Crypto and DeFi, explained for beginners.
Guides for how things work. Field notes for how I learned them. No moon emojis, no 100x promises — just plain maps of the confusing stuff.
Brand new? Start with the five-step roadmap before diving into guides or field notes.
Start here →See the big picture? The topic map shows how every guide connects — and links straight to each one.
Open the map →How to buy your first crypto
A straight guide to regulated exchanges, identity verification, and completing your first purchase safely.
What is a crypto wallet?
What a wallet actually holds, how seed phrases work, and the difference between keeping crypto on an exchange and holding it yourself.
How hardware wallets work
What a hardware wallet does, when you need one, and how to set one up without losing your recovery phrase.
Field notes
Personal write-ups — what I learned, how I learned it, and the mistakes in between.
All field notes →I thought WETH was just weird ETH.
Why my first DEX swap showed a token I'd never bought, what wrapping actually does, and the bridged USDC that shared a name with the real one.
I thought Etherscan was just a receipt link.
What a block explorer actually shows — the tx hash I ignored, the fake USDC that looked real, and why Success on-chain is not the same as safe.
I thought a DEX swap was just Buy with extra steps.
What actually happens when you swap on a decentralized exchange — the double popup, the slippage number I ignored, and the gas fee on a trade that failed anyway.
Choosing a platform? Compare exchanges, staking options, and hardware wallets — no referral links.
Compare platforms →