About this course
Crypto has an explanation problem. Almost everything written about it is produced either by people who own a lot of it, or by people who find the whole thing absurd — and both are trying to recruit you. What's missing is the boring middle: a careful explanation of how it actually works, what it's genuinely useful for, how people lose money on it, and what remains unresolved.
Block Zero is that explanation. Ten sections, 61 lessons, roughly eleven and a half hours of reading, activities and quizzes, written for anyone curious and needing no technical background, whether you're starting from zero or already have some experience and want the theory and the missing pieces. It starts 5,000 years before Bitcoin — with the question of what money even is — and ends with you writing a personal plan and choosing whether to act on it.
The name comes from the genesis block: the first block of the Bitcoin blockchain, mined on January 3, 2009, with a newspaper headline about bank bailouts buried inside it. Block zero is where the chain starts. It's also where you are right now, and that's exactly the right place to begin.
Who it's for
If any of these sound like you, you're in the right place.
- You've been nodding alongYou've heard “blockchain”, “wallet” and “DeFi” a hundred times and never had anyone define them. This course defines everything, once, in order.
- You're thinking about buying someYou want to do it without being robbed, taxed by surprise, or talked into something by a stranger. Sections 7 through 9 are that, in detail.
- You're deeply suspicious of all of itGood. You'll find the collapses, the scams and the strongest critiques covered here at length. Finishing Block Zero and deciding it's not for you is a perfectly good outcome.
- Someone you know is getting into itYou want to understand what they're doing well enough to have a useful conversation — and to recognize it if something goes wrong.
What makes it different
Four rules this course holds itself to, on every page.
Who's behind this
The creator of this course wasn't one of the earliest people in crypto, but he got started before Bitcoin really took off, early enough to remember when there was no clear place to begin. He had to work most of it out on his own, reading articles and watching videos, one question leading to the next.
If you've ever tried to learn this by yourself, you know how it goes. Every explanation seems to assume you already understood the one before it, and it's hard to tell who is teaching and who is selling. At some point he realized that what he'd spent so long piecing together could be explained once, clearly and in order, so other people wouldn't have to start from scratch.
Block Zero is the course he wishes he'd had: no sales pitch, no textbook, just the whole picture in plain words. It carries no sponsorships and recommends no products: every exchange and wallet discussion is deliberately brand-neutral, teaching selection criteria rather than names.
That's why the course keeps everything in one place and in order, with understanding first and safety built in alongside it. It's the explanation he spent so long looking for, written down for the curious and for those still trying to figure it out.
What's inside
Ten sections, taken in order or dipped into — with a few lessons free to read first.
10 areas · 61 lessons
- Why Crypto Exists5 lessons
- The Birth of Bitcoin6 lessons
- Under the Hood7 lessons
- Ethereum: The World Computer6 lessons
- The New Financial World6 lessons
- Beyond Bitcoin & Ethereum7 lessons
- Getting Started Safely6 lessons
- Self-Defense6 lessons
- Crypto & Your Money6 lessons
- The Big Picture6 lessons
- Read at your own pace, on any device
- 33 downloadable checklists and worksheets
- Free updates as the course is revised
- One payment — no subscription