---
# System prepended metadata

title: Blockchain For Dummies

---

# Blockchain For Dummies

[Business](#business)
[Course Curriculum](#course-curriculum)
[Legal](#legal)

## Business
This would be a relatively cheap course to put together. It would require very little tech-infrastructure -- and surely Chainshot already has the infrastructure needed to host such a course.

Most of the work would be around class curriculum development, slides, videos, maybe having a special guest interview or two. The day-to-day courses would be anchored around a 2 hour lecture with demos and exercises (eg: further on the in the course demo how to setup metamask and leave it as a weekend exercise for students to do. Beware mainnet! Mainnet is real money, students.)

I'd imagine the course could last somewhere from 5 to 10 week days, with possible weekend homework.

I'm not a business numbers guy, so I really have no idea about numbers, but I'm sure you guys do. Despite this I'll venture a my little thought bubble:
  - Course length: 5 - 10 days. Shorter and less intense than a bootcamp so courses could be run more often
  - Price point - $300 - $600 USD
  - There are more non-tech folk in the world than tech-folk. The mainstream folk have heard of DeFi loud and clear, many just don't know how to get in.
  
    I'd imagine class sizes would/could be much larger than the bootcamp course. It'd also hopefully be much less instructor intensive (no debugging of student's code by Dan needed :sweat_smile: ).

The points above make me think that this type of class could be quite profitable.

## Course Curriculum
[What this class is](#what-this-class-is)
[What this class is NOT](#what-this-class-is-not)
### What this class is
  - What is the difference between blockchain and cryptocurrency? Aren't they the same? What's the difference?
  - There are many blockchains that support literally thousands of cryptocurriences, but this class focuses on Ethereum and it currently has the most active products, protocols and development.
  - Centralized vs Decentralized
    - 'Not your keys, not your money' vs 'your keys, your money _**and**_ your responsibility!' For the non-tech savvy Coinbase,  et al, could very well be the best choice!

    - See 'Seed phrase and private keys' below.

    - Write your keys down? But it's not that simple. What if your house burns down? Put in on a metal card, but what if you lose that card. What if you forget where you put the card, etc...
    
      - Store your keys on your laptop...ermm? In the cloud...ermm?  There are valid and secure ways to do this

        - The security vs usability dilemma: typically the easier methods/tools you to use to secure your info, the less secure it is. The more difficult the methods/tools are the more secure. _I think there is a lot of Comp Sci research-y stuff on this dilemma that can be reference to_.

      All reasons you may want to stick with a centralized exchange.
      
  - How to get on/off ramp your $ into blockchain.
  - Intro to wallets: Argent, Trust, and the more technical Metamask and Ledger
  - Secure blockchain practices
    - Seed phrase and private keys
      - Nope, never: if someone asks block 'em from your life.
    - Social media: Email, Telegram, Discord. If something looks weird it probably is.
      - Invited to the latest pump'n'dump group? Yeah, best to dump that group.
    - Don't go bragging around about how much you made on BTC or carrying a ledger around casually. 
      - People have been mugged _(reference new articles)_
    - Hackers (the bad ones) and getting Hacked!
      - suprisingly most people think that most hacks occur from geniuses finding loopholes in code and cracking into systems (TBH, the loophole thing is becoming more true as open source protocol code is analyzed). But the fact is most 'hacking' is not code hacking at all. It's called social engineering. (see Social Media bullet point above)
        -- add references: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Mitnick , etc....
  - Tour of the DeFi and NFT ecosystems
    - Examples of how to invest in major protocols
      - The class does not advocate or promote any given protocols, but students could be introduced to the major ones that are known to be relatively safe, vetted and known.
  - Know thy gas fees! You just made $100 from interest in 5 days. Great! How much gas did it cost you to get in and out of that position? 
  - Leverage - leverage in DeFi is different from traditional finance. All leverage (borrowed assets) in crypto are collateralized. 
  - Risks: scams, smart contract bugs, rug pulls, getting into low liquidity positions that you can't get out of without massive slippage
  - Slippage? What is it and why?
  - Impermanent loss? What is it and why? _I prefer to call this divergent loss as losses may indeed be permanent_.
  - The main investment instruments of DeFi:
    - Price speculation on tokens, but this course doesn't focus on that.
    - Borrowing and lending without the middleman (banks) to take a huge cut.
      - But if I'm lending to someone I don't know, how can I trust they'll repay me?
    - Liquidity Providing
    - Staking and Farming LP positions
  - L2s...
### What this class is NOT
  - This class is not a financial advice class.
  - This class is not a pump-and-dump class.
  - This class does not cover tax laws regarding crypto gains.

## Legal
  - This course is not investment advice
  - This course is not tax advice
  - The course's company, nor its instructors are responsible in any way for money that may be accidentally lost by students.



