin. (Lowercase) or $BTC
Bitcoin showed us what blockchains could do, so people started creating new blockchains, separate from Bitcoin.

Ethereum is one of those new blockchains. It has a cryptocurrency called Ether or $ETH
Unlike Bitcoin, Ethereum has a complete programming language inside it, so programmers can write code and make apps on Ethereum.
Ethereum is like a giant distributed computer. Rather than running an app on Amazon Web Services’s servers, developers can use Ethereum.

(Image via @draecomino) Image
Apps run on Ethereum are secure from hackers, because the blockchain ensures data stored in the app cannot be changed.
The combination of perfect security with executable code has created “Smart Contracts” and lead to many new kinds of apps. Image
“Smart Contracts” are like having a robot lawyer live in a computer. This robot lawyer can observe, validate, and execute agreements between total strangers perfectly, cheaply, millions of times per day.
With Ethereum, for the first time, you can trade with someone you don’t know or trust — IF you both agree to the code (Smart Contract) that determines your agreement.
If this isn’t an “oh shit!” moment, think about how much time, energy, and money we spend on preventing fraud, protecting ourselves, achieving trust, or recouping losses.
Examples of trust as a primary value driver:
- Lawyers
- Car Titles
- Property Titles
- Insurance
- Banks
- Credit Cards

and, trust is the foundation of the value of many Brands.
Want to buy art, insurance, domain names, stock, tickets, music rights, cars, digital files… without worrying about getting scammed?

It’ll happen on Ethereum.
The code for Ethereum is written by a self-organizing group of volunteers, who openly share the ideas, the rules, and the code so the community can verify and validate.
The radical vision is that much of the trust we currently place in Governments and Banks would be better-placed in visible code created by this open community.
Anyone can be a part of the Ethereum movement by owning Eth, contributing to Ethereum, or building and using decentralized apps.
Ways to dive deeper:
- Start reading from the @BanklessHQ intro: newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/-guide-1-sta…
- Buy ETH on Coinbase: coinbase.com/join/jorgen_1q
- Read/Contribute to Developer conversations on GH: github.com/ethereum/EIPs/…
- Read the Whitepaper: ethereum.org/en/whitepaper/
Learn more about Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain generally from my edit of @naval’s best blockchain explanations: navalmanack.com/secret-section…

(This is where I got my first deep-dive!)
To build deep fluency, start with an online course about blockchain...

We pulled the top 100 blockchain courses for beginners from @udemy and sorted them by best-reviewed:

coursecorrectly.com/100-highest-ra…
For posterity, google, and the non-twitter people in your life I put this thread into a blog post on my site:

ejorgenson.com/blog/ethereum-…
Took a closer look at top blockchain development courses with @jesse_l_powers and we picked out the 5 most promising. Shown here including Table of Contents, instructor background, length, and pricing:

coursecorrectly.com/the-three-best…

Feat. @dkcodehelper @ste_grider and more!

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More from @EricJorgenson

Dec 8, 2024
Unambiguous communication from Elon. Image
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Join the email list at EJorgenson.com/newsletter
The Chaser: Image
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Sep 19, 2023
I accidentally manifested my dream job.

Secretly, I started two weeks ago.

Here is what happened:

In 2020, I completed a manuscript for the Navalmanack, but I had no idea how publish a book, or any inkling of what do to next.

@TuckerMax gave me a pep talk (in his own way) and @scribemediaco helped me publish "The Almanack of Naval" which changed my life creatively, financially, and gave me some very nerdy street cred.

The team and service were incredible. I became a fan, referred friends, and hired Scribe again for The Anthology of Balaji (coming October 24!)

Suddenly in May, my author buddy @jimmyasoni whispered rumors of turbulence at Scribe.

People said they shut down.

I didn’t believe them.

So I called the CEO.

He said the company wasn’t shut down, but had financial troubles and was open to new ownership.

Luckily, I have friends who buy companies. (I recommend having these.)

Enter @SievaKozinsky and @XavierHelgesen of Enduring Ventures. We met on Twitter and hung out at Berkshire and Capital Camp.

When I brought them the idea of buying Scribe, they sprung into action – called lawyers, flew to Austin, and started digging in.

The team, services, and business model were strong.

But financial infrastructure was nonexistent and spending was out of control. Leadership had made some bad decisions.

Enduring Ventures took the risk to front salaries and expenses for the team to take care of authors, and (very fortunately for everyone involved) closed the deal.

Then I got a very surprising phone call.

All I wanted was for Scribe to survive so good people kept their jobs… and I could publish books.

My GRANDEST hope was to be a small investor.

But… they asked me to join the team as CEO.

After 3 years of writing, investing, and podcasting, this was a big change. My beautiful empty calendar!

I soul-searched, wife-talked (thanks @jeannineyeah ❤️), and emerged VERY excited to join this team and carry this flag.

Scribe is the pioneer of the entire category of Professional Publishing, which is what today’s authors truly need. (Scribe is also the biggest and best in the industry.)

To me, the future of publishing is clear – authors deserve the full financial benefit of their work, and the full creative freedom to create and use their books AS THEY SEE FIT.

Traditional publishing is resting on laurels that have wilted into a fragile wisp.

The next generation of authors see that they don’t need to be anointed by old-guard gatekeepers – they serve readers their own way and earn 4-5x more doing it.

I already started work @scribemediaco, and this team is crushing.

We’ve got over 150 authors’ work in progress, new books coming, new authors signing… and THRILLING opportunities ahead.

What began as doing right by good people turned into an incredible opportunity to lead a new chapter for Scribe.

I guess Karma is real.

As CEO of Scribe, my job is to help you publish your book, your way.

A book can build your reputation, spread your ideas, be your ticket to podcasts or stages… it might even make you a bit of money.

If you have ever considered writing a book, take a look at Scribe.

We ensure you publish a book of impeccable, world-class quality. We can also make it a minimal time investment.

We would love to brainstorm what a book could do for you, and show you the services we offer. Schedule a meeting with us now (link directly below)

Join us on the shelves...Image
Read 4 tweets
Mar 7, 2022
Overjoyed to share I’m raising a $2m+ Rolling Fund for investing in startups.

I’ve got two partners, @drbillnye and @bowman, both great investors, friends, and sandwich eaters.

Rolling.fun
@drbillnye @bowman This journey started 6 months ago with a conversation at @CapitalCamp (fitting!) with Al, who has also been investing most of his career too.

We shared a ton of values on founders we support and investors we want to be: long-term and founder-first!
@drbillnye @bowman @CapitalCamp After meeting with @avlok at @AngelList in Nov, we got really excited about the kind of fund you can create on their new platform, Rolling Funds.

Much more flexible, open, and sustainable than traditional funds. Much easier, simpler, fairer to LPs than one-off syndicates.
Read 13 tweets
Jan 22, 2022
A Deep Dive (pun extremely intended) to understand @SquidDAO was my mission this week.

It's like a crypto-native hedge fund, run by a group of anonymous volunteers (which could include you!)
@SquidDAO "A friendly conspiracy for mutual enrichment." Image
@SquidDAO Here's my blog post that gives you the blueprint:

ejorgenson.com/blog/squid-dao
Read 4 tweets
Jan 11, 2022
Podcast Episode #022: @timhwang is the most interesting man on the internet.

In this hilarious 60-min episode:

- Trade Journals as industrial anthropology
- Bots to waging Information War on social media
- Going to Law School *Secretly*
- Legal Services for internet creators
- Academic Journals studying Images of Mark Zuckerberg
- Tim’s book predicting a bubble in targeted digital advertising
- Authoring Conspiracy Theories
I found him through Trade Journal Cooperative, which is basically National Geographic for Capitalism.

A new Trade Journal from some niche industry curated for you each quarter.

One of my favorite pieces of mail 📬

TradeJournalCooperative.com
Read 7 tweets
Oct 28, 2021
Very excited to see @TripleBlindAI raising another round and growing quickly.

This technology will truly change the world.
Tripleblind enables private algorithms to run on private datasets (like medical records) and return valid results without ever moving or exposing the data or the algorithm.
Making the zetabytes of data that need to remain private accessible for study will advance medicine, prevent fraud, and accelerate AI.

Tripleblind also protects algorithms, keeping those assets proprietary, but allowing them to process data and deliver results.
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