One block at a time
Crypto, from the very beginning.
Most crypto explanations start in the middle. This one starts at the beginning: what money is, why banks exist, why your money shrinks — and then, block by block, everything built on top.
Start at Block One
All blocks, in order
Each block stands on its own. In order, they build one picture.
- 01
What Makes Something Money? The Three-Job Test
Casino chips, gift cards, airline miles, Monopoly money, a bank balance: run each one through the three jobs money has to do and see where the line falls.
- 02
What Your Banking App Is Actually Showing You
Five screens in your banking app — the balance, a pending transfer, a loan, the deposit-guarantee line, the cash machine — and what each of them really is.
Crypto glossary
Every term this channel uses, defined in one sentence — the same sentence every time.
- Fiat money
A fiat currency isn't backed by anything you can touch — it exists because a government declares it money, and because all of us keep treating it as money.
- Money
Money is shared trust, wearing a convenient costume.
- Bank
A bank is not a vault — it's a giant notebook (a ledger) of who has what, kept by an institution you trust.
- Bank run
A bank run is when everyone stops trusting the bank's notebook at the same time and lines up to pull their money out at once.