Welcome to another edition of Crypto Explained.
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2022 has been a tough year for the crypto space.
At Crypto Explained we tried our best to keep it up with informative and educational content for you all, and for this last article of the year, we’ll do an overview of the top 10 based on your number of reads!
Ready?
TOP 10 - Why is crypto dipping? an overview.
The 2022 bear market we are experiencing is a combination of many factors.
In this article, you can find out what is happening that is causing the crypto market to be crashing so hard, covering both macro factors as well as crypto-specific events.
TOP 9 - Chainlink: the blockchain oracle
Blockchains are digital ledgers that keep records of different transactions. However, they are isolated ecosystems, so they don’t have access to real-world data by themselves.
This is where Oracles play a key role, connecting blockchains to external systems, providing reliable data from the real world.
This article is an overview of Chainlink, the leading blockchain oracle.
TOP 8 - The different types of Layer 2 Scaling solutions
(Spoiler Alert! If you don’t know much about Layer 2, there is another article in today’s TOP 10 for you)
Layer 2 is a collective term for solutions designed to help tackle blockchains’ scalability challenge by moving some of the transactions “off-chain”, and there are a few options to do so.
Is there one better than the other? Well, it depends on what you care about the most: speed, cost, security…
This is an overview of what are the different types of Layer 2 solutions that exist today in the industry.
TOP 7 - The Merge is coming to Ethereum - what it is, and what's all the fuss about.
The Merge is one of the key milestones in Ethereum’s roadmap. It is meant to be a significant step to address Ethereum’s long-known scalability issue and get it ready for its next phase.
It finally went live successfully in September 2022 - and this article explains the main upgrades and changes introduced, as well as what it means for the everyday user like you and me.
TOP 6 - Crypto Categories 101, a mental map.
Crypto is a complex space, and more so because of the wide variety of projects.
One of the main misconceptions that people have is trying to bucket all different types of crypto as a whole into one category, which can be quite misleading. Instead, think of crypto as an ecosystem of its own, similar to a duplication of the existing economy as we know it: just like we have different industries, so does crypto; just like we have our systems (monetary, legal, organizational), so does crypto.
Have a read at this article to get a mental model about these categories.
TOP 5 - Chronicles of the LUNA/UST collapse, the largest in crypto history
Here comes the drama…
The sudden death of one of the largest Layer 1 Blockchain left the whole world in shock (as well as millions of victims…).
The background context, the build-up of the story, and the sudden implosion, all summarized in one article.
TOP 4 - The FTX saga - An overview and my thoughts
And here the drama continues upwards…
Unfortunately, the collapse of Terra LUNA and UST was the first but not the last.
Unfolding still is the drama of the FTX collusion, one of the largest centralized crypto exchanges. Even though it’s a recent event, the article explaining its collapse has managed to make it into the Top 5 most-read articles this year at Crypto Explained - proof of just how big of a shockwave it generated.
An overview of who is who, how it all started, the catalyst tweet, and the magnitude of what this means for this space…
Before revealing the Top 3 most read articles, here is a quick survey to understand what kind of content you’d like to continue reading in the coming year!
It only takes 2-3 minutes, but it means a great deal to me. Appreciate it!!
TOP 3 - What is Interoperability in crypto, and why it matters
Today, blockchains are acting as siloed bubbles, without speaking to each other.
As crypto gets adoption and expands rapidly, we are seeing more and more blockchains emerge.
When we speak about blockchain interoperability, we are referring to making networks compatible with each other, so information and assets can flow freely across different chains.
TOP 2 - What is Layer 2 in crypto?
During 2022 we have seen massive development from Layer 2 solutions, and they are certainly here to stay. No wonder why it has such a high number of reads.
Understand the scalability problem, what Layer 2 solutions consist of, and why we need them.
Fun fact! This is the only guest article of Crypto Explained, maybe I should get more guest writers to contribute in the coming year?
TOP 1 - A Beginner's Guide to Crypto
This is by far the most-read article. And I’m glad it is, as it is the go-to guideline to all beginners to crypto, highlighting the key things you need to know about crypto.
The article follows the semantic tree model, building up the explanation as a knowledge tree, understanding first the fundamental principles (the trunks and big branches), and only then getting into more specific topics (the leaves), to ensure there is something for these details to hang on.
If there is one article you should read - this is the one.
BONUS TRACK!
I hope you all enjoyed the top 10!
To wrap this article up, I wanted to leave you with a writer’s choice that I think is particularly important to all crypto holders, and therefore a highly recommended read.
It might not be the most exciting of topics, but it has a great ROI. Invest 3-5 mins in reading through this last article. It might make a huge difference in the future of your assets.
Happy 2023 dear readers!
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